It’s never easy talking about the lowest points of your life or your failures when you haven’t reached the levels of success that you aiming for.
No one wants to hear about the failures of someone who hasn’t succeeded but what we forget is that this view(before all the money and the fame if I had to put it in a Hollywood way), is raw, honest, fresh, and vivid to the author.
I’m writing this to share a story of how sometimes when we feel like we down and out when nothing feels like is going our way or will ever go our way that the boost we need comes from the unlikeliest source.
In 2014, after failing to be able to pay for my fees, after the first quarter and my student card even stopped working, I had to come to terms that I was now I varsity dropout. Having to leave the shame of not being able to continue and retreat back to where you come from.
For me, this was back home. Suddenly I found myself hopeless and lost with no idea where to go next, I felt alone, with no help or anyone there.
Things went from bad to worse, I was broke and with nothing to do or sense of purpose. I would spend my days playing video games most of time that 18 Wheeler truck game and watching Sony Max on TV(Yes, it was that bad).
In June of 2014, I still don’t remember how I managed to get data since that was hard to come by. I come across a tweet from the artist J. Cole which contained a letter of him reflective back on the 5 years since he released his life-changing project “The Warm Up”.
With not much to do I went on and read it. As I read the letter I could help but be touched at a personal level with most of the words feeling like there were directed at me.
Firstly there’s a part that said, “I’m wondering where you are today… I’m hoping that you’ve found a career doing some shit you love, something that makes you happy. Maybe you needed more time to figure it out. Grad School? Or maybe you’re back in your parent’s crib trying to regroup. Everything will be OK. Don’t stop dreaming”
Then he went on to say “No matter where you were 5 years ago, I hope that today you are closer to your dreams. I know that everything hasn’t gone exactly the way you planned, it hasn’t for me either”. And to be honest, I never really saw myself as an engineer but this wasn’t part of the plan either but knowing I wasn’t the only one whose life ‘hasn’t gone exactly you planned’‘ made things easier to swallow.
As I wondering why I didn’t have a plan then or now, these words followed, “But our job isn’t to plan. Our job includes 3 responsibilities. 1. To dream 2. To Believe that dream is attainable. And 3. To work hard every day towards that dream. Let God handle the rest.”
This was when I knew that I had to be specfic about what I was passionate about, what my dream was and doing everything I could to attain it. That thing I found out was being an entrepreneur even though I didn’t know which company I would start or the industry I would go into.
But I knew that I wanted to be an inventor, an entrepreneur that builds companies that touches life’s, inspires and changes the world.
I’ve never read a piece of writing that fitted directly into my current situation like this one before. It spoke to the kid me, the current version of the lost young man struggling to eat and survive all the way to finding his purpose.
Life gets tricky sometimes and we find oursleves at what we may call “rest stops”, temporary breaks in ourselves that help us re-coup and take everything into perspective.
I’m entering a new bigger chapter in life but I really wanted to share this story now not 30 years from now if God keeps me on earth that long and to also share this amazing piece of writing that maybe might resonate with someone out there who’s stuck looking for job, hustling and trying to find their next meal, the student who got financially excluded, someone going through a bad break up or lost a loved one.
It’s hard to have reason or see the situation as a positive and great lesson while you in it but please know that it does end, things do get better and there’s definitely light at the end. Trust in God in all you do and He’ll carry you through.
As for me, how will my next chapter go? How will the next 5 years of my life look like? I have no idea, I’m scared and excited at the same time. But I guess I have to travel the road to see how it all turns out.
Below is the Letter and tweet from J. Cole
