“You Are On Your Own”- 5 Lessons About LIFE You Might Not Hear It Anywhere

I believe you might have read the story about the UCC student who committed suicide because he had been unemployed for 3 years after completing university. If you missed that story, you might want to read to get the details here. I know the young man who was identified as Yussif didn’t just commit suicide just because he was unemployed. Like the person who told the story said, Yussif was probably depressed, he needed that assurance from someone, he needed someone he could confide in, someone who would understand what he’s going through, a friend who would advise him but unfortunately, what Yussif perhaps didn’t know is that in this life ‘You Are On Your Own”

Yes, I don’t mean to be harsh but to be frank. If you have that mindset that “You Are On Your Own”, you find all ways and means to survive in this cold world, you would know that, in as much as getting support from people would go a long way to help you in life, having the first mindset that “You Are On Your Own” puts in charge of your own fate in life and you learn to become your very own motivator, you develop your own ‘anti-depressant’, you become your own friend, you understand yourself better and would be able to survive it, perhaps without the help of anyone. If someway somehow, you get someone or people to help you, which would be a plus for you in life, then that’s a PLUS for you, but if it doesn’t happen, should your life be a waste? You came to this world alone and you shall leave alone, so accept the fact that you are on your own and program your mind to view life from a different perspective.

I know there are lots of people out there, who are probably in the same shoes as Yussif. You are depressed, you are sad, you are unemployed, you are getting pressure from parents, family, society to achieve something, you are aging, yet you can’t really point anything that you’ve achieved in your life after all these years.

I may not know you, but I just want you to know that you are not the only person in the world who’s going through that phase of life. There are several thousands of people like you out there and some even perhaps have more problems than you have. But in all of these, does it mean, you should give up on life?  The answer is a BIG NO!

I wouldn’t want to make this piece long so I will go ahead to the main essence why I decided to share this with you, perhaps it could motivate you to see that there are other options.

I completed secondary school in 2012. It was after secondary school that I realized, there was really something called ‘LIFE’. I wasn’t getting any money from my unemployed mom again. I didn’t come from a rich background (maybe not entirely true but none of the rich family members was ready to really help). 2012 was a very difficult year for me because I went through a lot, which I wouldn’t focus on in this article.

It was very embarrassing not being able to afford the things I wanted in life or live life the way I wanted to. Despite all the troubles, I was grateful and still grateful to God because at least, I was able to get something to eat each day, although I ate once a day (Somedays when I got lucky, I would eat twice).

I spent most of the time lying in my mom’s couch, staring at the ceiling fan, lost in thoughts and not knowing what to do with my life. After several attempts to get a job, I got a job as a Cafe attendant later in the year and it was during the time I worked I worked at the Cafe that, my close friend, came up with the idea of starting a website company.

He is a passionate person and very determined friend. He was previously working in the cafe, I was working at then but left to go work at some new IT company and it was there, that he got some more skills and realized there were some opportunities in the Website development space in Ghana.

His idea was brilliant and the smell of some the prospects gingered me but here I was with no skills about web designing although I know how to use the internet very well.

He was eager for us to start that business and had the skills to build simple websites, so he started giving me videos and taught me the trade and I learned a few things. We got our first website contract and I think the client paid some Ghc500 or so back then in 2013 for the website and my friend did the design for the client and gave me a part of the which I was supposed to use retrieve some laptop somewhere and I ended up losing the cash (long story for another time…Lol).

We realized the business was good, so I quit my job at the cafe and he moved in to join me at my mom’s place, so we could brainstorm more ideas together.

Before we knew it, we have gotten some few more clients and were making some bucks and that helped us to save for first year in the university as we both started Uni that same year.

We even had to go on the streets to look for clients. I remember we had this purple long sleeves, we wore, with our black trousers, so people could actually take us seriously. We didn’t have an office space, we were living with our parents, but there was that zeal to achieve something.

We got turned down a many times, we got some clients, who felt they were smart and didn’t pay after the work was done, but still, we kept going until, we later decided to start building out own blog sites to monetize then, so we don’t go through all of that stress.

The experience we gathered was amazing and we learned a lot about life and doing business in Ghana. It was very tough, but we kept it going and although we’ve left that hustle, each time, I remember the events, it just keeps me excited and motivates me even more.

Fast forward, my friend has completed his degree in IT and I will be completing my Banking course this year ( abi lazy student sha, so I deferred). He’s doing well for himself now and has his own IT company that is into several other options and I branched into media.

My whole point is, sometimes in life, you have to start from somewhere. It shouldn’t always be about what you learned in school. Think outside the box and you would realize there are so many opportunities around.

What am I driving at?

  1. Learn new skills, irrespective of what you know. There are several free online courses, that would equip you with the knowledge that would help you. Start looking at Youtube and Google different, just search more than just news and music videos and films.  Take free courses on Alison.com and the likes.
  2. Surround Yourself With People Who Want to help you succeed: Check the kind of friends you have, if they are not talking about how to get better in life, end that friendship. If all they talk about are girls, sex, and irrelevant stuff, it’s time to quit and be around people who talk about making money, solving problems.
  3. Start Small, there’s no shame in that: Yes, most people are waiting to have some big amount of money before starting their own business. Sometimes, all you need is determination and the zeal to succeed, don’t always be looking for white collar jobs. We were on the streets, talking to churches, NGOs, small businesses trying to convince them to get a website and some bought into our idea. Hustle when you are young now, when you have the energy, forget about society if you have to deliver waakye and jollof to offices to make the money, do it and build the business up.
  4. People won’t support you always, get that in your head: Know that it’s going to be hard for people to support you when you start something and it’s very tough but that’s the nature of life, which is why I said YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. Your own family even your parents, siblings may not support you but it doesn’t matter, all you need is the zeal to succeed in this life, when you make progress or succeed, they will come apologizing for not supporting you.
  5. Your own attitude towards your goal is important: I will be honest with you. ATTITUDE is everything in life. You need to develop the right attitude if you want to be successful in this life. What are you spending your money on? Are you sleeping too much on your dreams? Always giving excuses? Always procrastinating? Check within yourself as well and just develop the right attitude. I will share with you a popular quote which says; “Your Attitude, will determine your altitude and not your aptitude.”—In short, what this means, is that in regards to how far you will go in life  ( altitude) will depend on the sort of attitude you have in life ( which I have explained above) and not your aptitude—meaning not really because of been special, been too intelligent………Think about it this way. In school, you have some classmate who were block headed and you were that SHARK in school but fast forward, that person is more successful than you (tough but it’s true right) now and it was because of their attitude.

I hope you enjoyed this piece and I have one favor—SHARE this story after reading it, it could help someone who’s also going through same to pick some inspiration from it.

Let’s make INSPIRATION go viral as well—SHARE, it only takes 3 seconds! Thanks for reading!

Source: www.ghbase.com