Campus Connect Weekly Contest - Week 18 - Looking Back At 2021 By @wilosmith

LOOKING BACK AT 2021

The year, 2021 has been quite a year! If I am asked to summarize in two words, I would say, “I learned”. The wisdom and the lessons of 2021 will serve me for a greater good in the next year. For some of the lessons, pain was my teacher and I learned very quickly.
I can still vividly remember the beginning of the New Year; it was all food and fireworks. I remember my neighbor coming to offer me a generous portion of fried turkey. On the eve of the New Year, I was so excited I could barely sleep. I wasn’t excited because of the fireworks or even the “feeling” of a New Year, I was excited because for the past few days, I had been planning, mapping out and strategizing my plans for the coming year. I was determined to make this year my best one yet!
And so on the eve of the New Year, while tossing and turning in bed, excited for the New Year to begin implementing my plans, I began to think about all the things that could go wrong with my plans. What if it all didn’t work out? With all these thoughts, I slept off to wake up the morning of the New Year. The sun was out already when I woke and it cast beautiful, golden shadows into my room. This was it! It was now or never!
Listed among my goals were:

• Scale my side hustle and start generating real income from it
• Read about 40 books for my personal development
• Excel in all the academic courses I would offer that session
• Make about 5 new friends that would be relevant to my growth
• Learn about cryptocurrency (At that point, I had no idea what it was)

I started the year off strong, working on my plans with all the determination in me. It was all adrenaline and sweat until the first blow came on a Sunday morning. My nephew called me to tell me that my uncle had passed away. It was a heavy blow to me because the now late Uncle James had been my sole provider. He paid for my school fees, my accommodation and pretty much provided capital for my side hustle. I was in grief for quite some time.
Luckily, I had a substantial amount saved to see me through the next few months. I began to work on my goals with an even greater zeal because for one thing, I now have a strong reason to succeed. Everything was going well till the unexpected happened. I was involved in a serious accident that left me injured but luckily for me, I didn’t lose any limb. I however had serious wounds and even after I was discharged from the hospital, I had to use a crutch for a while till I was able to walk properly without support.
When I was rushed to the hospital after the accident, I fell into a serious depression. What would happen to my school work, my business and every other thing I was working on to make this year a great year for myself. I had a lot to do and time wasn’t waiting.
During my days in the hospital, I would bring out a piece of paper from my pocket; the one I had written all my goals in and I would grief silently because I was yet to achieve any. I would always ask the kind nurse in charge, “When will I be free to go?” “Just a few more weeks”, she would say. Weeks later, I was discharged; strong but broke because I had spent a huge chunk of my savings on the hospital bills.
I strongly dislike the word, “pity” so I did my best to get back on my feet. I failed one of my courses offered for the semester and had to prepare to write it again. It wasn’t because I wasn’t brilliant. It was just what it was. The side hustle that I was doing alongside my schooling crashed and I suffered a major setback.
This wasn’t what I had planned for; this wasn’t part of my goals during the start of the year! This wasn’t fair at all but life, as you know, isn’t at all fair. My only consolation was that it would get better for me; better days are coming and I strongly believed it. At a point, hope could be all you hold on to.
The weeks sped by and I rewrote the course that I had previously failed and I passed it. That was one positive strike so far. It was difficult but it was worth it.
As you may have been able to guess, the end of the year came quicker than I expected it and I looked at all the goals I hadn’t been able to achieve with a lot of disappointment and a heart full of lessons. My lessons were my victories. I learned that:

• Life is short and anything can happen (As in the case of my accident) so live life to the fullest
• Anything can happen any time so keep a saving for emergencies
• Time passes so quickly and so whatever you plan to do, don’t wait for a new year. Start now!
• We may not achieve all our “goals” but we shouldn’t give it a limited time frame
• No matter what happens, life goes on

A picture of me is seen above. Thank God for growth.

I lived and I learned. 2022 will be a better year.