There's a common piece of advice that most Nigerian parents give to their children around the time they are getting ready to leave home for college. It says: "Do not forget the home you come from and the child who you are."
This advice was given to us so we could always remember why we were going to college and to not lose sight of who we really are while we're there. Like every other Nigerian child, my parents gave me this advice while I was heading away for college, and I held this in my heart for a while...until I found myself in certain situations that distracted me and made me lose sight of myself.
Sometimes, we tend to follow the crowd because we are afraid that other people will judge us for being different. We want to follow the crowd so that we can fit in and be accepted.
I know I have fallen victim to this and I know how easy it is to just fall into line with everyone else, to judge others for being different, and maybe even humiliating them for it too.
But how do you know who you are when you are just like the others? How will you know what your dreams and aspirations are if you are focused on the distractions happening around you? Just like it is easy for us to just follow the crowd, it is easy for us to fail to listen to our hearts and what they're telling us.
In our bid to follow the things around us and feel a part of it all, it is possible to instantly forget the main thing we want for ourselves. We have friends or parents telling us about the kind of life they think we should have, and we don't want to disappoint anyone so you slowly start to lose the most important thing: the dreams you have for yourself.
