Your Dreams are Valid!

𝐎𝐧 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟔, 𝐈 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐜 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

Leaving behind the familiar warmth of Nigeria, I stepped onto foreign soil - a place with a cold climate and obvious language and cultural differences. With all the uncertainty in front of me, 𝙄 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙚𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙯𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 𝙛𝙪𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙚.

Before graduating from the university, 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐨:

♦ Get a master's degree in International Finance.

♦ Study this course abroad.

♦ Do this before getting married.

So, when the opportunity came to me, it was a no-brainer! Russia here I come!

When I tell people I lived in Russia for two years, they have this look of surprise on their faces. Like, Russia 😯? What were you thinking? How did you survive the cold weather and language barrier?

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐲:

♦ It was my best chance at the time of getting my master’s degree, and I had been offered a good scholarship to ease the financial burden.

♦ My programme was going to be in English and there was an irresistible offer to do a semester exchange programme in Italy. Which I did! (story for another day).

♦ My university was in Moscow, one of the most beautiful cities in the world that I have ever visited or lived in.

♦ I had friends (Victor Akangbe, Raphael Baffo, Kogiesi Theophilus ACA) turned family who reassured me that all would be well.

I look back at my younger self and the audacity it took to make this bold move for the sake of a dream I had. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐞.

Which brings me to the point of 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Friends, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙥. I learnt this one from my mum and wrote about it extensively in a previous post, you can read it here.

In personal or professional life, immediate gratification can be very tempting. However, 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙜𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙧.

My 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 for you today are:

♦ What is your big dream?

♦ What comfort are you willing to give up in pursuit of this big dream?

Have you embarked on an epic journey that changed your life? 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞, 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘦𝘮 💎, 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭. 𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘻𝘻𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.

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