Big regards to all those that have bothered to comment on my first post in this series. That is so thoughtful of you and I hope you all enjoy today’s post, which takes us through the beginning and the end of the second phase in my life.

My journey through Lagos State University is a very interesting one. I termed this the second phase of my life because it brought me through a lot of realities that I will NEVER forget in my life. In fact, the transformation I experienced started while I was in LASU.

Before getting transformed, I was in perpetual crisis for the major part of my stay in that school. I entered with so much hope and huge expectations from people that know me owing to the fact that I happen to be a brilliant boy in the first phase of my life. I was thinking getting a First Class or any good grade is a foregone conclusion until reality check surfaced. On my first day on Campus, I was more than confused. We had to queue in the sun to do registration and accreditation and so many other things. There was so much chaos and I was wondering what on earth I was doing there.

When lecture started, the chaos was incomprehensible. Small classrooms with large number of students! You have to get to the classroom as early as 6.30am if you are ever going to have the chance of getting a seat, if you cannot do this, you will stand throughout the lecture even if it is for four hours. I lost count of the lectures I missed due to the long distance “travel” I have to make from my home in Yaba. Then examination period came and more confusion set in, I discovered a truth that it is not how brilliant you are but how RICH your pocket is!

I have NEVER been told this philosophy and it came as a rude shock for me. I was raised to be straight, how to get crooked in order to pass exams and also with good grades became a BIG dilema for me. All my life, I have NEVER bribed anyone, and I am being told to be in the good books of the top lecturers, I have to drop something. I didn’t see the magnanimity of this until I got into my Second Year. The Administration then, was no respecter of Calendar because of the incessant strikes and Students are meant to bear the brunt. In my Second semester year two, we were forced to see through the semester under six weeks and also write exams within the same period. It was TOTAL disaster for so many people because Carry Overs were just flying in the air, I had my own fair share. But I was told that the results were “provisional,” which means something can still be done if a student is willing to drop something.

I found it difficult approaching Lecturers to bail me out, because I don’t have the gut to bribe and even if I want to, the money is not there. A lot of guys were doing terrible things but I wasn’t moved. Something kept telling me that there will eventually be a way out of this mess one day. When ever I am alone, I was always afraid of what the future will be like for me because with the way things are going, I wasn’t sure of a Third Class. Imagine the brilliant boy of years ago being humiliated in the University. A lot of my friends outside still believe I was one the the leading students in my department but I always wish they know the battles, externally and internally, I was facing then.

I scraped through my Year Three with so much enthusiasm to stem the tide but I realised a lot of damages had been done in my previous years. My GP was nothing to be proud of and that started a lot of internal comotion. I was always praying for God to help me out. At a point I was thinking whether it won’t be OK if I drop out and do something else. This is a thought I couldn’t allow to mature within me because there was no way I could muster the courage to come home and tell my folks I have had enough of the madness called University Education.

The great news is that the solution I have been longing for, came one day. It was a day like every normal day and I didn’t have any inkling of something great happening to me. I went to visit one of my best buddies on Campus and as I was busy gisting away, my eye caught something that changed my life for ever. What was that thing I saw? A BOOK!

Right before then, all I love reading, are Sport Publications, but the title of this book intrigued me so much that I picked it up and decided to have a look in. Unleashing The Tremendous Potential Within You, is the book that God used to perform the magic in just a moment. I sneaked away with the book to my room and digested everything inside that book. Ah! From whence cometh this manner of knowledge? I was dazed! I have NEVER read an inspirational before and the knowledge about life this book contained floored me! I have spent Four Years in the University and a total of 16 years in the four-walled education and yet I have NEVER heard/read anything of this manner.

One question stood out from that book and it is: “What Do You Want To Do With Your Life?” I learnt about being a dreamer and how I can use dreams to change my life. I was also introduced to the power of my hidden potentials and how I can NEVER complain about being jobless or broke with the help of my potentials. I also learn most importantly the power of Goals Setting! Hallelujah! I have seen the light! My life got transformed immediately I finished reading that book, I discovered that fear of the future disappeared from me and I was looking forward to when I will leave the University and start following my dream. Imagine, before then I couldn’t see anything that I can do but after reading the book, I discovered over 10 things I could do with my life.

One fact I discovered years later is that there are two things that will change one’s life; A book or the people one meet. I didn’t see anyone to teach me this wisdom, but a book did it and to my utmost surprise I have spent hundreds of thousands of Naira on formal education but it is a book selling for #200 that did the magic! What a life. The shameless act I did then was that I stole the book We were about going for Industrial Attachment then, so I delayed the book with me until we finished the exam and I sneaked out of the Campus with the book hidden in my bag. It became my best companion and I just couldn’t say how many times I read it until someone STOLE it from me as well I bought it again and someone took it away again until I saw the book with a friend in church. I am now a proud owner of a photocopied version of the book

This even sparked a chain of events in my life and that brought me this far. Before I graduated, a lot of fear was passed across the student populace about a lot of people not graduating or going for Youth Service because their results were not looking good. I was then at a point that I didn’t even care if I passed out with an Ordinary Pass or whatever. A lot of my friends thought I was an unserious student when I didn’t join the wagon to start running after Lecturers with money. I was standing aloof observing the madness that was going on then and a lot of people couldn’t understand my indifference. The new song I was singing then was that the Paper Certificate I was going to receive will NEVER be of any significance in my life and that I will NEVER go in serach of job. A lot of people just thought I was MAD

I eventually passed out with a Third Class, which I care less about. I used to tell people I graduated with Double Honours, that is, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Knowledge. My introduction to computer began a new phase in my life and it gave wings to my dream. I will share with you how I came in contact with the computer and the extent I went to master it in my next article, which you don’t have to miss for anything.

The lesson from the second phase of my life is that no matter what you are facing, there is ALWAYS a way out and it is your duty to find that way no matter what it takes! The challenges we face in life are meant to make us better and I want you to know that for all that happened in this phase of my life, I became a better person. My friends that couldn’t understand why I took those decisions years ago, are now beginning to realise I took the best decision.

As usual, your comment will be HIGHLY appreciated.

Till we meet here again, NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pm and is filed under Inspirational Stories, Law Of Attraction, Life Lessons, Mind Power, Motivationals, Positive Attitude, Self Discovery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.