LifeSightsSound

Have you ever found yourself downplaying your achievement because you do not want to be percieved as a “know it all” or pressure of being a certain way? This is me, I am her, she is me, I try to hide from any kind of recognition, afraid of perception and pressure, fear that I would make mistakes and I would not be credible anymore. One of the things I learnt while growing up is the power of “a good name” and anything that might tarnish it, I run away from. It has been a guiding principle for me and the thought of ruining that made me downplay my achievement.

As I got older, I gave it another name “humility”, I started to downplay my achievement as a sign of humility, I knew I wasnt that humble becos of it,I just wanted people to think I was . I found out I was doing it cos of people, Haaaaaaa, it was all people’s perception of me, I wanted to be liked, and accepted by people. The day I came to the full realisation that I was downplaying me for people and not for the reasons I masked it to be, i knew I needed to make a change.

I came to the realisation that people will like or hate you and you have no control of it so why base your life on something that is out of your control.. Yes, If you do not like me, I cannot help it, I cannot force it and I cannot force you.

In the last 2 years, I have learnt to take the compliments and accolades for the things I have done, I am not afraid to raise my hand to ask a question in a group meeting or class (5 years ago, I would never have done that). I am not afraid to air my views, be corrected or correct a misconception. We were in class yesterday and a group of girls were chatting away and we couldn’t hear what the lecturer was saying, I turned to them and said “Excuse me, Can you guys keep it down we can’t hear the lecturer”, if you know me, you would know that it came with a frown on my face and quite stern voice. The Nigerians in my class were shocked, las las the girls will only glare at me, they stopped talking and trust me, I didn’t even look at them to know if they were glaring (who dey look uche face… hian).

When I am talking about my field of expertise, I speak with clear cut confidence, I have done the work, I will not dumb myself to make anyone feel good, that was the old me, Now I will HYPE myself cos I did the work, If you did the work, If you know what you are talking about when it comes to your expertise then do it GUSTO, brother and sister HYPE yourself.

Now there will be times when you feel like “small me”, it is okay, it means you acknowledge that a higher power is guiding you and you are on the right path. If you are dumbing yourself becos of other people, my sister and brother, abeg.. Stoppittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt.