Features
Yewande Jinadu: My Failure Story
To someone out there who has been told that they are not good enough, to someone who has failed numerous times: Please don’t allow what others say limit you from exploring your potential.
When I was in SSS3, I always had 5/30 in my summary work and 9/60 in my essays. I remember my English teacher back then, her name was Mrs. Nwanlibe. She called me into her office and told me never to write stories again, that I was a terrible writer. It stuck with me, and I don’t know how I managed to have a C6 in English for my WAEC.
I’ve always liked journaling, right from when I was young,. I always felt I had the math brain and my brother had the English brain. By the way, he’s now an editor, a content creator, and a digital marketing pro. After that review, I buried my little love for writing and moved on with my math brain to finish with a 2:1 in Chemical Engineering.
Why did I remember this story? We just concluded a retreat in my church where I was the team-lead for the committee. Then I remembered how I’ve always said planning programs is something I’m terrible at because of past experience.
I remember two events I was to plan that had huge issues. They made me feel really bad and I hid from joining people to plan events. But I simply remembered three other events I planned that were huge successes. Funny thing is that I saw an advert for a vacancy for a Program Manager role which I was handling, and I was like wow! Did I really carry out all these responsibilities along with my HR Role?
What’s the moral of all this story?
Personally, I’ve stopped myself from doing a whole lot I could have done, just because I failed terribly a few times. Right now, I’m so excited to write an article about my different experience, and the joy that comes when it’s published and people are blessed by it is immeasurable.
If I had stuck with what my Mrs. Nwanlibe said, I wouldn’t have ever published any of my articles. I have loads of write-ups, and even a secret blog whose URL I can’t remember. I sent one to my brother once and he forced me to send it to blogs. I was really surprised when it was published. I felt it would never be good enough, just like Mrs. Nwanlibe said.
To someone out there who has been told that they are not good enough, to someone who has failed numerous times: Please don’t allow what others say limit you from exploring your potential.
Keep pushing! Keep getting better!
I’m not close to where I should be, but one thing I know for sure is this: When I eventually decide to write a book (in the nearest future), it will be a bestseller.
If you would like to read some of my numerous career articles, you can visit my blog: careerlife.com.ng
