I currently live a life that is offensive to everyone as we speak.
Every morning when I wake up, it’s usually around 8 am to 8.30 am. By that time, every member of my household would have gone off to work.
I would then walk to the living room to watch TV or to check my updates on social media and also my email.
After a while, I’ll go and take my bath and go out, usually to the workstation where I work on projects.
Sometimes, I go home early, other times, late. But when I get home, it’s either I’ve eaten dinner or I have my dinner ready.
Now, for some reason, this is not sitting well with my family.
You see, I lost my mother in September last year, God bless her soul. Before she died, I tried explaining the concept of remote work and automation to her, but she never really grasped it.
She would complain about how I don’t work and how there’s dignity in waking up early and leaving home for work every morning.
Of course, anyone in her generation would believe that.
So up until she went to be with the lord, we would have a back and forth every day about that. I had to start leaving home for my workstation very early every day.
That was so stressful.
Now, it’s my sisters and my dad, and they can’t seem to wrap their heads around the fact that I don’t wake up early, brush my teeth, and rush off to work, and yet, I earn monthly.
The only time I do these is Sunday mornings when I go to Church and whenever I need to be on the island for a fun event *wink*
I planned my life into this era, now, everyone, even my family members are angry with it.
Let me tell you how it all started.
After I left my bank job abruptly in 2018, I told myself I never wanted to go back to a 9 to 5.
I had always dreamt of working in the corporate world, as I wrote here, but after working in the bank for a few months, I realized that it was the worst decision ever.
So after fighting that battle with my parents (they were furious with me), I had to look for other ways that I could earn without doing any 9 to 5.
One day, while doing the dishes, it finally dawned on me that I could work in the digital marketing industry.
You see, I joined a new Church shortly before taking the bank job, and I somehow found myself in the social media department.
When I joined the department, I found out that there were issues with mishandling of the Church’s social media platforms and posting with incorrect vocabulary.
So I took it upon myself to turn those things around and I was able to do that successfully. The Church leadership was happy about the changes.
Right from my University days, I was pretty good with social media. I remember teaching some of my friends how to use Instagram and Twitter and how I was really popular on Facebook.
So while doing those dishes, I made a mental note of these two opportunities that I’ve had to showcase my social media skills and I sprung into action, (I finished doing the dishes before springing into action, of course).
I then remembered that I had once said I would love to be a website developer when I was younger, even though I never knew what the job entailed.
So when I was sure that digital marketing and web development was what I wanted to do to earn, I started making my moves.
I took a few courses on digital marketing and I started to learn how to code.
These were physical classes, and for 2 years, I was transporting myself around Lagos, going for training, most of them paid, taking courses, and so on.
Sometimes, I would trek for a few miles just so that the transport fare I had with me would cover the rest of the journey.
Other times, I would take standing BRT because it was cheaper to stand than to sit.
I remember walking from Ikeja Along to Ikeja High Court on Oba Akinjobi Way, GRA because I wanted to save my tfare for the journey to Yaba the next day.
And under that hot sun, I said to myself “Nobody sees me struggling now, but when I start living well, they’ll have something to say about me”
I didn’t even dare to ask my parents for money because we were still at loggerheads about my decisions. Yes, they wanted to control it but I wasn’t having it.
I realized that decisions have always been made for me, from my course of study to the University I went to, and so many others. But I was finally taking my own life into my own hands.
I would spend nights watching videos on YouTube reading blog posts, doing assignments, and all sorts, just so that I could create the kind of future that I wanted.
I created a mental road map of where I wanted to be and the lifestyle I wanted to live, and my journey has not been without ups and downs.
I’m not where I want to be, but I’m certainly not where I used to be. I’m not living my best life yet, but I’m living a good life.
I’m not earning a fortune, just enough to help me get by. But with what God has shown me this year, I know things will shift.
So if everyone is angry about my ‘nonchalant lifestyle’ now, Imagine how they’d act when I finally blow.
This Friday, and every last Friday of the year, I’d be doing an IG live series on how creators can infuse their core values into their lifestyle and work. You can click the image below to take you to my IG page.