Some memories bring smiles to one’s face and reminds us of the innocence of childhood. Oh, what a pure heart toddlers and children have, especially in their formative years. I remember an incident from when I was about 7 year old, It was a few days before we vacated our last rented apartment, to move into our newly built house.
My dad had gone to inspect the new house as the workers were rounding off. While watching TV in the living room, someone tripped on the electrical cable connecting the stabiliser powering the TV to the wall socket, as a result, the cable cut into two at the same point where I had previously watched my dad tape it together.
So, Engineer Adewumi told everyone to remain calm and sprung into action, taping the positive and negative wires together (electricians know this is a recipe for disaster). Anyway, I plugged the cable back into the socket and switched it on, that was the last thing I remembered.
By the time I came to myself, I was outside the house with people shouting in fear. Alas, my assumed expertise led to an electric shock that I learnt flung me some meters and led to a blackout. Thankfully, the people in the house managed to fix it, and recounted the incident to my dad when he returned. He asked for my side of the story, and I told him.
I don’t recall being scolded for that incident. My dad was probably consumed by gratitude that I survived it, or was just impressed by my attempt at fixing the broken cable.
That experience, I believe, laid the foundation of my curiosity for fixing things, especially electrical repairs. Though I didn’t study anything engineering related, I fix most electrical issues in my house as long as it is not super technical, changing wall sockets, fixing cables, or minor electrical damages are all right up my alley. All because I was not penalised for taking a risk.
So, the lessons here are: (1) Risks and rewards are directly related. (2) Sometimes allow your children explore and make their mistakes, they sometimes learn better that way. (3) Be observant when things are being fixed, you may have to do it yourself later. You can add your own lesson(s).
We all have defining moments, those moments that determine the course of our lives. One of such for me was when I decided to relocate to Lagos from Abuja. (You can find the story in posts 14022024 and 21022024, if you missed it).
Another was during my final JAMB Exam (now called UTME or so). I had taken the exam twice and chose Economics as my first choice both times, because I loved the subject, the forces of demand and supply, equilibrium and how market forces shape prices (all the types of elasticities) have always been of interest to me.
My father who could have wielded great influence in my choice of course of study had passed away. His desire was for me to study medicine, but by the time I got into senior classes, I knew medicine wasn’t for me, because I found Physics, Chemistry and Biology difficult and uninteresting.
Anyway, after his demise, I was all for Economics and wrote JAMB exams twice, scoring below the cutoff marks both times. The first was wide off the cut-off mark while the second was painfully close (a story for another day).
One day, my father’s physician called me to ask what I wanted to study, and I told him Economics. He asked if I wanted to become a teacher (which wasn’t the case), so, he suggested that I consider Accounting.
The required subjects for Accounting were my favorites, maths, economics and geography, so that did it for me, I chose Accounting as my first choice in OAU, Ile-Ife. Again, that moment shaped my life.
I read and prepared like I wanted to be the best JAMB candidate for that year. I went in super confident and scored 240 in the exam. I think it was generally tough that year, as the best student scored about 268 or so (this was in 1995 by the way). My name was on the merit list for Accounting at OAU (no. 15 on the list). So there was no need to seek any further help, as I secured my admission without stress.
Today, I am a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), and the profession has greatly impacted my career progress.
Two lessons for me, first is, there are always defining moments and we need to be sensitive to recognise and seize them. Secondly, you may be headed towards the wrong direction, and keep encountering difficulties, but the moment you change to the right path, things will begin to fall in places.
Moral of this story, do not miss your defining moments and if things aren’t working, maybe there is something you are not doing right yet.
adewumioni 