Nostalgia
As I walked into the premises of this Baptist Academy, Obanikoro what welcomed me were unfamiliar faces. 7 years ago, it wasn’t so. I would have ran into at least 5 people or responded to countless greetings from people who knew me. I would have responded to tease and exchange bants with a couple of people(church members)
We would have laughed at each other’s jokes as we walk down to our respective destinations, either the auditorium, the hostel, the food vendor spot or the admin block.
I grew up in a Baptist church, and based on the fact that I live in Lagos with my family members, I was a part of the Lagos branch of the Baptist Student Fellowship. It’s an extension of the fellowship from tertiary institutions to ensure that everyone will have access to a spiritual community they are familiar with.
Every year for as long as I can remember, we had this 5-days camp meeting at Baptist Academy, Obanikoro. For some of us, it was an opportunity to stay away from home and the eagle eyes of our parents, for others it was an opportunity to experience God.
The last time I attended was in 2016, because of school and every other thing. Did I mention that I was a leader? Yes, I was in charge of the student fellowship of a cluster of churches within our neighbourhood then, it’s widely known as “ASSOCIATION”.
I was schooling away from Lagos and it impacted my ability to lead efficiently, so I handed over and that was where growing up started happening. Gradually, I lost my friends, and the people who knew me either got married or were no longer attending the fellowship.
Another thing that was responsible was that I no longer attended a Baptist church, so I was sort of an outcast (this was in 2020).
My Team Lead in the church asked for old videos or audios of our family songs in church. I hurried to my Google photos and as I scrolled through my pictures and videos, I came across pictures from some of the places where I worked in the past. Working there was good, but leaving was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made for myself and my career.
Christie 2020 would have frowned at the decision because who leaves a job when she’s her boss’s favourite? Yes, I was, and it was obvious in the company. Not because of what people used to say about women sleeping their way up, far from it.
I was a diligent and loyal employee, in fact, I was loyal to a fault until my loyalty bandwidth could no longer hold me. All my boss needed to say was “we need to get this done, as it will bring us XYZ” and I’m on it.
I also worked with some amazing people with whom I’m now friends. As I scrolled through the pictures and videos, I felt like going back to re-experience what the pictures were giving. I’m taking note of some things I could have done better, relationships I should have severed or groomed.
I’m yet to find a work environment as efficient as what I had then. I used to jokingly describe my former boss as a “slave master” to my elder sister, even though I was happy to be his slave. Yes, because I was getting value and I was becoming better than who I was when I started working there even though I had no idea of what was going on in me.
Just like the word of God that transforms you from the inside out, unknowingly.
Unfortunately, I can’t go back to that time. What I can do now is to bring those better ideas into my reality, what I have access to. e.g, my job, my relationship with people, my commitment and devotion to myself, my walk with God and my ideas.
I can neither control nor reverse what happened in the past but I can determine how my journey will look from now on. Instead of whining about what I should have done better, I will rather channel that energy into making the rest of my life worth it.
As I would always say during my coaching sessions, I don’t get worked up on things I don’t have control over, but the things I have control over, I will go above and beyond to make it work. You should do the same!
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