Growing Up

I was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. Been here all my life. Schooled here, still do, made all my friends here, some are gone, some I have no idea what part of the world they are now, and some are still here.

My whole life was basically around the University of Ibadan, where I current school. Both my parents are staffs, so I had primary school, secondary school, and now University, all within the same campus. The only schooling I ever did outside UI was for Cambridge A’levels. I’d have to say that was a very important period in my life. One of my toughest times so far, and a life-changing season too. I met completely different people, found a lot about myself I never knew existed and actually learned to fight for myself. My story is never complete without Education Advancement Centre, Ibadan.

The one thing about growing up that makes me who I am now, is my height! Oh the height always made a difference. It’s the reason I was more of a tomboy than a lady.The reason I’m so awkward (working on that) and probably the reason I tend to be so nice and huggy, everyone finds comfort hugging the tall girl!  Growing up tall, made me very different from the average girl, the way I acted to guys was different, I couldn’t do the whole cute girl thing so I settled for being the ‘bro’, I never really liked that though and I changed that later on, well I’m still changing that. I always had mixed feelings about my height, sometimes I was really proud of it, sometimes I totally hated myself, but right now, with the kind of friends I have around, yh I’m good.

Ok, so my family background also had a role to play with my tomboy nature and interests. My parents, especially my dad, have never been the flamboyant type. No matter how much dad tries to act all posh, he never gets it right! I remember how they made fun of me when I started trying out makeup, not cause they hate it, but it’s just weird being like that. But I overcame that, thank God my sister and I were in the struggle together. We had to be ladies by force!

I spent a lot of time with my diary, maybe cause I didn’t have many friends, or rather I didn’t trust enough to give out secrets. I always had so many thoughts going on in my head, I shared so few of them and wrote all of them. My diary was my best friend, so much it actually had a birthday! Yes, she did.

I always looked forward to my birthday. That was my favorite day of the year. Mom used to make this special cake, that was just so awesome. We’ve tried so many times to copy it after she stopped, but we just never got the cake right, there was always something wrong with our recipe, something was always missing, probably mommy’s love.

Growing up was ok, I do wish I had done more with my time then, spent more time with people and actually been a better friend. I have few regrets, but I’d have to say I really do wish I opened up more, I wish I hadn’t allowed my insecurities get the better of me. I wish I was more confident in myself, and I went after what I wanted some more.

The lesson I have for teenagers is this; it is ok to be everyone’s friend, but don’t miss out on having true friends, those ones you can be honest with and give you a shoulder to cry on. The ones that lift you up. No matter who you are, you can always find your type of people and the ones to relate with. Let go of what the media shows as ‘bff’ and all the ‘girly‘ and ‘bratz‘ stuff. They’re not real. True friends do more than looking good together, take selfies everywhere and talk about boys (or girls), well yh we do love that and we’re not about to stop, but then there’s more to friendship. True friends make you feel at home. Start by being a friend to someone, you’re a lot happier that way.

There’s still a lot more to growing up for me, and a few years from now, I’ll have different stories to tell, and more lessons learned. Growing up till the day I die.