LIFE IS NOT A DRILL

LIFE IS NOT A DRILL

(LOST IN AN OCEAN OF PEOPLE)

“I’m lost, trying to get found in an ocean of people. 

Please don’t ask me any questions, there won’t be a valid answer, I’ll just say 

– I DON’T KNOW MY NAME! 

I don’t play by the rules of the game. 

So you’ll say I’m not trying but I’m trying to find my way. ”   

Grace VanderWaal (12-year-old winner of AMERICA’S GOT TALENT 2016).

For the first time ever, I found myself struggling to come up with a blog post title. 

I thought I was good at this naming thing lol. 

I mean – DISCOVERING MY SHAMELESS PATH, MY JOURNEY TO SHAMELESSNESS, etc. 

I knew exactly what I wanted to write about but just couldn’t come up with a title.

I recovered from my writer’s “title name” block after the fire alarm went off at my office and I was on the 14^th floor and had to escape a fire for the first time ever.

"Get out! Get out! Move! Move!" They all screamed. 

I actually left my purse and laptop behind and ran out of the office with just my phone. 

And as soon as I got to the stairs, I saw the janitor laughing and saying 

“why una dey run? Na just practice Dem dey do na!” (Meaning: why are you all running? It’s just a DRILL! ). 

The level of relief I felt was beyond measure and I just ignored everyone else and walked back into my office to get the rest of my things.  

I closed the door and went downstairs thinking about whether to buy the N100 gala or two N50 ones.

You may be wondering why I didn’t doubt the credibility of the cleaner...

I mean, what if there really was a fire and she didn’t know? 

Or she was just an evil spirit possessed human being sent by the devil to lead me astray? 

Well I don’t know either. 

There was just this level of balance and relief that came with knowing that there was a 50% chance that there was a 100% chance that I wasn’t going to become a fire victim.

Anyway, the point of this very long- short summary of events is to give you an idea of what the title means.

According to the first Bing search result I got after typing  “drill meaning” into  the search box,

A drill is “an instruction or training in military exercises”. 

Synonyms for "drill" are TRAINING, INSTRUCTION, COACHING, TEACHING, etc.

When we were brought into this world, we didn’t come with an instruction manual. 

Well, at least my mum said I didn’t. 

When a child is born, it’s like an empty storybook that only has a title (its name). 

The pages, completely blank! 

Until the child comes in contact with ink. 

This ink its from family, its environment, its extended family, school, books, friends, religion, the internet and basically every other thing that has an opinion on any subject at all.

At some point in each and every one of our lives, we have been lost. 

Some of us even physically. 

I mean I get lost all time, I’m terrible with directions. 

But that’s not what I’m referring to as lost.  

Right now I’m talking about being lost MENTALLY, EMOTIONALLY and worst of all, SOCIALLY.

“The stars are dull when they're compared to you and I 

and if people don't like it then they can close their eyes 

because we're not the same and  we don't have to try 

because we're brighter than fireflies, we're gonna light the sky” 

Grace VanderWaal.

Thanks to my first fire drill experience, I was able to conclude that life itself is large, unpredictable and unavoidable. It cannot be treated as a drill. People do not just match out in an orderly manner without panicking when faced with an immediate threat to their lives. They run! Jump! Fight! And push!

Many successful people are often quick to write books about how they became successful and the steps they took and would advise that you take to achieve this success. As average human beings, sometimes we buy into all this. Some people even follow these instructions, get to a particular destination and at the age of 40 start to ask themselves the mind burgling question, “WHAT’S MY PURPOSE?”

To be continued.

Thanks for reading, please comment your opinions and suggestions and I’ll be sure to get back to you if need be.