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temitopeojedele-adejumo

WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR DREAMS, YOU OWE NO ONE AN APOLOGY

Growing up and finding yourself is connected with a lot of obstacles. From peer pressure, to societal expectations to directives from parents and guardians; you just can’t seem to get your head above the water.

So many people with big dreams have missed out on their purpose, because they thought they owed some people an obligation and wouldn’t want to hurt their feelings.

Finding yourself and chasing after your career needs a lot of determination and conviction from you; for you to be able to achieve it; because even the closest person to you would discourage you from chasing that purpose if it doesn’t appeal to them.

Sometimes people go so far as to ask you to explain yourself for the decisions or choices you make in your own life. You might feel obliged to respond, but some things are really no one else’s business and you don’t owe anyone an explanation at all.

One of the most famous women in the world now, Dunai Gurira, who played the undaunted character of Okoye in world acclaimed “Black Panther”, got a lot of discouragement from her close pal, when she decided to study Theatre in college. Her friend gave her every negative reason not to do so; how she would be used; how she would never get anything serious out of it and so on. But she knew what she wanted and she headed for it. By the time her friend started seeing her on minor roles, he knew she was damn serious about what she wanted; and then like a blast; she was in everyone’s faces as one of the favourite characters in the movie.

Meryl Streep didn’t get a lead role in “King Kong” after she auditioned, because the team thought she was too ugly for the role. She said to them “I’m sorry you think I’m too ugly for your film, but you are just one opinion in a sea of thousands and I’m off to find a kinder tide”. Today, Meryl has 18 Academy Awards. She was able to achieve that because she didn’t allow people’s opinion to determine how she was going to chase her dream.

In as much as you know that you are walking on a fulfilling part, and your dreams would positively influence the growth of humanity; please keep at it; even if your ideas sound weird to the people around you. It is cool to make mistakes; it is what makes you stronger. But do not abandon your dreams to please anyone.

Hello,

I’m Tèmítọ́pẹ́

As a central analytic for the work of the institutional ethnographer, standpoint foregrounds the ways individuals are unique and therefore uniquely experience the broad social relations and institutional circuits in which they are embedded.
Standpoint recognizes that how people negotiate their social circumstances as professionals is entirely wrapped up in their ways of being in the world—who we are, what we know, how we are seen by others, our designated roles, and how we have been credentialed or come by our experiences all play a role in how we carry out our daily work.

— Michelle LaFrance, Institutional Ethnography, 2019.