I quit!
I joined the choir when I was 13.
Oh! No. Lol.
It wasn’t exactly by choice.
I think the church I was in at the time wanted to start a choir, and they thought I was a good fit. I also thought I was. And honestly, I tried to be a good fit. You all know that it was around that time that I started to write as well. Singing made it all the better.
We had such a beautiful choir. It was an amazing experience with great leaders and members. It felt like home. I quit when I was 15 because I had to write WAEC and rejoined when I was 18. It was like coming back home.
I guess that’s why it felt weird when I quit.
So many people knew me as someone who sang in church. Nobody understood why I would stop. Before I did, I honestly sat myself down — as the overthinker that I am — and thought through everything. I wanted to be sure about my reasons. I wanted to know if I was making the right decision. And because it was all I had ever known when it came to working in my Father’s house, I didn’t know how else to go. So I prayed about it and asked God to help me.
And my decision after that is a story for another day.
I realized something for real as I spoke to a friend yesterday. It was so clear, and I realized that this was what I had been battling with - comfort.
Sometimes, when we are so comfortable in a place, we may just want to remain there. We are not challenged to leave. We stay there because it’s our comfort zone. It reminds me so much of my career change. I had worked in customer care, and then I made a switch to admin and management operations. But my boss at that time suggested tech to me, which I tried. However, I felt it was too much, too boring, and I just wanted to be in a place where I was familiar.
It did limit me.
Let me tell you how. Because I wasn’t willing to leave my comfort zone, my boss decided to have me focus more on my current job role, and I missed out on a lot of things I could have learned if I had given tech a chance back then. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my job in HR admin and management operations, and I learned a lot, but my aversion to leaving my comfort zone made me start learning now what I could’ve learned then.
Because now, I work in tech.
Yes. It was a strange transition. I was literally pushed into it because, looking back now, it was almost like I didn’t really choose it. But I realize now that it was the right fit for me. It was exactly what I would’ve done, and I am glad that I didn’t let myself remain in my comfort zone anymore.
Every day in this job, I am pushed to my limits, pushed to learn, forced to think, and I don’t have a choice but to keep learning, taking courses, and trying to be better.
Thank God I didn’t stay in my comfort zone. I can’t even stay there anymore because I don’t have a choice but to keep getting better at what I do.
It was a wake-up call for me.
I hope it is for you as well.
Maybe the reason you feel like your life is empty is that you’re not doing exactly what you ought to do. But if you never try other things, you’ll probably never know. Staying in your comfort zone won’t help you. It’s not going to announce you to your world. It’s not going to help you be good at what you do.
Even when you are great at what you do, you’re going to need to keep learning, leaving your comfort zone, and putting yourself out there to be better.
Nobody is going to force you to shine. You’re going to have to put yourself in a position where you don’t have to try to shine; you just shine. Don’t be comfortable with average. That’s not why God called you. He said, “Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has in store for them that love Him.”
You were not called to be mediocre. Even if you’re a cleaner, learn the best and most effective way to be a cleaner so you shine through the work of your hands!
I can’t wait to see you thrive.
I’m cheering you on, always!
