Thread by @TundeTASH

Follow your gut.

The memory of what happened at Lagos Airport Hotel is still very fresh. I followed my gut that day and I am glad I did.

Some will say it can't be done so you shouldn't bother. You can either agree or you try.

#MondayMotivation

My classmate and I had entered for a competition. We really did not know how big it was but we just did. You know how "ginger-ed" secondary school students are.

It was the Lagos State Sickle Cell competition organized by an NGO.

The day we found out we were to compete against 38 schools in Lagos my shoulder dropped. Our classmates told us to forget it.

I am talking about schools like Kings College, BIS etc.

It was clear we had no match against these folks man 😫

Do you know why everyone thought we shouldn't bother?

We were students of a public school far away in Mile 2 - Jakande Estate. Quality of education there wasn't top notch. Just a few good students.

When we heard KC and co., we shivered 😫

My classmate and I braced ourself. "Bro, let us just run this thing."

It was an opportunity to make the school proud. Plus, who wouldn't want a day away from school to visit the Lagos Airport Hotel.

The day came eventually even though I dreaded it. The cup wouldn't pass us by literarily.

Anyways, I ironed my best uniform that morning, because man must still look good anyways.

My classmate and I met at school because one of our teachers needed to go with us, and while waiting to leave one of our classmate randomly said, "Just go fill the spaces there and come back".

Maybe that was the push we needed.

To cut the story short, we arrived Lagos airport hotel, the venue of the competition. The first thing I noticed was that other uniforms were finer than ours 😆.

"Lord why have you brought this upon us?"

See the problem was, I had accepted the possible outcome even before we went for that competition. Yes, we were no match to these schools. But why accept defeat even before trying?

Focus on the content! You carry much more than you know.

I really don't know how we did it, but we scaled through the stages to arrive at the final.

It was like a blur. How did we do it? How are we in the final?

The second place was already good enough. Even if we lost, I was totally fine. I mean, we never even imagined getting 10th.

Then the last question came.

I can never forget that question. It read, "Which of the ethnic groups in Nigeria has the highest number of people living with sickle cell?"

How on earth are we supposed to know? My classmate and I looked at each other.

He shook his head. He had no idea.

I looked at the moderator. Looked at my classmate. Looked back at the moderator.

My gut said, what ethnic group do you belong to? I said to myself, I am Yoruba.

And then, I said it out loud, "Yoruba".

The moderator shouted, "Yes!".

We won. After many difficult science questions, disbelief and self-doubt, we won.

We received our prices that day and took pictures with the most beautiful girl in Nigeria who was the special guest of the day.

Life presents us with hurdles sometimes and indices around us will make us think, there is no point in trying. It's a lie.

Indices are good, but many times you never can control an outcome. If your gut says yes at any point during the phase of a trial, go with it.

Later that day in school, my self & @defatigue were on top of the world. Everyone elated.

I think I was happier because as the head boy, I did not want to fall hand 😆

But in all, that experience taught me that you never win if you never try. And you'd need your gut at a point.

One week later, we were featured in the Punch newspaper for winning that competition.

I’d always remember that day and the little lesson learnt will never be forgotten.