Our Big Rush

Adulthood is a trick—no, let me use a better word, adulthood is a scam. Everything about it is a façade, nothing is as it seems. Why wasn’t I told about this? And to think that I was rushing to grow up—surprise! You’ve just been hoodwinked.

Well, let me frank—as my name is—there are some things about this stage of life that is real. Quite a few of them. And they aren’t funny at all. You’ve got the financial stress, emotional quagmire, social meltdown, health struggles, and did I forget the fact that you live a lie?

Seriously, I need to stop yabbering, and tell you why I decided to narrate this story, my story. It’s one story you need to know about, because it affects you too. Let’s see why.

My name is Frank Segun Balogun, a graduate of Mass Communication. Let me not mention my Alma Mater, it’s not relevant. I left the four walls of the university four years ago (it rhymes, right?—Four walls four years?). When I graduated, I had this high expectation, this soaring hope that very soon, I’ll be living the adult life. Boy, I couldn’t wait to land my first job.

Do you know what? As I’m talking, I haven’t even seen half a job. Haha, so much for aspirations. But I’m used to it, used to living by the day, not hoping for too much. Because too much hope can hurt. Focus Frank! You’re talking to someone!

As I was saying, when I graduated, I got to know what being an adult really meant. It started few months after, when I was broke and was looking for a way to earn. My parents had subtly hinted that my allowance had to be reduced to enable them cater for my four younger siblings. I applied everywhere I could—news agencies, banks, studios, schools, you name it. But I got zilch. My qualifications weren’t up to what they wanted, they had said.

To add to that, my mates, those who went to ‘hustle’, made it big. They had become rich, while I was chasing a job. What was wrong with me? Was I cursed?

Did I tell you that I never wanted to study Mass Communication? Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t. Truth is, all my life, I’d wanted to be a chef. It stemmed from how my mother had trained me; she had never wanted me to be a ‘kitchen dullard’ as she refers to them. During those my formative years, I’d discovered the art of cooking and had fallen in love with it.

But who listens to such crap like having dreams and passions? When there are stated fields you had to be in. For my parents, it was Law or nothing. Case closed. I took my entrance exams, botched my attempt at Law and landed in Mass Communication, a course I had no love for. I trudged along with the course till I got out. Now I’m stuck in a bar with you, a bottle in my hand and pain in my soul.

By the way, what kind of pastor goes around looking for people in bars, and asking them questions? Why do you ask as if you care? No one cares for the adult with no money.

Another interesting thing is that I know many people, most of them, my friends, who are in the same predicament as me, but they don’t talk. No, why would they? The only thing the society asks of the adult is to be an adult—what is that, anyway?

Well, this is gonna be my last drink in a long time to come. You know why? Because I’m taking charge of my life. I’m going back to school, this time to chase my dreams. Fuck the stereotypical society! I’m going to do what I want to do.

And this is what you should do too. Chase your dreams. They’re going to be wild, but you know what? The wilder the dream, the better it is. For as one person once said, “If everyone agrees with your dream, then, it’s a nightmare, not a dream.”