Each time I see our young people complain, lamenting how difficult things are, with the doors of opportunity shut in their faces, I smile. If only they know.
Not too young to run? I smile. The young have always been running. All over the place. The young have always run. Look around you. Many of the old you see around you started out when they were young.
Run. You don’t need a hashtag to do so. The young have always run. What is different now is that we have the ‘not-so-young’ running under the cover of ‘not-too-young’. You don’t need a cover to run.
Run. Let the young run. Let the old run. Let the not-too-young run. But this is not even about running. It is about the time we live in and the myriad of opportunities available to the young out there.
Hundreds of opportunities to be a part of one international fellowship or the other. Opportunity to sit in your corner and creatively work your way up. Opportunity to put your talent and gift to use, at little or no cost. Opportunity to sit in your room and receive training from some of the best universities in the world – many for free. If only you know.
You think not being sufficiently experienced is a challenge in job search. Being young and inexperienced is a plus when it comes to many of these opportunities, with the age limit set at 30, some at 35. If only you know.
If only you know. Never has there been a generation so blessed with the opportunity to plug in to the best the world has on offer, becoming global citizens, with the least effott put in. If only you know.
Never has a generation been so blessed with an opportunity to leapfrog its way up – the internet is a massive gift, a major game-changer. Use it. Maximise it. You are not too young to thrive.
Quit complaining. Quit whining. If only you know. Some of us grew up in the age of the Typewriter. We did not have the internet. All we had was the post-office as a means of reaching out to a world beyond us. Only a few had the telephone – some analogue contraption with limited use, but expensive to maintain.
Only 2 decades back – there was no GSM phone here. Internet was only minimally accessible. If only you know.
If only the generations before yours had a tenth of the opportunities you now have at your fingertips. If only.
You are not too young to thrive. Look around you. The door is shut, break it down through the power of your mind. Creatively make use of the window. Pull down the wall through the power of imagination.
You are not too young to thrive.
© Simbo Olorunfemi
