Thank you for another set of interesting and insightful weekend engagement topics this week @galenkp. I have chosen to answer the first question.
If you're visiting my blog for the first time you can join the contest here
I wanted to become a surgeon
Truly as children we all had ambitions to be and do certain things when we grow up. I remember as a kid I wanted to grow up and become a surgeon. This was majorly because my mother drummed it into my ears daily. My late mother is the perfect example of an African mum. She had a picture of what she wanted all her children to become in the future. She wanted my brother to become a pilot, my sister a lawyer and myself a surgeon.Not only did she talk about it often encouraging us, she bought wooden piggy banks for us and wrote on each person's own Pilot Tolu, Lawyer Gbemi and Surgeon Ponmile. It was funny then but at a point not made me start looking forward to becoming a surgeon. Initially I didn't know what it meant to be a surgeon, however I became curious about who surgeons are after mum write it in my piggy bank. So I began asking questions. I learnt that surgeons were like doctors but they were more special because they carried out surgeries. I also learnt that it will take a lot of work for me to study and become a surgeon. But because mum believed in me I felt encouraged, I wasn't going to let her down. I was willing to pursue the dream.
But I didn't become a surgeon
Sadly I didn't become a surgeon. Why? So many factors took away this dream. First of all as I grew up to become a teenager, I realized that I hated the sight of blood. I didn't like seeing injuries, cuts and messy blood. I cringed at the sight. Secondly on finishing college my mother died. Infact she died few days after my graduation. She had been terribly I'll during my final exams. She only waited for me to finish I suppose, and she died. Having been hospitalized for so long, I spent a lot of time in the hospital, this made me realize how much I hated the hospital environment. Seeing a lot of suck people. So when she eventually died I hated hospitals more. I hated the air if uncertainty, sadness and the eerie feeling around hospitals. This further made me realize that I wouldn't thrive in the medical line. To crown it all,in Nigeria, apart from being exceptionally brilliant, you had to know "strong forces" and people in power before you can gain admission to study certain courses in any university. Medicine and surgery was one of them. And there I was, I knew nobody. So all of these killed the dream.
However, I became a food scientist and technologist
For a while, I floated, not knowing what unwanted to study or become any longer. I didn't like this feeling but luckily I was able to get over it after few months. Also after hearing about food science and technology from my brother's friend. I was older and more matured so I was able to do more findings about the course and I realized it was something I was interested in. Learning about the chemistry behind food, making different products from food raw materials and designing machines as well as unique food products. It sounded interesting and interesting it was.
I graduated top of my class in 2014 after studying for 5 years. I have practiced in three different food companies since then.
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I can't imagine dedicating years of study and effort to something you don't like, and even worse that it disgusts you like what you say in your post, I wouldn't have been able to study something where I had to deal with blood and viscera either 😅
Exactly @miriannalis I couldn't have coped. Thanks for reading my entry
Thank you
HI @ponmile
Those three professions sound like the very typical ones that parents choose for their kids - I'm glad that you didn't pursue something that would have made you ill on a daily basis, it would have made you miserable.
Well done on graduating top of your class, you clearly enjoy your work.
Have a great weekend and thanks for taking part.
Thank you @andrastia