My 2019 Year: Year of Self Realization
By: Segun Smute
Tags: Ui Ux Design, Life Lessons, UI Design

Writing this to document the start of something beautiful in my life, openly acknowledge my mistakes and be grateful for the journey so far with the ultimate hope of inspiring someone out there

Introduction

This morning I got a message from my mentor/friend saying i should write on my previous year in reviews, I almost didn’t want to do it because, to be very honest 2019 wasn’t the best of years for me. I had big hopes and big dreams that i wanted to accomplish but couldn’t that year.. Lol I’m referring to few hours ago as “That year”

oh well, i sat down to actually re-evaluate the year to realize that those downs and L’s that i thought I gathered were just preparation into a career that I’ve grown to love and be pretty good at. I’m really hopeful that 2020 would be a year of opened doors for me.

My financial GbasGbos(Lol, I’m terrible at writing Articles)

I started 2019 with the hope of being on of the biggest celebrity stylists/fashion entrepreneur but little did i know that Civil Engineering(The course I study in Uni) had a totally different plan for me… The work Load in school was so much that I literally had to drop anything business for it Considering the fact that No be only me get my result, na my whole family get am, Lol. I have to make sure that my CGPA is not entirely terrible.

On that, I have to say a big thank you to all THE WAY members(Chisom, Bolu, Ay, Toyin, Ope, KUNLE, bukola, etc) for the constant ginger to study and be up to date. Due to the fact that i dropped business to focus on my academics, I was at the worst financial state of my life, ahhh only people close to me can relate to this, I was broke and shattered to pieces but I’m very grateful to people who stood by me and supported me, God bless you.

My Struggle with Depression

In 2019 like i said earlier, i suffered many L’s in projects that i wanted to see through, I got my heart broken(Lol, Shhhh), things generally didn’t seem to be going my way. So all of that just kept on fueling the already existing state of depression But, i have really wonderful friends that understood that i wasn’t happy all the time and tried thier best to put smiles on my face. By God’s grace, I’m better now and I’m working constantly to being a happier and more healthy person.

My 21'st Birthday

I can already imagine the surprise in many people’s faces as they read this Lol

Yes oh, I’m only 21… To those who thought otherwise, no vex(It’s paining me I don’t know how to add emoji’s to these articles yet). I spent my 21'st birthday’s with some of my closest friends.. They planned me a little house party even though I wasn’t entirely interested, I commend their efforts and I’m truly grateful.

Later that night while i was sipping my Jameson, I looked up to the sky and I asked myself “Smute, what are you doing? It’s your Birthday, Why are you not happy” That Night, I had a full conversation with myself and mehn.. It was the best and most inspiring conversations I’d ever had, if you don’t already have conversations with yourself, I highly recommend it. By the time I finished Answering that question, I realized the reason I wasn’t happy was because I felt i haven’t lived up to MY expectations, Can you imagine that?

But then by the time I finished the chit chat with myself I learnt 3 sets of things

1. Did you know it takes 15–20 years from the time of planting for a coconut tree to grow and start producing coconuts? For those years, it’s seems like it is useless.. Just there. So, I came to realize that every good thing in life comes with a process.

2. Every successful person is a master in something that others are not. That is what stands them out.

3. Your age doesn’t matter

Now, I don’t believe in age anymore but i believe in age bracket.. People younger than 18 shouldn’t drink, ‘people in this age bracket should already start doing that’ type of thing.

So I concluded with this “Seek Knowledge in a field. Any field at all but preferably one that you’re naturally good at, be consistent with your Strive to being at MASTER level in that field, stick to the process of your life and watch yourself grow into greatness”.

THE START OF MY CAREER AS A UI/UX DESIGNER

After that Night, I became more confident about my future. I sat down to search myself and do a little research on skills that are needed around the world. Naturally, I have the ability to spot the details in design and ultimately appreciation good designs when i see them. But I never saw myself actually designing stuff from scratch. So, one morning I said to myself, “why not take a look at this UI UX thingy it’s not exactly out of your comfort zone”

Then I remembered i had some friends already in that sector, so i decided to reach out to get tips. I play instruments, at least to almost professional level. So, I understand how annoying it is to teach someone that has zero knowledge in a field about the field. So i categorized the friends i had in that field from good to best.(I’m saying this thing as if they’re more than 2. LOL). Then i went ahead to get some background knowledge of UI/UX designing. I did this so I don’t go to them for assistance as a complete Novice.

I followed a 3 step plan, which is; Read, Learn, Practice. over and over and over again.. LOL when I blow, maybe I’ll right an article on how to follow this plan properly.

It’s been about a month since I’ve been designing and wow it has been great so far, I just keep getting better and better and better by the day, I think I’ve found the LOML, LOL.

I want to say a very Big thank you to Timothy Ayegbede for the start up Knowledge and my friend/Mentor David Ukauwa for trying to answer my numerous questions and picking most of my 1AM calls, I promise not to relent and to make y’all proud of me. Lol(Some chessy ass lines). I love you both, and God bless you

And I can’t wait to create Magic this year.