Jessica Agorye's Blog

I wrote about my journey to becoming a web-developer some weeks ago, I talked about solutions that I think can be helpful especially as a beginner in the Tech industry. I also joined the 100 days of code challenge and truly and I have been following through although I feel like I could be doing more but let me just say that I'm still trying to create the right balance. I won't beat myself too much about it because I believe it's a step by step process and it'll fall in place as long as I keep thinking of ways to be better and act on my thoughts.

Sometime this week the funniest thing happened to me it wasn't so funny then but when I think about it now I laugh, I was studying and I got to the part where I had to take a quick exercise, just to be clear the course I'm taking online gives exercise/ assessment after different topics so you can test your knowledge. I got to a particular exercise, I attempted it, when I submitted I got it wrong, I read through the solution and the question once again, realized an error, I fixed it, with a conviction that the answer was correct I submitted once again, the same result “your solution is incorrect” at that moment I cannot completely explain it but I broke down I mean actual tears streaming down from my face “imagine taking candy from a child that kind of tears” I started talking to myself saying how can you not know this, this is easy, you've not even gone far and you can't get this simple exercise I was cursing myself out, saying to myself maybe I shouldn't be doing this, maybe I do not have the capacity to retain things, I thought about so many negative things, I was destabilized that word best describes my feeling at that moment.

After a while, I realized what I was doing and I was like yo Jess you can't be saying these things to yourself, I try to develop the habit of speaking good things into my life as a step to personal growth “which can be difficult sometimes” so I started speaking to my self with words of affirmation saying things like “you're not dumb” “you can do this” “you can't quit” etc basically just speaking sweet words to myself, I attempted the exercise again same result but this time I didn't stop with the encouraging words. I stopped for a moment, took a deep breathe read the question went through the solution I was certain there couldn't be any other answer. I submitted and the result was correct ladies and gentlemen, it turned out to be a connection problem after all. During the time the network was bad (and I didn't realize) it kept showing me the result of the first solution that had an error. The point of what I'm saying is sometimes the littlest problems/things make us want to give up, but do not let it discourage you. You'll make mistakes, you'll feel like you're not doing good enough but don't let that stop you don't speak negative words to yourself speak positive words. Imbibe the habit of complimenting/encouraging yourself trust me it really helps.

If you read through the first paragraph I mentioned “Thinking of ways to be better and Acting on my thoughts”. I know we've heard of the saying “Action speaks louder than words ” in this case, actions speak louder than words or thoughts because it is not enough to think of something or say it, doing it is what matters the most. If you have a thought that you know can help you be productive, write it down, don't let it slip away without bringing it to reality. Honestly, it took me about two weeks to write, I would always think of a topic write a few words, pause, delete, think of something new, post-pone and the circle continues. It took a little more effort to encourage myself to write this if not I would've kept it on hold for heaven knows how long.

Speak to yourself, encourage yourself, push your-self it's not easy but it's a step in the right direction. It takes a lot of commitment, hard work, and dedication but like I always say, it'll be worth it at the end of the day.