Whoosh. I am writing this from Australia, I came to visit my husband after being apart for the longest period yet since we got married. The main reason why there was a long gap was because of my exam – this exam practically took over my life for the first 4 months of 2026.
As you may know from my previous post, I had to make the difficult decision to take my son to go live with my parents in Nigeria when our initial childcare plans fell through while I was having to prepare for a high stakes exam without my husband or mum in law to help with childcare. I knew I needed to lock in and my parents kindly offered to look after our son so off we went on my boy’s first international trip. The way I wept at the airport and at nearly every Sunday service from that day? I felt the weight of my decision everyday but Sundays were extra hard for some reason. My formerly lively house had been reduced to deafening silence and it was a lot to bear. I just kept using the pain and fuel to study harder, I told myself this struggle can’t all be for nothing.
I’m writing about how much went in to this because I don’t want to minimize the efforts I put in; some people do this exam and carry on quietly and that’s all well and good for them – but one way to stay grounded and grateful in my experience is to really reminisce and reflect on the journey towards the achievement. I know how many times I missed something or left early because I had study group to coordinate. I know how many hours of studying I put in daily – even on the plane! My television was completely off for a solid 4 months. I had no clue what was trending because I deleted my Twitter as it was distracting me from my daily question bank goals.
Sharing this because effort is purposeful. Effort is what makes me appreciate the outcome and I believe there is honour in labour. I look back at the tenacity with which I achieved this feat and can reference how I built my resilience and grit brick by brick. I want to be able to pass this trait to my children because it has helped me so much in my life; because of resilience I’m not one to whimper at the possibility of discomfort or inconvenience.
I’m really proud of me! On to the next challenge!
Best,
Dr ETK xo
