Chase Your Passion Wholeheartedly!
Passion is a strong and barely controllable emotion. This emotion could be towards a negative or a positive direction.
What I mean is that one could actually be passionately perverse: which is bad. It is therefore very indispensable to identify the direction a passion is taking. When you feel that passion, you feel the pull to make it happen. That force-feeds persistence and that persistence, guided by both your heart and mind is the vital part of the path to success. It also has to do with believing in that force. Do not allow anything to stand on your way.
Hold on, have you asked yourself about your passion or you are just not passionate enough about anything? Well here is how to discover what you are passionate about. You got to watch out for these and answer these questions honestly, you could work out what to do with the rest of your life.
"What subject could I read 500 books about without getting bored?"
"What could I do for five years straight without getting paid?"
"What would I spend my time doing if I had a complete financial abundance to do anything?"
To tell the truth, I am currently enrolled in a master’s degree program but my passion to communicate is still top. I attend lessons but I am more concerned about communicating with this global village than reading university old books. I couldn’t get the chance to attend a journalism training school after high school. Though I had manifested my flair in that field, I continuously seized opportunities to manifest how much my mouth could say at any least given chance.
I have worked as a Master of Ceremony (MC) on many occasions even for free just to show my love for the call. I have given live commentaries in the final matches of football tournaments around Kumbo – my locality. I have done voluntary services for Helenkriss FM Radio Kumbo, I also took some time to work for the centre regional station of the National Radio in Yaoundé. At most of these places, I offered myself for free and never allowed a lack of financial motivation to stop me. I trekked long distances to do these.
The pain of trekking to me was that necessary experience. I used any moment I had to trek as a chance to reflect on my apt. Usually, after I had asked myself the question “…is this worth it”? the answers were all blowing in the air. I knew that it was my call to communicate.
I remember way back in 2012, I was in the last class of the high school, I was given the powers to exceptionally control three social clubs (Drama, Debate and Journalism) in the biggest government school in the Division (known in some places as County) while handling these three, I had the huge task to coordinate the school news that was presented on all Mondays and Fridays. I am not from a rich home, and so from my uniform, down to my school shoes, I was nothing but a shadow of how my idols (journalists) looked. I got mocked at since sometimes our news items had to point the ills which were found amongst the students. I didn’t get that respect but hey it didn’t deter me.
I continuously told myself … Alvin, you are made of much and you are more than these. Shortly within 2012, I was selected amongst those who had to submit articles for the launching a youth magazine that was founded by an American Peace Cop. I was glad that somebody had seen in my value. I submitted three articles and two were selected. The sales were not very good though but the waves about our publication crossed the national boundary. Throughout my life in high school, I became bolder and more open to public speaking. I could visit any school administrator and discuss matters about the running of the school without fear. I was loved by most of those administrators and teachers. We were just socializing in school, there was no pay.
I was listening to the radio one day, a quiz was going on and I was the lucky winner after participating. I was called to come and pick my prize up from the radio station. On a set day, I arrived at the station and was shown all the studios and offices. I immediately fell in love with the radio. I was quick to ask one of the staffs there what I needed to do to be like them. He told to address an application letter to the station manager. I rushed back home and acted fast. Then I was contacted by the station manager. He told me that, I had no training in the field I was eager to get into and so I was going to be monitored closely to see if I was going to stay or not. This was a dream come true but then I was not put on any salary. It was a local radio station mostly into playing music, radio announcements, relaying the national station and sometimes the BBC.
One of the guys working then handed over a certain program he was doing called Champions and Heroes to me. This was a program where I asked general knowledge questions and people called in to answer. People suddenly had a new, young, energetic and different voice on the microphone. It was a great feeling. I started feeding the public with information. The program ran from 5pm to 6pm. So I could comfortably do it and go to school. Then I added another program during the nights as from 8:30pm. It was getting sweeter.
Soon it was a holiday. I had to work full time. That is when pain and suffering came my way. The distance of 7Km on foot every day and stressing at the radio became worrisome. It didn’t have time to assist much at home again. But it was not bringing anything back home. There was a free room in the radio house so, I contacted the man in charge. He accepted that I could stay there. I had to live there, without a pot, spoon, cup, just nothing but it didn’t bother me. I worked to the extent that the hunger in me was evident. I was not ignorant of the fact that the money I sweated for was being eaten by others. I used to tell myself, it is their time. Let them be.
It was not until the station manager discovered that I was staying in the station that trouble befell me. Behold he asked me to stop living on the radio. He, however, didn’t stop me from working, knowing fully well that some months he could only support me with 5000FCFA (equivalent to $8.48) from which I could not even pay light bills, rent and water bill before feeding. I cannot tell what still kept me there. I was growing paler as the days went by. Luckily for me, there was an old car, spoilt beyond repairs parked in front of the radio station. I found it as a home. After my late-night programs, I would go out and sleep in the old dirty cargo. It was there for over two weeks.
All these didn’t stress me much as I still respected my work schedule at the radio because I had fans and listeners growing every day and I received encouraging messages from them. It kept me going. For two weeks the manager didn’t bother to know what I had done or where I had gone. He’d taken the keys from me and didn’t worry anymore. He simply didn’t want me to be staying there I guess because everything that was picked and brought to the radio was kept there. Maybe some radio staff had stolen from there but in my case, I did not know why. I decided to visit one of the manager’s friends who was his colleague. I got there and explained how life had turned out sour for me at the station. He is an understanding man. He spoke sense into me and promised to talk to his buddy - the manager.
The manager was brought to reason with me. So I moved back to the radio before it was school resumption. September soon came, I had spent all my energy behind the microphone, entertaining (a combination of informing and entertaining) the public. The proprietor did not just cough about helping me in going back to school. Well, the family did not desert me. My fee was paid. I was in the final class, ready to take four papers in the GCE Advanced Level examination. This is the final exams one must write in order to dream of the university or any form of higher education. I still had time to go and do my radio programs.
One afternoon, in school I got an invitation to report in the principal’s office. I honoured the call, behold a group of actors had left the Provincial (now called regional) capital to visiting our division. They came with a project that needed to be passed to students in the whole division. These big guys had to teach us in drama form how best to convey the message of transparency international through budget transparency initiative to the poor students. I listened as they explained their mission. So I gave them a rendezvous on when we would be having our weekly meeting. The following week, they came and we met. Out of the many club members present, some students myself included were nominated to head the initiative.
We each had to come out and make a campaign speech. Public speaking had become a routine for me. Whilst others stumbled in conjugating verbs and avoiding grammatical errors, I concentrated on passing the message. I was chosen. We were drilled on how to act, speak and behave regarding the idea. It was during this time that I created my first ever email address. This was for me to be able to communicate with the project coordinator in the regional capital Bamenda. I had many other connections through this and benefits.
I never stopped telling myself that one-day things were going to get better for me. I believed in myself more than any. And I made myself very and readily available at the service of the radio station if I was needed. There was a day I had to travel overnight to the coast to get the radio’s transmitter after it was repaired. Worthy of note is the fact that I took this journey without informing my family, minding less about any possible effects. My family would have never allowed me to believe I could have done that because the GCE exams were still going on and I still a paper to write.
All these I did was because I had a pull in communication, not the money but we cannot be deaf to the call of a hungry stomach. When the results of the exams came out weeks later, I made it great in all my four subjects. I had gone in for Economics, Geography, History and Philosophy. It was time to go for bigger things – the university.
It was October 2013, when I packed to go down to Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. I was going to live with my uncle. My stay in Yaoundé became very short owing to the fact that the university that could accept what I wanted to learn was far from where my uncle lived. He categorically told me he couldn’t afford to go and get me a room and furnish it for school or be giving 1500FCFA (about $3) daily as transport allowances. I had to stay idle for a while in consternation. Then one day I decided to go and try working at a cash wash. There I met great people who were nice. So one day I got personal with one of the car owners and we talked at length. At the end after discovering what a resource I was, he gave the contact of a certain man working for the national station.
When I contacted the said man, he advised that I addressed an application letter to the station manager. Which I did. He was happy to discover me and I was one of the few lucky people to have worked for the national station with just Advanced level certificate. He pushed me to start working with him even before the manager could put an ok on my application file. Every day I had to present a meaningful article on any topic on the talk show program for one month. He was pushing to get me known and noticed because he had had a better paying job at the US embassy. He wanted me to be retained especially as he going to be leaving there. Unfortunately for me, few days after he left, I got kicked out. It is interesting to note that I was still washing cars and doing some home teaching jobs within this particular time.
It was December 2013, I got a call from the country’s project director of budget transparency Initiative under Transparency International. He asked if I was busy with something, and I told him no. He offered me a part-time job to supervise the construction of his residence. I accepted because life was pretty boredom without microphones. I moved to Bamenda and worked with him for 09months and his house was complete. Then I decided to go back to Kumbo as they’d moved into their new house.
I went back to Kumbo because some friends and listeners had missed listening to my programs. Some wanted me to work with them in some entertainment and publishing areas. Well, I was available. We started well but I later dissociated myself from them when they started changing the terms of our contract. I left them and concentrated only on the radio.
I had been exposed to live in town and how radio programs are done better. Some of which had been inspiring to me. So once back in Kumbo, I reframed those great programs I followed while away and believe me it was a huge success. It is, in fact, the reason why I have the following I have today. I could only do it because I had the pull. I only left Kumbo in 2015 when my family raised some money for me to go back to school.
I opted to study economics because resources are always and shall always be scarce. We need good economists, in short, I think everyone is some level of an economist within. That way I can have a good job that pays well but allows me to gather funds and follow my passion. In my Cameroon, journalism is for hand clappers or practised under the armpit. I don’t enjoy that. To have a good job as a journalist it will take more than just being talented. You will need connections too. I didn’t have connections with people who were for tribalism or nepotism.
I am still the process of chasing my passion.
But perhaps it would be good for you to know that chasing your passion is cool because;
- It provides clarity of purpose.
Harriet Tubman says “every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within your strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world”
- Your passion will feed and clothe you.
- It is just fun.
- It allows you to remove the excess.
- It will eventually pay you very well.
- The world will acknowledge your wisdom.
Hunter S. Thompson says “Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing”
Therefore, I can state here, that passion is handed to us by a divine hand. We only have two choices; to chase to the end and eventually be great or allow it to burn out like fire drenched with water. In the end, the choice is yours to make but should you need my advice: Choose to fight for your dreams and let the world be a better place.
Hold on, have you asked yourself about your passion or you are just not passionate enough about anything? Well here is how to discover what you are passionate about. You got to watch out for these and answer these questions honestly, you could work out what to do with the rest of your life.
"What subject could I read 500 books about without getting bored?"
"What could I do for five years straight without getting paid?"
"What would I spend my time doing if I had a complete financial abundance to do anything?"
To tell the truth, I am currently enrolled in a master’s degree program but my passion to communicate is still top. I attend lessons but I am more concerned about communicating with this global village than reading university old books. I couldn’t get the chance to attend a journalism training school after high school. Though I had manifested my flair in that field, I continuously seized opportunities to manifest how much my mouth could say at any least given chance.
I have worked as a Master of Ceremony (MC) on many occasions even for free just to show my love for the call. I have given live commentaries in the final matches of football tournaments around Kumbo – my locality. I have done voluntary services for Helenkriss FM Radio Kumbo, I also took some time to work for the centre regional station of the National Radio in Yaoundé. At most of these places, I offered myself for free and never allowed a lack of financial motivation to stop me. I trekked long distances to do these.
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| Chase Your Passion Wholeheartedly! |
I remember way back in 2012, I was in the last class of the high school, I was given the powers to exceptionally control three social clubs (Drama, Debate and Journalism) in the biggest government school in the Division (known in some places as County) while handling these three, I had the huge task to coordinate the school news that was presented on all Mondays and Fridays. I am not from a rich home, and so from my uniform, down to my school shoes, I was nothing but a shadow of how my idols (journalists) looked. I got mocked at since sometimes our news items had to point the ills which were found amongst the students. I didn’t get that respect but hey it didn’t deter me.
I continuously told myself … Alvin, you are made of much and you are more than these. Shortly within 2012, I was selected amongst those who had to submit articles for the launching a youth magazine that was founded by an American Peace Cop. I was glad that somebody had seen in my value. I submitted three articles and two were selected. The sales were not very good though but the waves about our publication crossed the national boundary. Throughout my life in high school, I became bolder and more open to public speaking. I could visit any school administrator and discuss matters about the running of the school without fear. I was loved by most of those administrators and teachers. We were just socializing in school, there was no pay.
I was listening to the radio one day, a quiz was going on and I was the lucky winner after participating. I was called to come and pick my prize up from the radio station. On a set day, I arrived at the station and was shown all the studios and offices. I immediately fell in love with the radio. I was quick to ask one of the staffs there what I needed to do to be like them. He told to address an application letter to the station manager. I rushed back home and acted fast. Then I was contacted by the station manager. He told me that, I had no training in the field I was eager to get into and so I was going to be monitored closely to see if I was going to stay or not. This was a dream come true but then I was not put on any salary. It was a local radio station mostly into playing music, radio announcements, relaying the national station and sometimes the BBC.
One of the guys working then handed over a certain program he was doing called Champions and Heroes to me. This was a program where I asked general knowledge questions and people called in to answer. People suddenly had a new, young, energetic and different voice on the microphone. It was a great feeling. I started feeding the public with information. The program ran from 5pm to 6pm. So I could comfortably do it and go to school. Then I added another program during the nights as from 8:30pm. It was getting sweeter.
Soon it was a holiday. I had to work full time. That is when pain and suffering came my way. The distance of 7Km on foot every day and stressing at the radio became worrisome. It didn’t have time to assist much at home again. But it was not bringing anything back home. There was a free room in the radio house so, I contacted the man in charge. He accepted that I could stay there. I had to live there, without a pot, spoon, cup, just nothing but it didn’t bother me. I worked to the extent that the hunger in me was evident. I was not ignorant of the fact that the money I sweated for was being eaten by others. I used to tell myself, it is their time. Let them be.
All these didn’t stress me much as I still respected my work schedule at the radio because I had fans and listeners growing every day and I received encouraging messages from them. It kept me going. For two weeks the manager didn’t bother to know what I had done or where I had gone. He’d taken the keys from me and didn’t worry anymore. He simply didn’t want me to be staying there I guess because everything that was picked and brought to the radio was kept there. Maybe some radio staff had stolen from there but in my case, I did not know why. I decided to visit one of the manager’s friends who was his colleague. I got there and explained how life had turned out sour for me at the station. He is an understanding man. He spoke sense into me and promised to talk to his buddy - the manager.
The manager was brought to reason with me. So I moved back to the radio before it was school resumption. September soon came, I had spent all my energy behind the microphone, entertaining (a combination of informing and entertaining) the public. The proprietor did not just cough about helping me in going back to school. Well, the family did not desert me. My fee was paid. I was in the final class, ready to take four papers in the GCE Advanced Level examination. This is the final exams one must write in order to dream of the university or any form of higher education. I still had time to go and do my radio programs.
One afternoon, in school I got an invitation to report in the principal’s office. I honoured the call, behold a group of actors had left the Provincial (now called regional) capital to visiting our division. They came with a project that needed to be passed to students in the whole division. These big guys had to teach us in drama form how best to convey the message of transparency international through budget transparency initiative to the poor students. I listened as they explained their mission. So I gave them a rendezvous on when we would be having our weekly meeting. The following week, they came and we met. Out of the many club members present, some students myself included were nominated to head the initiative.
We each had to come out and make a campaign speech. Public speaking had become a routine for me. Whilst others stumbled in conjugating verbs and avoiding grammatical errors, I concentrated on passing the message. I was chosen. We were drilled on how to act, speak and behave regarding the idea. It was during this time that I created my first ever email address. This was for me to be able to communicate with the project coordinator in the regional capital Bamenda. I had many other connections through this and benefits.
I never stopped telling myself that one-day things were going to get better for me. I believed in myself more than any. And I made myself very and readily available at the service of the radio station if I was needed. There was a day I had to travel overnight to the coast to get the radio’s transmitter after it was repaired. Worthy of note is the fact that I took this journey without informing my family, minding less about any possible effects. My family would have never allowed me to believe I could have done that because the GCE exams were still going on and I still a paper to write.
All these I did was because I had a pull in communication, not the money but we cannot be deaf to the call of a hungry stomach. When the results of the exams came out weeks later, I made it great in all my four subjects. I had gone in for Economics, Geography, History and Philosophy. It was time to go for bigger things – the university.
It was October 2013, when I packed to go down to Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon. I was going to live with my uncle. My stay in Yaoundé became very short owing to the fact that the university that could accept what I wanted to learn was far from where my uncle lived. He categorically told me he couldn’t afford to go and get me a room and furnish it for school or be giving 1500FCFA (about $3) daily as transport allowances. I had to stay idle for a while in consternation. Then one day I decided to go and try working at a cash wash. There I met great people who were nice. So one day I got personal with one of the car owners and we talked at length. At the end after discovering what a resource I was, he gave the contact of a certain man working for the national station.
When I contacted the said man, he advised that I addressed an application letter to the station manager. Which I did. He was happy to discover me and I was one of the few lucky people to have worked for the national station with just Advanced level certificate. He pushed me to start working with him even before the manager could put an ok on my application file. Every day I had to present a meaningful article on any topic on the talk show program for one month. He was pushing to get me known and noticed because he had had a better paying job at the US embassy. He wanted me to be retained especially as he going to be leaving there. Unfortunately for me, few days after he left, I got kicked out. It is interesting to note that I was still washing cars and doing some home teaching jobs within this particular time.
It was December 2013, I got a call from the country’s project director of budget transparency Initiative under Transparency International. He asked if I was busy with something, and I told him no. He offered me a part-time job to supervise the construction of his residence. I accepted because life was pretty boredom without microphones. I moved to Bamenda and worked with him for 09months and his house was complete. Then I decided to go back to Kumbo as they’d moved into their new house.
I went back to Kumbo because some friends and listeners had missed listening to my programs. Some wanted me to work with them in some entertainment and publishing areas. Well, I was available. We started well but I later dissociated myself from them when they started changing the terms of our contract. I left them and concentrated only on the radio.
I had been exposed to live in town and how radio programs are done better. Some of which had been inspiring to me. So once back in Kumbo, I reframed those great programs I followed while away and believe me it was a huge success. It is, in fact, the reason why I have the following I have today. I could only do it because I had the pull. I only left Kumbo in 2015 when my family raised some money for me to go back to school.
I opted to study economics because resources are always and shall always be scarce. We need good economists, in short, I think everyone is some level of an economist within. That way I can have a good job that pays well but allows me to gather funds and follow my passion. In my Cameroon, journalism is for hand clappers or practised under the armpit. I don’t enjoy that. To have a good job as a journalist it will take more than just being talented. You will need connections too. I didn’t have connections with people who were for tribalism or nepotism.
I am still the process of chasing my passion.
But perhaps it would be good for you to know that chasing your passion is cool because;
- It provides clarity of purpose.
Harriet Tubman says “every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within your strength, the patience and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world”
- Your passion will feed and clothe you.
- It is just fun.
- It allows you to remove the excess.
- It will eventually pay you very well.
- The world will acknowledge your wisdom.
Hunter S. Thompson says “Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing”
Therefore, I can state here, that passion is handed to us by a divine hand. We only have two choices; to chase to the end and eventually be great or allow it to burn out like fire drenched with water. In the end, the choice is yours to make but should you need my advice: Choose to fight for your dreams and let the world be a better place.
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