I used to think final year is a time to relax, flex do whatever it is you like and work on your research topic with swags. I used to think there would be enough time for me to do whatever it is that I like and at the same time stay gracious and fly. Now I know better!
The realization that I have come this far with my effort and divine grace made me relapse in my studies. I would say to myself “after all I am now a finalist now is the time to rest”. I barely listen to lectures, I spend half of the time lost in thoughts of miraculously finding an abandoned bag of money in a deserted place and the remaining half thinking of what to eat when I get back to the hostel. I go to classes just to occupy space and nothing more.
My project? I do what I can, there are times I get really filled with academic energy that I just want to read, read and read on the theory I am working on, I spend nights typing and typing and when I eventually submit the whatever chapter it is I was working on. My supervisor speaks her perfect English and narrates stories of how William Shakespeare loves wearing white while I wrote he loves wearing black! That’s the sign I need, I calmly pack my files and leave for my hostel. I then spend weeks after weeks researching the types of clothes William Shakespeare loved wearing in my dreams!
Such was the life I had lived since the beginning of the semester and I was bound to continue with it until I remembered the “history” that would be narrated to me by my amazing Mum, who wouldn’t want to understand it is really not easy to be a student in a school where you got nothing to do except reading every time and still not pass. That was how I had a rethink.
How many of us finalists are actually the way I was (I am working on not sleeping throughout my spare time and I have stopped watching season movies. I swear!)
How many of us know that we are making the greatest mistake ever, little did we know that a little effort can go a long way in boosting the GP we had given up on, little did we know that this is the best time to sit up and not relax, why? Because we can never tell what our efforts or inactivity at this stage can cause.
It is often frustrating to deal with rejected chapters and incessant corrections by supervisors, some supervisors won’t want you to be great, they go on a missing spree the moment you just finish a chapter you had battled with for weeks, some would refuse to pick your calls, others would tell you not to come see them until they ask you to which they would never do. This makes most of us take the back seat, we dump all we are doing and divert our attention, time and energy to some frivolous activities like chasing girls or following our pals up and down from one hangout to another. This shouldn’t be the case, it is often better to go ahead with the next chapter and start with something, this would save us the last-minute rush when it is time for project submission.

It is not cool to skip classes because it is the final year, it doesn’t help us in any way, the courses are important and being in those classes can help us in ways we can never imagine. Who knows the first thing the labour market would throw at us?

The final year should be a period where plans are being made in preparation for life after school. Life outside school is not easy, almost everyone knows that but it is easier to talk about it when you are not at the stage yet, we think those that are finding it hard to stand on their own two feet are just being lazy or do not have solid plans put in place. It is not always so, life always a funny way of thrashing your plans and steering you in another direction after you had planned your journey.

Life after school has lots of challenges up it sleeves that it is waiting to throw at us, that you are no longer a student automatically stops flow of cash from the different channels it usually comes from. Everyone expects you to be matured by then and have something doing, they regard you as a mature being that should be responsible for his or herself and not loaf around playing video games or hopping from one friend’s house to another.

Dearest finalists, now is the time for you to discover your potential if you haven’t done that yet, now is the time for you to map something out and stick to it, now is the time for you to have a vision and source for means and ways you can bring it to reality. Now is the best time to plan your life, now is the best time to use the free time to your own advantage because there really isn’t enough time again. You can still make a difference in your academics, you can still make a difference in your life. And yes, you can have some fun too.
Always remember, graduation is a few months away and so is the harsh realities of life.
source http://kanzahsays.com