Building Without Support

For the ones doing it alone and still showing up

This is for my fellow grinders.
I see you.

I see the hustle.
The sacrifice.
The tears.
The sweat.

I’ve been so used to doing things on my own that even receiving compliments feels uncomfortable. It almost makes me cringe.

And sometimes, I have to remind myself:

I’m just a baby

A baby who wants a soft life.
A baby who wants ease.
But somehow, I’ve had to work so hard for everything and some days, I get angry.

I get tired.
I get burnt out.
I start asking, why does life have to feel this hard?

Especially living in a part of the world where it feels like your life is constantly being tested.

Where people on this part of the world have to work like there is no tomorrow just to earn peanuts.
Where we are called “Lapo babies.”
Where you fight for buses every morning, where you have to travel long distances every single day just to get to work.

I started working in 2016, even before going for my NYSC.

I stayed with my sister in Okota, and I had to go to Ajah four times every week for work.

Another time, I was commuting from Okota to Sango.

Since then, I already knew one thing:

On-site work was not for me.

I hated that customer care role, It felt like a humiliation ritual sometimes.

Waking up early, forcing a voice that didn’t feel like mine, showing up tired, and still having to sound cheerful. It drained me.

But somewhere in all of that, I saw an opportunity in tech, I grabbed it.

Five years later, I’m still figuring things out.

Still building.
Still trying.
Still becoming.

And maybe that’s the part people don’t talk about enough.

That even when you “escape” something, you’re still in the process of finding your footing. One promise I made to myself this year is this:

I don’t want to live my life by the formula that has already been laid out.

The one that says:
Work endlessly.
Chase money.
Prove yourself.
Repeat.

I don’t want that.

Some days, I just want a different life.

A slower life.

One where I can leave all of this behind, move somewhere quiet, maybe an island, maybe a island somewhere in Bali.

Buy a Hummer Jeep.
Feel the sun.
Raise my daughter in peace.
And just… live.

Because the truth is,

I don’t want to spend my whole life chasing money.

I want to build a life that actually feels like mine.

But right now, I’m still here.

Still building without support.
Still showing up.
Still figuring it out.

And if you’re in that same place too, tired but still pushing,

I see you.

I curated this Playlist just for you WE GO AGAIN

With love,
Ojuolape from Hover Africa 🩶