THE ROAD TO MY TRANSFORMATION
"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scar."~ Kahlil Gibran
Whenever I see someone depressed and wandering all about due to issues of life, I look back to the darkest time of my life and thank God and wish such persons a quick turnaround for good ~ Jonathan Olanlokun.
June 2015, was just three months into a Season of my life, which I believe was ordained and orchestrated by God to help face and overcome my seemingly insurmountable challenges of life.
In October 2014, I received signals to migrate from Osogbo to somewhere else. There was no particular place in mind, though. I made every possible effort to prevent my relocation, but all my attempts were proved abortive. On top of that, my business crashed: as a serial/social entrepreneur, my business was over-burdened due to high demands to singlehandedly fix stuffs without external aid or supports.
Just three months into my Season of Challenges, I became perplexed, depressed, confused, dejected, lonely, and looking 'unattractive'. In fact, at a time, I looked like a destitute: I was wearing just two clothes. Though my outward appearance was unappealing, I had something insuppressible on my inside: I was full of wisdom and the courage to never give up on my cause and dreams!
I was homeless for several years. I was rejected on two different occasions: I was told there was no space for me to squat with my younger ones whose education I was once responsible to at a point in time. When I got a temporary accommodation of four months, my host moved me to an abandoned uncompleted building where rats and mosquitoes became my companions, such is life.
But little did I know that the Seasons of my Challenges were preparing me for my TRANSFORMATION- GREATNESS! Napoleon Hill was right when he said, "Every ADVERSITY brings with it the seed of an equivalent ADVANTAGE."
As a homeless man in Lagos, I turned my homelessness to research on co-homeless folks: I began to write down immediate and future needs of homeless people and how best to bring homeless people out of their horrible situations as soon I get out of my challenges.
I made Shoprite Ikeja my regular place of visits where I served as a Volunteer Car-Parking Guide at the Shoprite Car Parking Lot to get some tips from car owners for survival. However, my getting of tips from car owners was cut short when I was eventually stopped from parking cars by Shoprite security guards. I wasn't deterred or ashamed of my personality as I derived courage from the fact that at Osogbo, I owned a house built by myself. I moved into it in 2003. I named the street after my foster grandmother.
My Chronicles are my expeditions, time for my personal self development, time to sow and do good in tears, time to meet the low and the high, time to do the unusual, time to exhibit the power of inclusion in me and see the havoc social exclusion has done to our society.
However, even in my challenges, I've remained FOCUSED and do the unexpected as an Agent of Change, a Social Crusader and Social Worker. And this has earned me commendations from different reputable quarters.
Today, my story has CHANGED! I'm grateful that my life's been TRANSFORMED! I'm now a better person than before. I've survived the first stage of the 'Wilderness Experience'. I'm now going through the second stage of it. I pray God to complete my cycle of transformation as soon as it deemed fit by Him.
And of course, ‘The Road to My Transformation' will never be complete without expressing my deep appreciation to God Almighty and few folks whom He sent my way during my ‘Season of Winter'. I can confidently declare here that I’m now transiting into my SEASON OF SUNSHINE –TRANSFORMATION! Yes, my life’s story conforms to the adage that "A cow that has no tail, its God that drives its flies." God’s ever faithful. –Jonathan Olakunle Olanlokun.
#ChroniclesOfJonathan
#Transformation
#Sunshine
#NeverGiveUp
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