As a little girl, my mind was my playground and my imagination was that one toy I didn’t have to share with anyone. I would spend hours creating detailed stories of families with my lego blocks, or with weird-looking stick figures on a small chalkboard the family had on our balcony. The plots were something else I have to admit (a bit on the dramatic side, if you ask me), but they were interesting nonetheless.

Then one day, I got the crazy idea to pen down the crazier stories in my head. I had piles of notebooks filled with them, inserting poor attempts at illustrations when I could. I think I even attempted to create a comic sketch once (THAT didn’t go so well lol). I would get my friends and family to read them and usually got good feedback from them which encouraged me to create even more. That was my childhood… writing, reading, imagining and the likes.

So high school comes along, and for some wacky reason, I came up with the notion of becoming an Information Technologist for a while, then an Economist and finally settled at becoming an Oil and Gas Lawyer. The first choice I picked was honestly because of how cool it sounded, regardless of how uninterested in IT I was at the time. The latter was because I wanted to make money, loads of it, and working as a lawyer in a company like SHELL or Chevron seemed perfect for achieving that goal.

The thought of becoming a writer crossed my mind a few times, I’ll admit. But I was told directly and indirectly by those around me that being a full-time writer in my home country, Nigeria, was unrealistic considering the issues of plagiarism and all. They didn’t make money, plain and simple. And to the money-wanting SHELL lawyer to be, that was a no-no.

Now, this anecdote of mine is my way of introducing you to a concept I’ve been exploring for a number of years now, which is PURPOSE. This concept is without a doubt something that has crossed your mind at some point in the past or maybe even today. It certainly crossed the minds of the 30 million people who bought the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, making it one of the greatest bestsellers of all time.

I think it’s fair to say that a lot of us are starting to realize that there has to be more to life than survival. The routine of I wake-I eat-I work-I sleep (I-party for the party animals reading this lol) just ain’t cutting it anymore, and it’s time we got some answers to questions like: Why On Earth Am I Here? Why I was born into this particular family, or live in the country I’m in, or am surrounded by the people I know? And for goodness sake, why am I different from everyone else?

Guys, these are the hard-hitting questions that need to be answered if we intend on living fulfilling lives. It’s something I’ve been reflecting on lately and would like to challenge you to do the same through articles like this one to do the same. Tayo tells us all the time to Use Our Difference to Make A Difference. Let’s learn more about this difference together, shall we?

About Ify Halim

Ify Halim is an inspirational writer and freelance editor with a passion for God and beautiful things in between. She’s proudly Nigerian (most of the time anyways), an avid reader and a big, unapologetic sweet tooth.

She’s the founder and head moderator of a platform for young creatives like herself called ourstoriesinc.com and is using her difference to make a difference by inspiring others to be the best version of themselves and being purpose-driven. All this with the help of her trusty sidekick, her laptop.

Connect with her on Twitter @MissHalim