Nellie

The speaker discusses the pressure they faced to study law despite their interest in other subjects. They eventually pursued law due to parental expectations but later shifted towards space law. They felt pressured to conform but ultimately chose their own path, leading to a redefined notion of success based on excellence in any field. The parents were supportive of their decision to not practice traditional law, emphasizing the importance of excelling in chosen endeavors. Hello Mutsunde. So for me, my priority participation for my academic life was very very high. It was like priority pretend, it was everything. And yes, I studied, I was in art class, like back then they would split it into like science and art, so I still have like social science, commercial, students and stuff like that. So they wanted me to study law immediately, I got out of university because they were like, oh you can't argue and it was just very stereotypical. But for my dad, it was quite personal because my dad wanted to study law. I couldn't say he got a mission to study law in the US but he didn't have the means of going. He had the scholarship but he didn't have the means of going to London, sorry, he was there to protest the whole stuff. So he was really stuck up on one of his tasks, studying law, and I now had to bear that burden. So yes, he was quite very specific about me wanting to be a lawyer. I had to try multiple times, you know, to get admission into studying law. Even when I got admission to study somewhere else, at some point I wanted to study international relations but I always wanted to do, so I applied for international relations. I got admission but they were like, no it has to be law, so I wrote down again to actually, you know, study law. So it was quite, yeah, so I was told. Did I have a daughter confirmed? I confirmed actually. I confirmed for various reasons. I think that there's always this thing about being very grateful for your parents and, you know, believing that what they want for you is the best thing and the ideas they have for you is the best and they're just looking out for your best interest. Because if you don't take like a professional course, like in Nigerian universities, you know, they have to get a job after, you know, all this kind of stuff. So yes, even when I had admission to study somewhere else, I confirmed. And then I think when I had that admission, I was already doing diploma in law, so I was already, you know, liking it already. I was like, okay, this is not so bad. Maybe I could try it. So what did this talk tell on your mental health? It didn't really tell on my mental health, honestly, but I remember currently I was quite a bit sad that I was behind, you know, my classmates. My classmates were already maybe two, three years ahead of me in university while I was still, you know, trying to get admission to study law. And so, yes, I was a bit sad about that, but not for the fact that they wanted me to study law particularly. And like I said, I was already doing my diploma in law, so I was like, okay, this is not so bad. However, I didn't really enjoy like legal practice after litigation and everything. So what I just did was I just carried, you know, different areas and aspects of law that I would possibly enjoy. During my diploma, I was medical law, and I did my, you know, like a short thesis on medical negligence. But then when I started my degree, I got more interested in like astronomy and space law. And that's kind of like the field of law that I still have a bit of expertise in. Can you describe if a single man is so pressured? Yes, that's when I told you like when I had to take the jam again to write law when I already had admission to international relations. It was quite worrying. I almost didn't take that jam. But especially like, you know, because it was about law, but it was just about like feeling behind. I didn't want to feel behind. So, yes, I felt very, very pressured. Have you talked to your parents about how you felt or what's your reason? I'm going to be honest, I can't remember. It's been, all of this happened many years ago, maybe close to 10 years ago now. So I really can't remember if I ever confronted them. But after I finished uni and I got called to the bar, I remember talking to my parents about it. I remember telling my parents that, you know, I'm not going to practice law. I've gotten this degree and everything, but I have other interests now. And I want to work in the space sector. I want to do my master's. I want to do my PhD. And I want to do something related to law. So I will not practice, sorry, space right now. So I will not practice law in the sense that, you know, going to court and maybe do what my father envisioned. But I will definitely use my law degree, which I'm still using, but, you know, in my own way. And their response was good. My parents, the only thing I would say they've ever kind of like really pushed hard for me to do was law. Apart from that, they were very liberal. I used to do whatever I wanted in terms of my career. I traveled abroad. I did a lot of extracurricular in school. They usually just let me do it. It was just only at that point that I started doing law. So, yes, their response when I said I was not going to practice law was that's fine. They had no issues. They said I was already doing very well already. And so they were like, okay, that's fine. And they were very happy for me. They've always been very, very proud of me as well. So, yes, that was their response. My definition of success now. Yes, my definition of success has changed in the sense that maybe I wouldn't pick studying a particular course as the major for success because I believe that everything, every course, every subject area is important. And I have a wide interest myself. I like literature. I love science a lot. I feel like everything has its own value. So it doesn't really have to be law. But whatever you're doing, I just believe that you should give your best. You should be excellent in whatever you're doing, wherever you find yourself. And I think that's one thing that made me even stand out. Even as someone that was doing law when it was not really like something I was passionate about. But I just told myself that I'm paying school fees for this. I have to be very good with it. So excellence, as my watchword, whatever I'm doing, whether or not it was mine, shall be directed to it, I still want to put that excellence into it. And that hasn't changed. Yes, so thank you. Oh, such a long voice note. I'm sorry.