Prayer is a great weapon. It is a big factor in the lives of most medical students. There is this unwritten code that expressly states that ‘A prayerless med-student will most likely never excel’, or at least that was the way I felt when it learnt I had just failed my professional examinations. It was like God had suddenly deserted me, since I had never failed any major examination. So in my mind, I was devastated, i was scared. I had always thought that failure is for a certain group of persons. I now know that I have been wrong all this while.
Close friends and study mates had scaled the exams and I was too sad to publicly share in their joy. All I could think of was my pain and my failure. I recall feeling a particular detaste towards my colleagues who had also failed the exams. Whenever I see one of these ones, they reminded me of my failure and lack of God’s ‘Protection’. But I am a good actor. I was able to mask all the signs of my pain and near-depression, and relied heavily, initially on my strength, then later on the strength of my parents, friends and admirers.
I reckoned that since I failed my course it must have been for a reason. So I began my search for the reason(s) for my setback. This made me study harder and prayed harder. In retrospect, I think my self-inspired quest for reasons for my setback was not borne out of fear of a repeat failure, but to finish the task that I must have dismissed while in this level. Little by little, I began to see why I failed. It became clear and bright. It would have been harder if I had not achieved these things now. Failure revealed that I needed a better perspective on how I see life generally, and how I relate with others.
Failure should only mean two things for a go-getter;
- An opportunity at being ‘Reborn’ with respect to the task one could not ace. This means going back to dot all the I’s and crossing the T’s, and consolidating on your skills and confidence.
- Identifying the other aspects you must have missed while in a level. This is because, once you move on to the next level, it would be extremely arduous to bend back to bring over some other stuff from the lower level… So it makes sense if nature do not let you move to the next level!!!
I believe in success all the way for medical students who work hard and study hard. However, like all other things, man can only propose and then nature takes its course. When next you find yourself in failure, never be afraid of it rather employ the two-fold reasons, as enumerated above, and attack it with zeal. Like me, success will definitely be yours… AMEN.
