It’s Saturday December 14th. I’m currently flying to America to spend Christmas with Alana and I’m sat here reflecting on the last 5 months since I moved to London. My last blog keeping it real took a dive into the up’s and downs of moving to a new city and trying to find your own space. In this blog, I want explore how that’s evolved over the past several months and also take a look at the year as a whole, as it’s the first year I’ve spent back in England since I was 17.
London
The city where you find yourself fighting to get on the tube and beat the next man out of the gate even though you’re in no rush at all. I find the tube a great metaphor to the way London is. Thousands of people all trying to get in front of each other for an edge that doesn’t really lead to much. At times I’ve found myself reflecting on why anyone would want to live in this busy city, but then you start to take notice of the individuals on the tube, commuting on their bikes, the people in the gym. You’re surrounded by people who want more, people who want to have a good time but are also wanting to progress. Now, I’m not saying this is all good but for me in my mid-twenties, it’s what I need. I need the energy of young people progressing in their business and making something of themselves. I need to walk in the gym and see five people wearing ironman shirts. I need to be cycling home weaving through the city, swearing at drivers and racing old cyclists. While the city may not be filled with all my friends and family, it’s a place where I feel I’m learning every day, whether it be about myself or industry. If I really check myself, this is the reason I moved back to England and while I still don’t think I’m flying on all cylinders, I think I’m getting there.
Work
Looking at the year as a whole and my career post-graduation…it has been a rollercoaster. Copier salesman in Charlotte to Marketing Assistant in Leicester and now Account Exec in London. Two years later, three jobs deep and I think I’m getting closer to where I want to be. While my current job poses many challenges and frustrations, its been by far my most fulfilling to date. Taking a leaf out of Alana’s book I’ve looked to take more ownership over the work I do. Now, if you’ve read my blogs before you should know Alana is training to be a vet, but ever since I’ve known her she has always been a creature for extra-curricular. Always on the board of every school thing whilst studying to be a vet, she is constantly driven to dive deeper into her community and help out. So when the opportunity came up at my company to take that step, I thought, “What would Alana do?”. Being an ‘ambassador’ of company culture definitely isn’t in my comfort zone, as usually I’d just take the approach that I’m ‘Ryan Ejezie’ and I’ll float about and do what I want. But so far it’s been great. I’ve really enjoyed trying to make the lives of my colleagues better and think I’m slowly fitting better into the role, so 2020 should be a hoot.
Family
This has probably been the biggest one for me. Just to give you the background, my dad was raised in Nigeria and my mum in England. They both lived in Italy for roughly 10 years, where they met and where my brother and I were born. Growing up I have always had the idea in my head that I would live in a different country… it’s what my parents did. So when the opportunity came to go to America, it wasn’t even a second thought and during my time there speaking to my parents once a week on a Sunday felt normal, I never really suffered from home sickness as I’ve always viewed our family as the type to just get on with creating your life. But moving back this past year has really redefined the Ejezie family for me. You know before University, you’ve built a relationship through growing pains, you’ve seen them every day for the last 18 years, and then you move away and only see them for a couple weeks a year, it can put a strange taint on the value of family. Now living in the adult world along with Chike, Mum, and Dad, it’s been special for me to spend time with them and redefine who we are as family. Out of everything that’s happened since moving back this year, it’s the thing that I am most happy about.
Relationship
As Alana and I continue to spend more time apart, the question of, “When did you last see your girlfriend?!?!” pops up more and more. While I never really enjoy answering the question, I am really proud of what we have been able to do over the last year. We’ve been able to advance ourselves while still being 100% clear of what we mean to each other and what we will be. I think tougher times are still ahead as we get further and further away from when we lived together, but I also see it as really exciting times ahead as we will be both advancing in our careers and further into our relationship.
Training
If one thing has been made absolutely clear this year, it’s that training is fundamental to my everyday well-being. I have some very lofty goals of what can be achieved with my body so battling through injury and figuring out alternatives has been tough. I started the year real strong. Coming off the back of a long stint of travelling, I was desperate to get training and running. Through the first six months, I hit a lot of my goals completing a marathon, a triathlon, and a couple alternative races and events. Unfortunately, as it goes when delving into something new it comes with mistakes and (again) an injury caused by overload has really held me back from crushing the second half of the year. However, I was able to get in the pool, properly learn how to swim and began to put myself in a good place for when I take the Ironman plunge. Something that likely wouldn’t have come if I wasn’t struggling from injury. Nevertheless, this is something I will look to take into 2020 and build upon as I look to continue to push myself to reach these goals.
Eazy
I started this website in autumn of 2017. The goal which you will find in my about section has been unchanged. I’ve definitely forgotten that goal at times and been in a space where I don’t understand what I’m sharing all of this for. But, coming off the back of a rather quiet year in terms of creative output and sharing, I look to 2020 with a real sense of optimism. Now, being settled in London and not a lot of foreseeable change in the near future, it’s time to get back on the Eazy train and start putting something out that you guys can get behind.
As always, thanks for reading my waffle, I’d be impressed if you got to the end of it. Bring on 2020 and keep it Eazy.
- Ryan