If someone had asked me how I imagined my life would be in 2023, I'd never have guessed that I’d be in a new country with a late diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I had no plans to leave Nigeria; it’s where I was born, where my core community is, and for a very long time all I had known. My relationship with the country is like a love story with your high school boyfriend, the one where they hold all your favourite memories, you grow together, explore love, lust, and loss, and then you realise you’ve outgrown them and you want something different.
My childhood was beautiful, exciting, and filled with warmth. I was an academically brilliant student so the extra stuff that came with me was easy to ignore. I am privileged to have doting parents, incredible siblings, and a rich community. I started talking early, and I could easily spot patterns and come up with solutions to problems, and I was also a chatterbox, so I can see how I easily passed under the radar. My teachers would often write statements on my report card like, “Yomi is very brilliant but she gets distracted easily.”