Stepping into the diaspora feels like stepping into cold water. Everything shocks you at once. The air. The silence. The loneliness. The bills. The pressure to “make it.” And the unspoken fear that if you fail, people back home will say you wasted the opportunity they would have killed for.
But what they never tell you is this:
You don’t really miss Nigeria. You miss the version of yourself that felt alive.
You miss the chaos that made sense. You miss NEPA jokes that didn’t need explanation. You miss suya that wasn’t over-sanitized. You miss the way strangers could become friends in five minutes. You miss belonging without trying.
Diaspora life teaches you humility fast.
You learn how to navigate systems that don’t care about you. You learn that English isn’t English until you hear ten different accents argue. You learn how to smile through “Where are you really from?” You learn the difference between “diversity” on posters and diversity in real life.
And somewhere in between the culture shock and the midnight FaceTime calls with loved ones, you start to grow.
Not because the diaspora is magical — it’s not. But because you are becoming someone who can survive two worlds at once.
Diaspora hardens you, but it also expands you.
You learn resilience. You learn discipline. You learn the power of building alone, quietly, consistently. You learn that success is not an event — it’s a long, painful process of reinventing yourself.
And yet, despite everything, you still carry Nigeria in your chest like a heartbeat.
It shows in your slang. Your music. The way your eyes light up when you see another Nigerian in public. The way you instantly switch to pidgin like a secret passport.
Home never leaves you. Even when you leave home.
So what’s the real diaspora lesson?
It’s this:
You are not meant to choose between countries. You are meant to become the bridge.
Live abroad. Build abroad. Grow abroad. But never let your roots dry out. Because one day, your story will be the reason another young Nigerian believes that greatness can come from anywhere — even from a country the world likes to underestimate.
