OLDER, BOLDER & WISER

Cause whatever you love can be taken away, so live like it’s your dying day

There’s a reggae song that goes: “Well the years have come and the years have gone Still the son of man keeps a trotting on Journey, journey on. Yet from innocence to experience.From dependence to independence Journey, journey on. Well now i have love and i have been loved. I have judged and I have been judged. Journey, journey on. So where there come a storm there’s a victory. Cause I live all and all lives in me. Journey, journey on” (Jimmy Cliff) This sums up the story of my life.

Another year. Wow time really flies. Just the other day it was me and my mom (trotting) everywhere to now being alone (having to figure out) things on my own. Trying to be a man in this cold world. (I never knew adulting would be this hard) But hey, that’s the beauty of life. Struggles building us.

Some of the lessons I’m learning in this new season is to always utilize each given opportunity. Because you never know when It’ll be gone. Eminem once sang: “you better loose yourself in the moment and never let it go, you’ve got one chance to show, better never let it go”

Another lesson I’ve learnt it’s okay to be you. You’ll never please everyone and not everybody will like you. And never do things in order to ” fit in” or “coolest dude or lady”. The downfall of social media and technology is that everyone always wants to show how they’ve got their shit together and they’re all glamorous. It has now engrained a thinking in most people to always “be out drinking” or ” on holiday”. I mean if you’re always drinking, when do you have time to take care of yourself?

Well lemme not be not be too political but those are some of the nuggets life has handed me. Now I’m at a better position than I was before. Done with cognitive development and ready for the next step. Older, bolder and wiser. Join me on this journey by sparing a few minutes for a read 🥂🍻

A MAN LIKE X

“A good name is better than precious ointment and the day of death better than the day of one’s birth” (Ecclesiastes 7:1)

When the news that DMX was hospitalized for an Od, I was surprised. Just a few weeks before he was on drink champs sharing his life story. Then a week later we lost him. My world for a moment was standstill.

Growing up, he was among the few rappers I emulated telling my self I must one day be like him. Same to Jay Z, Eminem, Kanye west and Lil wayne. I liked him because each time you took a listen to his songs,there was something he wanted you to learn. Also the way he penned his thoughts down. You could feel his vulnerability being let out to the world.

And for most of us that is why we felt a sense of affiliation towards him. But today my piece isn’t a tribute to him rather it’s a reflection from the life he lived.

After his death despite having a recurrent addictive behavior, people remembered him more for the good rather than the bad he did. Something that got me pondering. What will we leave behind when we die? Is it the money, the cars, the bungalows or the impact we had on people’s lives?

We’re in a society that is materially motivated to the point we forget the teensy-weensy things that make life memorable. One would rather have a high walled house with no disturbances than having to see a neighbor each and every day. Were also taught to work hard and acquire a lot but never taught how to share. Were told if you’re not materially successful,then you don’t have a place in society.

Yes being affluent is good but there things money can’t buy. Money can’t buy happiness, joy, comfort, encouragement or even a good name. It can place you in a certain place in the society but if you lack the basics, it’s worthless. People remember one more for what he/she did to them in their lives than how many cars they owned.

You might be on top of the world right now but when you die, all that can topple in seconds.

STAY HOPEFUL

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1)

“This is going to be my year. The beginning of a new decade.” Most of us (myself) included hollered that at the beginning of 2020 with lots of enthusiasm not knowing things would take a turn. We didn’t know the year would be as it is.
A pandemic swept through the air leading to confusion and distress. Job loss, demise of loved ones, businesses crumbling and to make matters worse, there is no near end to the pandemic. With such, lies no hope for a brighter day.
But it shouldn’t be. Yes there is an affliction but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be upbeat. It actually might be preparing us for the better in store. Just as depicted in Things Fall Apart by (Chinua Achebe): “The year that Okononkwo took eight hundred seed-yams from Nwakibe was the worst year in living memory. Nothing happened at it’s proper time …. But the year had gone mad. Rain fell as if it had never fallen before”. If you read further you will see that people laughed at Okonkwo when he was planting and others lazied around. When the rains came, it caught them in surprise as Okonkwo’s barn was full to the brim.
So I urge you my dear reader. Despite the year being full of ups and downs, loosing of loved ones, businesses going down; stay auspicious. Look at the heavens with a bright heart and let the most high know that you are prepared for the coming year. Pray to him with a hopeful heart. And actually you will find he will bless you in the midst of the storm. So take charge and declare that 2021 is your year.