The World As it Spins

"The importance of getting older is wisdom" As heard from the rapper Vblaiz In some hours the year would end and we'll all jump into 2019. Not surprisingly just as the year ends I'll turn a year older. What have I learned this year? Here are some of the lessons and experiences this year and I'll start with the bad ones. This year someone I really cared about made a bad choice. A teenager getting pregnant is not really a cool thing, not under any circumstance. This incident really hurt me and I felt as though it was my fault somehow. It took a while before I had some relief. I never got to talk to her through all of it, yet the guilt was severe. I can't really think of any lesson here yet, maybe the lesson I should take home is this "what is not my fault is not my fault". This year I relocated to Jos on a semi-permanent basis. I learned what it meant to live in a divided city ravaged by conflict and hatred from my stay there. I realized that when

It's okay to say you're not okay It's not out of place to have a bad day Pause and play back the good memories Then let's press forward You'll be fine Have faith, you'll be fine. - I Galadima There'll be bad days, that's a given. There'll be stormy seasons. Everyone goes through rough times and I understand that. What I however don't understand is when people try to cover their rough times and say all is well when obviously nothing is. They call it faith, but I believe it is denial. Faith needs a situation to act. Take for instance you are working on a project and you need a breakthrough. You denying that you are at a dry point is not faith, you admitting that you are at a dry point but will have a breakthrough (and working towards it) is faith. I think having faith doesn't make us super human such that we deny our situations. So if you are sad or going through depression, don't say you are alright 'out of faith'. You'

"I have always felt that whatever the divine Providence permitted to occur, I was not too proud to report" Charles A. Dana On Wednesday I was at a training session in some dimly lit conference room. After 3 hours of fidgeting and clicking on the subject software, I felt uncomfortably bored and walked out. I took a very long walk. I walked out of the room, out of the building and out of the complex. I saw a lonely road that led up a hillock and casually strolled up. I walked a certain distance and then turned back and began to return to the training. Midway the lonely road I met someone I had first met a few months ago at a hike. He had told me at the hike he was a developer and he was working on some great app. So seeing him, I asked how the app turned out. He told me it turned out well and he was on the verge of signing a contract. Then he took my number and gave me his, saying he'll like me to join his team when things kick off. I left hoping that things kick off a

When you get in the Red Brethren, I come in peace and may peace be with you. I come bearing tips on the appropriate behaviours to exhibit when you fall into debt. Is debt a bad thing? Not necessarily. In business getting credit facilities usually propels the business to grow. Sometimes as persons we need help to meet some of the demands of life so we seek credit from family and friends. Congratulations if you get it, it shows you are credit worthy. Do not blow it by adhering to the following tips: 1. Always pay back promptly. Not a day more, so far as you have the money to pay back pay it back before being asked for it. 2. Always consider it a privilege that you are being given credit. Be humble about it. In case you default Sometimes situations beyond our control makes it impossible for us to pay up as at when due. Thankfully friends and family won't carry out a garnishee whatever on us and sell off our properties. That doesn't mean we should not act right, here are some

"Always have someone who'll have your back. Don't play life monkey post." Immanuel Galadima This is like a sequel to my last post. In the previous post I wrote about not taking on life alone. Today I'm just going to share with you on the need to have people who'll have your back and call you out when necessary. If your friends can not tell you when you are going wrong then you might have to reevaluate yourself or the friendship. Sometimes we get on with our pursuit of life and we become so engrossed that we lose sight of things that truly matter or worse we begin to lose our souls. We just have a pair of eyes and unlike chameleons don't have a 360° view of life. This means sometimes we lose track of the weighty stuff. So do we mope and get sad? No, we borrow a pair. The good thing about friendships is that we don't need to go and borrow an extra pair of eyes, we sometimes get the pair unsolicited. I had always thought I was an all round good guy u

Wo, this is the goal: To be successful and do great stuff. This has always been the goal. Sometimes it looks like it an unattainable goal in today's Nigeria. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by current circumstances I remember a gentleman named Success Time. This post is like a deja vu. Back then in the university, Mr Success Time sold calculators, he went from class to class hawking his stuff. He had this catchphrase "FUT is for mature minds, you can not do it alone o". He was unrelenting and a common joke among my buddies was that he was actually omnipresent. Bringing in the wisdom of Success Time, I realized that life is not meant to be tackled alone. You can not do it alone, for every success you achieve alone there's more you'd have done if you had sought for help. I listened to MI Abaga's Tedtalk ( We Refused to be Separated ?) and I agree that we achieve more if we collaborate. I spent most of this week visiting some friends like Yahaya and Daniel, excha

My daughter and I often play a game of questions and answers some nights back. You know how it is, I ask her a question, she answers and then asks hers or serves me my question back. We talk about a lot on nights like these; friends, happy moments, regrets, future plans, dreams, God's plan for our lives and arguments. So on Monday night, reading from a card I asked her "What first came to your mind when you first saw me?" I just wanted to go and sleep. "That's a really weird question" she made a an equally weird face to show how deep her thoughts were. "I don't remember ever not knowing you, but my earliest memory of you was hearing sing to me from my sleep and I didn’t think much but I felt loved and I felt love. What did you think when you first saw me?" "Joella, I'm sleepy and it's a really long story". I tried to dismiss her with a wave, as I made to get to bed. "Well, say it in three sentences. I'm all ears&

Madam Shola had always been a very friendly woman ever since I knew her - which was like all my life. One of my funniest memories of her was when her humour made its finest appearance. It was a surprisingly rainy Sunday morning some Decembers ago, and we had just closed from church. My wife and I were dashing to the car hand in hand as it drizzled. "Mr and Mrs Lovebird", madam Shola called. I recognized her voice and stopped to say hello to her. "Good morning ma" "Sam, look at you! You're glowing" she exclaimed, turning to my wife she added "Mercy, you're doing a great job, I give you an A". She said using her right forefinger to make a swoosh in the air. We all laughed. First of all, my name is not Sam neither is it Samuel. Madam Shola had never called me by my name. Never. I'd gotten tired of correcting her and never bothered anymore. Sighting mercy's protruding belly she opened her mouth in mock surprise. "I see wh