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Showing posts from October, 2024

While I've been away

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 Today marks the anniversary of the last time I physically saw my mother. Some of the last words she said to me before I went through the boarding pass, were to not look back. I would like to beg for her pardoning because I am about to get retrospective now. A lot has changed since I last saw her, on a global scale as well as a personal one.  Leaving my mother that summer evening, was my departure from the nest going into the big wide world full of the unknown. I never felt that I was quite ready to step outside of what I knew to be home. I think my bravery was partially because others my age were going through the same transition. I guess I was not immune to peer pressure. More than that, I just had the conviction in me that it I was time that I go.  Could it have been youthful naivety, because I had this faith that everything would fall into place, even though I was stepping out of my comfort zone. Falling is perhaps a loose way of describing it. Rather I wa...

Captain's innings

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 As a man, there's one thing that I want from the many other things I might disclose someday. It is to show up heroically and turn a situation around. There is just something intrinsically that wants to have that hurrah moment. It could due to the fact that I grew up around stories of knights, ninjas , aliens, pirates and so many other fictional beings. What pulled me into these stories is, how there would be a valiant character who goes against the odds  and saves the day.  In cricket there is  a term called a captain's innings. Allow me to paint a picture of it for you. The team is fighting an up hill battle as they are batting. One of the star batsmen could not play today due to food poisoning. The opposing team seems to be completely in sync in their fielding capacities. It is very apparent that everyone on the team is not having a good day. That does not make things any easier. Another factor is that the team you are going against has got two of the ...

Connect four

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  We are communal beings. It's wired into our brains that we should live in community. I came across something that said loneliness can have the same effect as smoking cigarettes. Another fact said that those who played tennis, lived longer owing to the fact that a game of tennis, always involves interaction with another human being. Healthy relationships and inclusion physically affect our wellbeing just that much.  In an age where geography and time zones mean little as a hurdle to the connections that can be made. We can build social relationships globally with such ease. Across cultures friendships can be built at the speed of light. Meeting likeminded people has never been more convenient. Where people gather cultures develop even internet cultures are a thing of the present.  Being part of a generation that is dubbed as being chronically online. The effects of internet interactions are quite apparent. It could be the use of a slang term that ...

Self sufficient?

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I recently discovered an amazing jazz musician, Emma Nissen. She has  an incredible amount of soul and she sings so smoothly. There's a song that caught my ear recently that she performs, titled, Am I enough.  She does a great job of diving into the self doubt, that one can have in their walk with the Lord.  It's something we can all resonate with in one way or another. We can start to wonder as we assess our spiritual disciplines. Are we praying enough, are we reading scriptures enough, are we doing enough to be found faithful? How much is enough really? You can try to compare and you will somehow, always find someone, that is doing more than you. It can be encouraging and at times, it feels as though you've got a long way to go. It can make one tired before even starting. If perfection is the standard, can our cumbersome ways really amount to anything? By the time I get this far into my train of thought, it means I'm being self centred in my th...

Methodology

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Adolescence a time where I had to figure out who I was. It was an adventure navigating the waters of what I did and did not like. I discovered what my interests are, who would be my lifelong friends, what I was capable of doing when I put my mind to it, even how to talk to the opposite gender. Coming out of it. I can say that was a rough introduction to who I am.  I still haven't gotten all of it down yet. I do know that I have a more refined understanding of who I am. Leaving home does help one to learn to lead one's own life. If we're still on sailing metaphors now I have more durable sails on my boat as I course through new experiences.  Now I'm well into my second decade of existence. It is a very volatile time. So much can happen and a lot is achievable. I just have to look at my peers and that rattles me at times. Some are wedding, some are graduating, some are birthing, some are mourning and some are even eligible to win the Ballon D'o...

The Dunning-Kruger effect

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In an age where getting attention has never been easier. There so many voices and opinions online, that it can get overwhelming. It's a double edged sword how we can so easily let out our opinions into the ether.I doubt there has ever been a time,  where one can be exposed to other schools of thought and cultures so easily. Imagine the echo chamber one would be stuck in,  five hundred years ago, because all that you knew was limited to the boundaries of your village.  The issue now is discerning what is actually edifying and true. Eloquence is not always a reflection of trustworthiness. The fact that something is packaged in an appealing manner, does not always mean that it is the genuine article. Unfortunately what is superficially appealing can garner so much attention quickly. All it has to be is a well edited clip that baits the watcher into following whatever the philosophy of the day is.   I have to be weary and conscious of it myse...

I don't consider myself

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  I stray from identifying with titles other than that of my faith. I do it quite often when asked to talk about myself. When I was trying to draft a CV for the first time, I had to get a friend to help me figure out what my credentials are. It's not to say that I do not appreciate my accolades and what I am currently doing. I have just never seen the necessity of introducing myself as a blogger.  When it comes to the subject of humility, it's a bit tricky for me to figure out how to toe the line. How exactly does one live a humble life in a healthy manner? There's a quote that says, ''Don’t think less of yourself, just think of yourself less.''. This helps me frame things in my mind. It's not tearing myself down, rather it's not puffing myself up.  An illustration I remember coming across, tackles the matter in this way. Let's say you are at a gathering and there happens to be need for a guitarist. Hypothetically, let...

Who wants to be the underdog?

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I thoroughly enjoy stories where the protagonist goes through adverse times. When I see how tenacity and willpower are being displayed, it hooks me into a story. It is motivating to see and resonate with a character pushing past hardships to achieve a goal that once seemed impossible. We can all connect with such stories in a way, because we all have our own adversities that we face.  This trope never gets old. Seeing a pauper going against all odds,  and becoming the prince, at the end of the story. We all have dreams and desires which at times seem out of reach. The question is are we  all on the same footing, to truly identify with the underdog of the stories we  enjoy so much.  We can tend to underestimate ourselves, to the extent that our goals start to seem like over achievements to mimic being underdogs.  I have realised that there is a culture around me. It undermines the work of those who come from a place of privilege. It g...

Second best is better

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 It's a bit ironic going about this topic as an Arsenal fan. I will not let that stop me. What's worth being second place if all the glory goes to the one in first place then? First place is the one who lifts the trophy and has their name recorded as victor. Only one competitor can be described as the fastest, strongest, greatest, ultimately the best. Such superlative descriptions over shadows everything else in the results of the competition.  There is a glorious burden that comes with being the one at the top. You are the one at the cutting edge of your field. All eyes are on you to shine and outperform those around you. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. The pressure would be too much for me to bear all the time. Any mistake made is leeway for a competitor to gain ground or even over take you.  Which is why I would present the argument that second best is better. Some may retort that second place is first loser. Maybe even the fact that the...

Internal conflict

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 It's a Tuesday morning, I am running late for a final exam. I had stayed up all night preparing for it since Monday evening. Towards the early hours of Tuesday morning, close to about sunset, mental fatigue started to get the better of me. I caved in and considered taking a power nap since at this point, I could not absorb any more information. I remember closing my eyes and laying down, then springing up at half past eight. My exam was at nine o'clock, and commuting to the venue of the exam would take me an hour.  If ever there was a case of self sabotage in my life, I was convinced that this was it. All the questions were going through my mind about how I got myself into this situation. I went through the twelve stages of grief in twelve minutes, due to the fact that I was running late and I was low on time. It was really one of those mornings that I couldn't wait for to end.  As I was convening with myself, I found it so tempting to call myself...

Much to learn

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 During a physics lesson, my teacher taught me a valuable lesson. He taught me that somethings can only be learnt by experience. To put it in his own words, " You may be smarter than me, but I have been under the sun longer than you." It's a lesson I remember much clearer than a lot of the concepts of physics I learnt those two years. I am humbled  by it because it shows me that there are a lot of things I do not know. Which helps me to draw from those with more experience at this thing called life.  There sure are a lot of ways of acquiring knowledge. Books, podcasts, masterclasses or even using artificial intelligence now. It never does quite measure up to learning from experience. We can theorize and speculate about matters all we want, but unless we get out and do it, can we have say that we have mastered a subject. The beauty about learning in action is that we do not have to always get it right all the time. This being that some of the lessons we gain th...

Love the process

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"  There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil."  Ecclesiastes 2:24 ESV.  I recently joined the workforce and just being constrained to a place of work, just takes up so much time, without even getting into the costs of the physical and mental efforts that go into having to work. I think it's about a third of your time that you spend on your occupation, at times we even see more of our work colleagues than we see our own family members. I'm immensely grateful to be in a working environment that is cheerful an pleasant, when considering how much time I get to spend there.  Going off a tangent on the topic of work. When I began my efforts in pursuit of a job I had to open a LinkedIn account. This being a social media platform of sorts it's nearly unavoidable to compare oneself to  others on the platform. This is also fueled by the fact that human resource personel actually do look at y...

Not as it seems

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   For about the first four years of human life, we do not have the ability to tell apart dreams from reality. It's as though we were living through a Christopher Nolan film when we are toddlers. Perhaps that could be one of  the reasons why children sometimes say the most absurd things. We are all familiar with living with distorted realities at this point.  Our brains deceive us very well. It could be a cognitive bias from past trauma that makes one uncomfortable around certain colours or odors. At times our brains shut out sensory information to avoid an overload. This is one of the many preset functions our bodies have in order to survive. It happens at the cost of discarding portions of the truth that surrounds us.  As someone who spends time in their head for lengths of time. When I also acknowledge that the organ that I use to think, and understand the world around me is not as objective as it seems to be, it leaves me wondering. D...

Intentions and expectations

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 Synergy in my relationships is such a treat. Getting to the point of understanding each other and reaching resonance, is blissful. There's something almost indescribable about functioning as a unit in accord. It's as when Paul the apostle describes the church, being a singular body made up of different functioning parts, to serve the same purpose. This is a thing of beauty, however, it does not happen very easily. It takes plenty of communication to get there. To be on the same page means that all the parties involved must be on the same chapter and section of the book. This information has to be shared clearly and concisely. The way I have it figured out is that there are two parts to establishing being in tandem. Intentions and expectations have to be clearly understood and communicated.  Intentions  help to assess and identify what is being offered in the agreement . This aids in figuring out what contributions a person is willing to make. Expe...

No Longer Human

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There are no two snowflakes that are the same, or so I have heard. A fact I am more confident in is that no two people have the same fingerprint. Billions of us on this planet each of unique in our own way, which is the commonality that we have, the idiosyncrasy we each possess. This makes the concept of unity that much more beautiful as we all don't have to be uniform to be in harmony. Rather we can much like be a symphonic choir, each person being a different instrument, but when brought together creating wonderful melodies.   Being in different environments at times, I have become more aware of how different I am. Whether it's cultural, faith, or appearance, to name a few things. When I step out of my cultural echo chambers or my bubbles of similarity,it becomes so apparent what it is that, I do and do not subscribe to. It has me wondering with all the globalisation going on, which direction we are moving towards. We all pretty much use the same platforms online...