Quote of the Week

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.


It turns what we have into enough, and more.


It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.


It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

― Melody Beattie

Letter to my Mother

Dear Mum,

Today I celebrate the reason for my existence on earth.

Today I celebrate the vessel God picked specially to convey me into this World.

Today I celebrate my role model, my shield, my safe haven, my sweet mother as you mark another year in your life.

To understand the song "Sweet Mother", all I need to do is look at you and the lyrics comes to life.

And each line reminds me of how much you sacrificed to keep I and my sister full clothed, well educated and well fed.

Looking back, now faced with my own responsibilities, I can only imagine what you went through to take care of us because even though we may not have lived in mansions and owned exotic cars, we never lacked.

We never went hungry. We were never left unclothed. We never went a day without a roof above our heads.

You struggled to get us into the best schools around, you were with us all through every process in our lives...even our first year registration in the University, lol

I can remember being so embarrassed, like really how was I supposed to prove my independence in front of my classmates after I was virtually led by my mom throughout my registration process.

The upside was that you always took away the stress that came with every new journey we had to take.

You were and still is the very protective mother hen we grew up knowing...no one messes with her chicks *big smile*.

But despite this "smothering", one would expects us to turn out weak and unable to rely on our individual strengths.

Well, we turned out to be the opposite.

Because you never spared the rod at the right time (trust African Mama...you mess up, you get memorable smacks) and then when everything calms down (being our melodious wails), I can remember you sitting us down and telling us where we went wrong and why we shouldn't do it again.

My protective mother hen, you taught us how to live based on our firm belief in God and belief in our strength as humans.

You taught us how to stand up and get what we want out of life irrespective of our age and gender.

You taught us how to avoid being ruled by circumstances and instead learn how to fearlessly take the bull by its horns.

You taught us how to be content, for even though we had friends who probably had more than we did, we never wanted more.

You taught us how to work hard for whatever we wanted out of life; from an early age I knew life wasn't a bed of roses and to get to the top I had to put in extra effort.

Most importantly, you literally showed us the strong and unflinching power that exists in the delicate frames of women.

You did everything a provider would do and still had the time and strength to nurture us, your babies.

From an early age I learnt how to be focused because I knew letting myself and you down wasn't an option.

Today I celebrate my Margaret Thatcher (for her unflinching strength).

Today I celebrate my Queen Amina (for her undying loyalty to the people she loves).

Today I celebrate my sweet mother; Hajiya Karimat Isang, for being my safe haven and for making me the woman I am today.

Today I celebrate my Amazon, for breaking that gender barrier in my head from an early age and showing me, through your life and pursuits, that I can be whoever I want to be irrespective of my gender.

Today I celebrate my World.

Happy birthday Mamawo.

I love you now and forever.

Your baby,

Tosin.

Hard Work Vs Easy Money

I recently read in one of our National Newspapers that the outcome of a survey showed that Youths in this generation have little or no appreciation for hard work and will gladly choose easy money over working hard to earn money.

I think that is really sad.

Call me "old school" or a stickler for hard work and sweat.

But my principle in life has always been "go out there and work for it, if you can get it yourself, why wait for some else to do it for you".

If you can afford to save your salary and get a nice little dainty car that moves without spurting out exhaust, then why wait for someone to come along and buy you a range rover, bearing in mind that you will most likely be "cab and bus hopping" while waiting for this Messiah?.

Don't get me wrong, I like alllllll the good things in life but then I can't understand why one will dwell in the illusion that all these things will fall from heaven!!!!!.

Wake up.

Even if everything gets handed down to you, you know that "arab money movement", you will never feel the same way you would feel if you knew you worked hard for those things and deserve every single bit of it.

Obviously, from my monologue, you would have correctly surmised that I can't stand laziness.

Yes, you don't have to be a workaholic. But you also don't have to be a dreamer; building castles in your head while you are content drinking "ijebu garri" in reality and not moving at least one of your fingers to turn things around.

Once again I say wake up.

I try my best not to judge people who do "runz", like really who are we to judge; "just because we don't commit the same sin doesn't mean its not still sin".

But really if the alhaji pursuing-alhaji getting life works for you then do it wisely.

Why obtain millions from a "paymaster", just to spend it all on a range rover, while your self-contain room can barely contain a king-size bed and your poor mother still sells okpa on the road side.

Are you a learner?

What I am simply trying to say is "work hard" (bearing in mind that work may mean different things to different people) and then use this hard earned money WISELY to make your life better instead of waiting for manna from heaven.

I honestly do think that if we, as a Nation, embrace the benefit of hard work and honest living, this country (Nigeria) and the World as a whole will be better place.

A place without fast guys trying to make it big no matter what.

A place without young and beautiful ladies leaving their homes to come to Abuja in search for "paymasters".

A place where people will relish the satisfaction from looking at their possessions proudly and saying "I earned that", instead of "I looted that".

Call me naïve for thinking this way.

But that is how I see life and for me, seeing and living life that way has worked out perfectly for me.

Of course I didn't come to Abuja to "snap picture" but neither did I come to obtain easy money. 

Through the sweat and the long hours in the Office, I can smile and say "I earned that".

Can you?

Quick Question: What is your take on easy money? I am willing to explore different opinions, besides it's "different strokes for different folks".