I know what you may be thinking, ‘ here we go again’. Chill, I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, but I intend to live the best life I can possibly live. One of my biggest fears is having so many regrets on my death bed when I’m grey and old. Feeling sad and crying about how I didn’t explore enough, I didn’t love enough, I didn’t experience enough, I should have kept a more open mind bla bla bla. Nope, that’s not going to be me. I’ve resolved never to take anything too seriously and just roll with it (so to speak). Yes, this is your typical ‘I can’t come and kill myself’ moment, all work and no play kuku makes jack a dull boy.
For the longest of times, I used to watch all those ‘Abroad life’ movies, and just marvel at how jejely they lived their lives.
Someone would decide to travel around, visiting places and taking pictures, another person would quit their job and relatively comfortable life to move to Brazil (its always Brazil, or somewhere in south America) to go and work with an NGO helping people, and I would be like ‘what a wawu’. I start asking myself questions like ‘how do they have it so easy, why aren’t they stressing? Then when I pinch me and bring myself to, I’m faced 1 reality and a question
1.To travel the world, I need money, and I’m like ‘Sheesh that’s a bust’.
2. ‘Why would I leave my home to instead live in a mosquito and dengue fever infested place, is that really necessary? I don’t think so.
But that’s the typical Nigerian in me showing face. The truth is, it’s necessary. And despite having to deal with realities like ‘no money’, we need to learn to appreciate the little things. As Nigerians we tend to concentrate on the harsh realities facing us, that in retrospect might be the very mundane thing stopping us from experiencing the best in life. I’m not going to go to certain places because I don’t like certain people, never. When I go here, I’m not going to try any new things, nope.
I’m not liking one person because I’m from a different tribe/ethnicity, nahh not me. I want to live hard and love even harder. To me, the mark of a good story teller is being able to fill up a story with so much twists and turns, the story line is unpredictably sweet; even if the general synopsis is over flogged and you already know what’s going to happen at the end. That’s what makes whites different from us, they care more for the twists and turns, the unpredictable nature of the universe. A beautiful life and a sweet death should be the end goal, to be honest. Fill your life with so many good memories, you can afford to die in the moment. There’s a list of things I want to experience before I go, I know everybody has a bucket list, so here are a few of the things on mine.
I want to see the Eiffel tower in Paris at night.
Attend the opera in Italy with the love of my life (tuxedo in play, dinner gown and all, balcony view; putting all those small glasses to my face to have a better view, the whole 9 yards).
I want to go on that canopy walk in Ghana they say is the longest in Africa or so.
Bungee jump.
Sky dive.
Learn Spanish (Mexican Spanish, not that rubbish they speak in Spain).
Go to the Canadian Alps just to see mountains of snow, take pictures and be out.
But make sure that in everything, I’m genuinely loving it and living my one life to the fullest.
I hope by now that you’re smiling and thinking about the things on your own bucket list. Be happy. Peace and love.