1. Love! Yes you would be vulnerable and open to hurt, but you will be soft and tender, your heart full of warmth and at peace. Love someone, someone who values you, someone who loves you, someone whose love isn’t on a polished shelf for sale. Love your parents, love your siblings, love your spouse (if there is), love a child down the street, love a pet. Just love!
2. Gather memories. Gather memories not possessions. Memories bring flash of happiness and smiles only you can understand. Gather memories of happy places, happy people, friends, events, family gatherings, travel moments. You know what? Cars can be stolen, houses burgled, treasures carted away, memories in your heart stay forever. Never turn down an exciting opportunity to create memories.
3. Throw Caution to the wind. I don’t mean be reckless, I mean dare your seemingly impossibilities and beat the hell out of your fear. Don’t die being hydrophobic, get an ally and go surfing or take a boat trip. Don’t die being afraid of heights, get on a cliff in Zanzibar. Dare to walk in the dark (maybe in your house though), it’s not as terrifying as you thought. Do one thing that scares you once every quarter of a year, you’ll soon find out you’ve run out of fears. Ain’t that cooler than ice?
4. Take a God-Knows-where adventure. You know, the only time to travel is not when there is a friend at the other end of a city, it could be a trip to meet God-knows-who. Don’t lose your head and go camp with a stranger though, I’m saying get an hotel reservation in a city you’ve never been to and feel the city. Traveling is a whole lot of fun, with a friend or not, feel the city, meet the locals, dance to their songs, take pictures, get high on adventure. Share the pictures with me. Travel as much as you can to wherever you can.
5. Read good books. At least read a good book a month. See, no one grows up to say “I wish I had watched more TV in my youth”, the world hasn’t discovered anything better than a good book. The good author takes you to places your legs may never go, brings you knowledge your local teacher turned professor knows. Books make me cry, make me laugh, make me gasp, teaches me wisdom. Selah!
6. Love your body. The earlier you embrace that you are not Vivica Fox, Angela Bassett or Oluchi the better for you. Be healthy stay fit, but remember your body is just good enough for you. Eat healthy and drink water. After you have done that and you are still a size 14, rock the 14. Please, no one gives grants because the body is a size 2 except…
7. Pursue your wildest dreams, goals and fantasies. Those who do have just one head like yours, maybe a tinier one than yours if one looks closely. Worst case, you get turned down or don’t accomplish it but you would have pumped adrenaline pursuing the goals, the adrenaline is good for the heart. Most times though, we achieve when we pursue hard. So dream hard and pursue hard. You want to run a marathon? Would like to trek to Ghana? Change a career? Write a book? life wouldn’t offer you anything, everyone has to go get their goals.
8. Find friends. Your friends are your support system, not the ones you are in a competition with. Have friends who would laugh with you, cry with you, hear your dirty stories without cynical remarks, pick your calls at odd hours, who don’t mind your scars and are never happier than when it’s time to toast to your success. Ephemeral hugs and kisses don’t make for friendship. Find the real deal and stick to it.
9. Number nine is yours to write…you just fill in the gap with whatever matters to you.
10. Find a God and pray to him daily. You know that science evolution story is cock and bull story right? Finding your God makes sailing easy on troubled waters. You can try mine, at least, I haven’t lost my head in this troubled world. God be praised.
Chai! there is no space to write this one on my mind; give to people who can’t pay you back, not all the time give to your comfortable pals.
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