“Loyalty makes a friend family” – Nonso’s up for our Christmas special! #31days31writers

I met Nonso in April, after we’d chatted, Skyped, BBmed, Ruzzled, and probably sent a million messages to each other from the first LinkedIn message one awfully cold day in February. Awesome guy. Hot ‘school’ head, and a brilliant photographer too. Tried to teach me but there’s only so much my brain can carry abeg, happy to just ooh and ahh at the really great photos he takes. Have a look here.

Had to be special, today’s Christmas day! Before you gorge yourself on whatever feast you’ve laid out, here’s Nonso for the 25th day of my #31Days31Writers project!

I am Nonso Obi. I am a Nigerian, although many people don’t believe I am (I supposedly look South African). I am a researcher in Environmental Science and a photographer. I love peace and I enjoy being happy.

Two things I learned in 2013? To never worry about the things I can’t change, and to never give up hope. I learned that it would be better to pray more about everything. 2013 was a challenging year; I took a bold step with my academics and struggled a bit with my finances. However, I learnt new skills in research and photography and I met a lot of wonderful people. Gotta be grateful for that.

I am grateful for family. I didn’t say family and friends because I consider my true friends to be family – loyalty makes a friend family, and my family has been awesome. They’ve stood by me through everything; even when I took wrong turns they were there to support me. I am especially thankful for ‘ Ada Obosi’ who taught me a lot and has been a true inspiration.

One thing I would do differently would be to guard myself a bit better. I’ve learnt that sometimes I am too nice and it is not a good thing, at least not all the time. I am making adjustments already – so please don’t take this as being not nice.

Happy holidays!

Nice!