#31Days31Writers: Ochuko’s about when ‘Na God’ becomes ‘but God why’?

Brethren! Welcome to Day 2! We started the series with my friend Adenike, and I’m totally pumped at how much joy I felt publishing her entry! I can’t wait for all the others to come in!

About Ochuko; we’ve never met, but I love his blog. I don’t even know how he found my blog, but his blogposts sometimes are some of the most hilarious things I’ve seen! This post on how parents pressure their kids on marriage is everything! Other times, he’s quite therapeutic. I’m super grateful for my blog family (didn’t know I would ever use that term, but I mean it), because I know they are always there like an invisible court, ready to offer a kind word, advise, prayer, whatever.

Before I digress too much, I give you, Ochuko!

Hi everyone, I’m Ochuko A. Akpomudjere but everyone calls me Chuk (out of pure laziness I gather), fear would not allow me type out my full name. If you haven’t already figured it out, I’m Nigerian, yes we are the ones with names longer than our lifespan, a 20-something year old student of Biochemistry, in the beautifully old city of Benin, Nigeria. As for what I do, for now I’d restrict my list to Photography.

So 2015, where do I begin? Well let me not lie, if I say 2015 wasn’t what I expected when I was dancing in Church on December 31^st 2014, I would not be far from the truth. That guy was just dancing away, not realizing that life was just waiting to hit him with the fat stick that is “reality”. Well I can’t fling all the blame at life, wait actually I can, but that would just be denying that some of it, ok a large part of it was my fault.

Ok, 2015 wasn’t that bad, it was great actually, perhaps even my best year yet (yeah I still can’t say that with a straight face). I’m just going to come out and say this, if I was to pick one thing I am truly grateful for, it’d be the people in my life. I’d just start from the back, in the space of 3 months quite a lot happened and for a while it felt like I was standing outside life, watching things unfold in my life.

I lost 2 friends within the space of 3 weeks, made more mistakes than I’d made in my last 5 years of life, life bending mistakes that all but cost me my life, but through it all, God placed people in my life at just the right point when I needed them. I did some things that would have earned me lifetime achievement award in the “Disgrace to The Family” awards 2015, yet all I got in return was love from my family. I became friends with my dad, a friendship that helped me remind who I am as a person and not what my circumstances made me to be. PS: My dad actually said “as long as you don’t give up on yourself, I won’t give up on you”. In my mind I saw the Hollywood sign for weeks after that.

As for what I learnt this year, I’d some it up in one word “Rest”. I learnt the hard way that it’s easy to preach about a situation, when you gone through it. It is even easier when you’ve never experienced it. After all anyone can wake up, sigh and say “Na God” but when life slaps you, you forget all the sermons you preached, all the articles you wrote and suddenly “Na God’ becomes “But God why?”. I learnt to rest in God, more importantly, to rest in his word. The present is temporary and so is everything that is bothering you. Death however is permanent, so you can either worry yourself to death, or trust that there is a way out of that situation.

Honestly speaking, I don’t know if I’d want to change anything about 2015, but if I had to change anything, it’d be not trusting my family & friends with my problems early enough; there’s only so far you can go on your own before life reminds you that “Hey this is getting out of hand, you need to tell someone”.

Oh by the way, this is the first thing I’ve written in 4 months, I can now say that all is well with the world again. Ok I’ve gotten to that point in my write-up where I start typing gibberish, so let me just go.

Till next year I hope.

See his cute, googly eyes! Ladies please allow him finish school first o, hian.

Bia, Chuk, what did you mean by “till next year I hope?” Hope that only has to do with you writing in another #31Days31Writers series o, ehen, because you’re not going anywhere (anywhere not positive and great that is). Thank you!