#31Days31Writers – “Love might just change the world” – words from a lawyer, Kalat!

I met Kalat (we preferred to call him ‘Dale’ then sha, sounded very posh and all) on the NYSC (National Youth Service Corps) camp in Abuja. There was a bunch of us who would hang around together, Simi, Ini, Dale, David Barau, someone else who’s face I can see but whose name I can’t remember, and myself.

Camp got done with, and Dale was in my Community Development Service (CDS) group, the one and only Editorial Board. And the camaraderie continued, I remember the park at Area 1 where we’d have CDS meetings, and the awesome support Dale and our other friends gave. Super people!

Dale is married now, with a gorgeous baby girl, and I’m so proud of what he’s become!

Enjoy!

My name is Kalat, I am Nigerian and I practice Law in Abuja.

I started this year with a decision, a resolution really. I resolved that this year I was going to be more together, more competent. Half way into the year I’ll have to say the biggest lesson I’m learning is to take one day at a time.

Multitasking. Pulling everything off seamlessly and coming out of it all looking unflustered without a hair out-of-place. Some people seem to have that gift. Not me. It seems like I’m always busy, juggling 101 things at the same time. Sometimes I feel like such a scatter brain.

I have found out I’ve rediscovered that life’s going to keep throwing curve balls at me and the best I can do is plan and prepare for what I can foresee. For everything else, take it as it comes. So for rest of this year, I’m still going to keep crossing all my “t’s” and dotting the “i’s” as much as is within my power. For everything else, I’ll do the best I can and won’t beat myself up if it doesn’t go as I planned.

Recently I posted this piece on my blog, it’s called “Just for Today”. It has helped me put a lot into perspective. Don’t know who wrote it but I’d like to share it with you. Please take a look if you have the time. I hope it helps you as much as it has me.

What am I most grateful for? I’ll have to say love. The love of my family helping keep me sane, a lighthouse in this treacherous storm called life. The love of my friends who put up with all my foibles and my constant abandonment, and the love of a God that I will never understand.

Love keeps me humble because I’m convinced I hardly deserve any of it, so I’m grateful and constantly looking for a way to pass it on. Not to earn it mind you, but to show love to someone else who may feel as undeserving as I do in the hope that they will do the same. Love might just change the world.

Kalat is on Twitter as @talakbags. Thank you Dale!

Just look and remove your eyes, I told you he’s married!

“This year taught me to represent” – Eziaha (The Fab Sister) is up today! #31days31writers

Eziaha is an old friend from secondary school, and she is super amazing! She’s funny, brilliant, a wonderful daughter of Zion who makes being a Christian most fashionable (the only person who refers to God as her ‘Sugar Daddy’), and runs an amazing blog here.

When I asked her first to send in a submission, I wasn’t sure she would make it because she was on honeymoon! But I have since learned that my dear friend doesn’t sleep (smh), and when she sent this in last night, I was more than thrilled. 

Christmas Eve special had to be a special person, and I dare you not to get caught up in the palpable excitement this Fab Sister brings to each blogpost! For the 24th day in my #31days31writers project, I give you E’!

E’ is on the Fairy GodSister’s blog!!! Whoop!!! Thanks baby… Now let’s roll, classic E’ style…

Being the effervescent, and drama-filled woman that I am, 2013 was defo my kinda year…

By the way, the name’s Eziaha, Nigerian, Sociologist by training, and weeks away from ‘graduating’ from NYSC and furthering a career in Social Entrepreneurship with an IGO… I am also a very proud born-again Christian with a serious lovey-dovey relationship with my Sugar Daddy.

Started the year a fresh graduate, starry-eyed, big dreams especially for this NYSC. With all the negative stories about the scheme, I chose to BELIEVE that it would bring me nothing but good in large doses. My people, it did. It has been one FABULOUS year. I got the EXACT kinda job in my PPA (place of primary assignment) I wanted, with good pay, fantastic colleagues, bosses who just love me (and my smile) and oh-so-wonderful students. A lot of times, I forget I am serving. From camp, I started meeting the most amazing people, made some incredible connections, got an FG appointment in the course of this year, and my faith was renewed in the Nigerian youth cos we (driven young persons in my CDS group) got some great things accomplished. Don’t get it twisted people, the NYSC year can be all that and more if you can entrust it to our Sugar daddy too. It has given me the necessary launch pad I need for my career for which I’m oh-so-thankful.

This year also taught me to REPRESENT. Represent my Sugar Daddy well everywhere I go because aside from the fact that people are always watching, He is actually banking on us to be Light. Keep showing Him off. Keep attracting men to Him as a result of our lifestyle. From the little to the big things, from my workplace to my blog (www.eziaha.com), on good days and not-so-good, I learnt to live like an Ambassador of His Kingdom.

Oh but there are NO perfect ambassadors. That I learnt too. No perfect humans… Not me, Not you and certainly NOT our Pastors (I have the world’s BEST by the way). There is beauty and trash in EVERYone of us. Trashy deeds/mistakes don’t erase the beauty/good. So, I learned to consciously look for the beauty in people and judge them less harshly when the trash shows up once in a while. That’s the kinda love Jesus died for…

This year, I lost a friend. No she didn’t die but we fell out. We reconciled yeah but things changed. And it hurt me cos… Well. It did hurt. But it taught me a HUGE lesson. I had to really define the relationships and boundaries in my life. There were friends I had neglected. I quickly adjusted (Thank God I could). There were some mentee-mentor relationships I strengthened. Healthy relationships are everything. Priceless.  Especially when handled well. Hindsight Vision is usually 20/20 and so with the benefit of 2013 hindsight, I have resolved to do 2014 right especially in the area of relationships.

And of course, speaking of relationships, there were many people I wished I met. But I found out that the secret of great men are in their stories so where I couldn’t physically sit at their feet, I harnessed the power of books and the internet especially social media to glean greatness from their stories. Ah, I learnt plenty by just being online. Yes there was the gossip (shalla to LIB) but there were also big time inspirations too. I truly can afford my mentors… 🙂

And oh, I got married too. To the One I call Aku m…My Treasure. My perfect slice of heaven. My ‘David’; a man after my own heart. Ah, a good marriage is heaven on earth, lie no good. *smile*

Congratulations babe!!!!

Cheers to an abso-friggin-lutely fabulous year 2013 and an even more BLESSED 2014…