Bloom

to bloom is to come into full beauty, to flourish.

We are in an era where everything is fast-tracked, people have shorter attention spans and everyone honestly wants to reach their prime as soon as possible. However, most people fail to realise or accept that everything beautiful takes time to form.

In every person's life, there are going to be different transitions, as we age, as we experience life, as our innocence is brutally torn away from us. These transitions aren’t always set in stone and are often delayed by the nuances of existence.

I’m a lawyer by training, and in Nigeria (where I am from) it takes 5 years to study law at University. I remember the first time I felt like I was experiencing a major setback, I was in my 5th year in University and I had to watch my other friends particularly my best friend who had studied a 4-year course move on with her life. I felt like I was being left behind, felt delayed. I simply felt out of place.

For a long time, this feeling lingered. I finished my undergraduate law degree and had to cross the hurdle of law school, a 10-month course that eventually ended up lasting for almost 2 years due to the pandemic. Everything I thought that I would be at that point in life became a blur, the life I thought I’d be living, my level of independence and self-sufficiency. In summary, I thought I’d be flexing lol.

I often needlessly compared my journey to that of others. I was frequently fixated on how things weren’t going as planned, but soon I had to accept where I was, and the individuality of my journey, my process.

These days I think of myself as a flower that is yet to bloom or a caterpillar in a cocoon that is yet to metamorphose into a butterfly. Most times when you see a butterfly or flower at the peak of spring, you hardly think of everything that had to happen before this beauty came to the fore.

Similarly, when you have a glass of exquisite wine, you never really think of all the crushing and pressing, the years of ageing that were required for the wine to brew and attain its value. Neither do you cast your mind on the fact that diamonds are formed from the chaotic process of volcanic eruptions and spend billions of years underneath the earth’s surface, crystalizing.

This is a gentle reminder that life has its seasons.

So before you get that big break, you find that one true love or you discover that spark within you, know that there will be seasons. That your journey is yours and yours alone. But if it ever feels too overwhelming, think less of the big picture and live in each moment, honestly and openly.

I believe if we live every single day consciously and we remain present and are willing to experience life for what it is (both the good and bad), we would find that over the years we would have lived a somewhat wholesome life.

This is a memoir to myself, as much as it is to you — discover and understand your value. Your purpose may not be to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, it may be the lives you touch with your talent, your art, your voice, your drive. It may be how your little acts of kindness make the world a better place.

In times of doubt, simply remember — you matter simply because you exist.