2019: What A Year

Every year I try to post a recap of the highs and lows. I love how it affords me the opportunity to critically analyze my entire year, there are some events I would leave out due to personal reasons. Without further ado, here are the good, bad and ugly for 2019:

 

January started with the usual new year resolutions that featured some of the regulars; lose weight, learn to swim, learn to drive and it’s cousins. Did I do most of those? No. Will I feature them next year? Of course. After promising myself I wouldn’t, I cut my hair again except this time it was symbolic and represented a new beginning. I started going to the gym, lost a few kilograms (which I gained x2 by the end of the year) and had the first POPBeachClub staycations so yeah, January was good.

February and March were a blur, only the Lagos spots crawl I hosted stands out, I had a great time and met some people that have succeeded in making themselves a part of my life now, I love you guys. Oh, I was transferred to Massey Street Children’s Hospital where the working condition was hell.

2019 has to be the first year I didn’t try to over-analyze and write a thesis about my life on my birthday. I allowed myself to revel in the love I received on the 11th of April, called my makeup artist, took myself to dinner at RSVP and ate my friend’s money. A week later, I went on a road trip to Lomé & Kpalime, the trip was mostly forgettable but I’m grateful for the friendship it helped build.

May is when everything started crumbling. I started struggling with business, the money coming in was great but the work wasn’t as exciting anymore so I started declining orders and referring people elsewhere. At a point, I became detached. I was transferred to General Hospital where the working condition was more tolerable.

I finally opened myself to meeting new people in June, 8 months after my very amicable but nonetheless distressing breakup. It was fun and exciting in the way that most new things are, then August happened.

In August, we got my father’s cancer diagnosis and I went on another downward spiral. It’s difficult watching your parents’ aging process, throw in terminal sickness and it will do your head in. We started the process to get him treated in India where he spent two months and came back better. Thinner but better. Also, I had to find a way to end the thing that started in June, trying to be a certain kind of happy while going through a crisis just wasn’t doable.

September was a difficult month. I tried to get back on good terms with one of my best friends only to learn he was preparing for his sister’s burial in two days. I was crushed.

On October 20th, I finished my one-year compulsory internship, which most people know as “housejob”. The next week I was on flights to Kenya then Rwanda. The ten days I split between both countries were the happiest time of my life in 2019. I haven’t been able to bring myself to blog about it properly but you can get the travel itinerary I painstakingly curated here.

 

Four days after I got back from Kenya, I found myself in Abia state for the mandatory 3 weeks National Youth Service Corps Orientation Camp. I made my third major investment in November, the first was in February and the second in August. I like to think I somewhat mastered money this year, I’m not rich yet but knowing I have money and safety nets in different places helps me sleep better at night.

December is easily my favorite time of the year. Nearly everyone tries to be happy and join in the festivities regardless of the kind of year they’ve had. On the 24th, I hosted my annual Christmas dinner with some of my favorite people in attendance. As I type this, I’m currently on my first brand-sponsored trip only months after tweeting this

 

Thank you, 2019. What a year.