A Walk Down Memory Lane

A few weeks ago, I stumbled on a notebook I used for all my writings in 100 level. And I opened it to find a rich cache of sermon notes, discarded attempts at prose, class schedules, phone numbers (it is amazing how some of these people are an integral part of my life right now but I had only just met them at the time I took down the phone numbers), prayers (many of them now answered) and a speech I had to deliver in my first year in uni (CLA 103, anyone?).

And it is the story of this speech that I’d like to share with you. So for a first-year course in my department, you have to deliver a 3-minute speech that contributes to about 20 or 30 percent of you grade. And the night before the Speech Examination, I sat in church, wondering how on earth I would put together a stellar speech in 12 hours. As a matter of fact, it was one of the things I prayed about in church. I was super worried at that time.

And after church, I sat with a friend for a while, the air around us fresh the way it usually is a after a torrential rain and he told me a lot about his life growing up and up until that point. And wrapped in my worry, I realized something – there were moments in his life that seemed monumental, things he cared deeply at the time. But he got through them. Imagine if he did not enjoy himself because he was too worried at the time.

And with this revelation, my speech was born. Pause for effect.

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I was focusing and stressing so much that I was losing sight of the meaning of an exercise – yes, a contribution towards my grade but also a genuine opportunity to better my speaking. I was holding on so tightly to the now and how it would shape my future grade that I was forgetting to just enjoy the moment.

An excerpt from my speech reads:

“But we watch our steps, playing vigilante with our CGPAs, worried that whatever we do now decides our future in a way that is irreversible. And because of this, too many of us will not enjoy our University experience. We will be too busy imputing points into the graph that is our future, attempting to foresee the end.

But we need to realize that the future is a collection of nows….So enjoy every moment and relax.”

Finding this notebook again has been a joy for me. And I have been able to remind myself “Look, Olubunmi. How much you have grown! Remember this? Your experiences are another colorful thread in the rich fabric that is your life."

So Breathe and enjoy.

Breathe, Olubunmi.

Just Breathe.