Happy Birthday to Me!!!

I’m starting with this picture because I think it is funny. Foluso Ajayi dug it up yesterday, and my Facebook friends seem to think it is funny too. I’m doing a few things in this picture I’ll most likely never do again: striking a hilarious pose, wearing green ‘canvas’, and generally trying hard to look like an Ibadan boy. Apart from highlighting how much I have grown, this picture does not contribute further to this post.

This picture was taken about a year after the first. I had gone up the Old Buka hill at the Obafemi Awolowo University with friends, and I was the designated photographer. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I took it, but I am glad I did. It is one of my favourite pictures of myself. It reminds me of a time that sometimes seems far away, a time when I had few worries, even fewer fears, and when I genuinely believed I could help heal the world.

*****

I can’t believe it’s already one year since I wrote my birthday post in 2014. It feels like it was only six months ago. I read that post again just now, and it still accurately reflects many of the thoughts swarming my mind today:

• Gratitude for how far I’ve come on my journey, and the beautiful people I have journeyed with.
• A burning consciousness that every night I go to bed marks one day less I have to be all I can be.
• A grudging realization that I won’t be young forever, and I ought to pack every day full of life.

The year ending yesterday was a great one, and I am grateful for everything.

*****

I look forward to my best year yet, starting today. I just renewed my commitment to live and grow, to stand for my dreams, and to follow up the road that lies ahead.

The primary commitment I make to myself today is to live: to overcome fear of rejection, ridicule or failure and just do things; to give blinding focus to excellently executing the ambitious plans I make so well; to “fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds’ worth of distance run”; to step out in faith when God calls. And yes – to sky-dive as soon as I get the opportunity. - Koye-Ladele M., Happy Birthday to Me (2014).

I also look forward to contributing externally, more than ever before. I deeply believe the purpose of my life is bigger than me, and I look forward to doing more to help other people rise above their limitations and achieve their potential.

Maybe, just maybe – I’ll help to make life a little better for someone else, I’ll help to heal the world, and I’ll be forever young.

Happy Birthday to Me.