I was just recently reminded by a friend about my blog series I used to write about 12-13 years ago.
I’d honestly completely forgotten about that and was even more shocked to find out that right before I abandoned it, I’d amassed a growing following of readers who actually read those blogs. I had no clue back then.
Fast forward to the present and I have decided to restart these blog series (with the encouragement of said friend), if not for anything else, then as a form of self-therapy at least.) Lord knows that the past 17months (from the beginning of the covid shut-downs in march 2020) to date has severely tested my willpower, resolve and sanity beyond anything I’d ever been through, and it’s yet to let up.
How can I truly describe it? I suppose the closest thing that comes to mind by way of an analogy is someone who has fallen into an icy cold lake/river and is facing hypothermia. In order to survive, the body initiates its extreme emergency survival protocol in which, basically, blood is withdrawn from all ‘unnecessary’ areas of the body (hands, legs etc) and just channeled to the core organ areas (heart, lungs etc..) just to make sure the body remains and stays alive for as long as possible to boost the chances of survival.
This is exactly how it’s felt for me for the past 17 months, when all of a sudden, I, as with many others around the world, found myself, lost and confused, no idea what to do, lost without my main anchor to my peace of mind and sanity as a foreigner here(my teaching gig and my beloved students), trapped with nothing but my inner demons for companionships, while dealing with the recent losses of my father, immediate younger brother, my uncle and a couple of my past students as well (though all these happened spread within the space of less than 5yrs to date, the pain and sadness still eats at me daily. It never goes away!) Oh and yeah…the never ending onslaught of Bills that didn’t get the memo that there was a pandemic we were all dealing with. Sigh!
I’ve had to dig deep to still be me. It hasn’t been easy! Like the hypothermia analogy, my soul/spirit had had to withdraw from so many ‘now unnecessary’ things I used to take pleasure in, just to channel all my internal energy reserve to keeping me sane, together and functional! Lord above knows how often I’ve mentally and emotionally crashed in these period… but somehow, (with the help of my faith, a couple of dear friends, kind words from a handful of my kids (ex-students) who check up on me from time to time, sheer WILLPOWER, my art…..MY ART and…..er…the ‘Waters of Dionysus ‘)
I’M STILL STANDING!!! Lol!
As we often say in Nigeria…’’WE MOVE!”
I’ve decided that my blogs are not going to be just about my art or my t-shirts or my other creative endeavours. Not totally anyways.
No, but about a myriad of things, basically random stories from experiences I’ve had over the years living in Romania, memories from life in Nigeria before Romania, maybe even some from my brief stint in Poland and Hungary. As many of my past students would probably attest to, there’s no ridged rhyme or reason with the order of my stories and how I choose to tell them, …but they are interesting and totally true.
Reminds me of when my best friend once said to me, “Kingsley, you should write a book on your life. I swear it’s like a sitcom!”
To which I responded, “What’s the point? No one is gonna believe me except people who witnessed these things as they happened anyways!” Lol!
Well, I think I’ll end this post here and hope whoever you are reading this, (and my future posts) will enjoy and be entertained by it.
Till my next blog post, take care and stay safe!
Also if you wanna support my works, pls consider getting one of my awesome t-shirts, or prints!
Cheers!
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