ITOHAN'S LITTLE CORNER ✍️

Lola was supposed to have been married by now-- she thought-- she should have had her first child and currently be giving orders to some guys at the warehouse to deliver goods to her customers, while seated in her office, in a form-fitting yellow two-piece, with a picture of her husband on her desk and a Stanley Cup right beside it, filled with freshly squeezed orange juice.  She sighed as she jolted into reality and attended to the next customer. Her diary must be so ashamed of her. Everything she had written down- goals, plans, dreams...nothing had worked out. I mean here she was, dealing with a crappy boss and impatient customers, just trying to get through the day without numb fingers- which had always proven impossible.  Half of her day was spent pulling out iced things from the freezer. Chicken, fish, drinks, even ice itself and her boss was a peach.  Lola was determined to get a better life, but to her, a better life only started with...a white flowy dress, a man i...

I was supposed to go up on stage to share my testimony at church. But first, I had to speak with a pastor — and while I waited for him to be ready, I looked for a seat. Guess where I sat? The Lead Pastor’s chair. No, he wasn’t on it — c’mon! 😅 But still, within moments, a protocol officer approached me and quietly asked me to stand. I did. And then frantically searched for a neutral seat, trying to disappear. Problem is… this was happening right in front of over 200 people. My heart was thudding so loud I could hear it in my ears. I felt like the whole world was laughing at me (spoiler alert: they weren’t). But in that moment, I was filled with embarrassment, shame, and regret. For the rest of that week, I hid under the weight of that single awkward moment. I made up my mind: > “I’ll never go up in front of the church again. Ever.” But then, I spoke to a friend. She listened, then said: > “The only person still thinking about that moment… is you.” “You’ve internalized it. You’re...

 'INTROVERT-ED-NESS' was imposed upon me.  As a typical 'omo get inside' growing up, outside stopped appealing to me. I wanted to participate in things, meet people, be involved in activities, but I was never allowed to--and so I grew up like that.  Made most of my friends on the internet because it was all I had, and outside became unappealing. Going out became a big chore and was literally an 'out of your comfort zone' thing that I didn't want to do for various reasons.  I never got outing clothes, because 'where I dey wear am go' was my mantra, even when I moved out of the house.  It had sown a deep seed inside of me and I became comfortable in it.  I lost chances to have some experiences, meet some people, get involved in some things, because going outside felt too scary for me.  But now, I'm very angry. Very dissatisfied. Because I want to go outside. I want to get involved in projects, activities, experiences. There's the issue of money...

 🎶So no one told you life was gonna be this way... 🎶 Ah I need to get this song out of my head.. Or is it the entire series as a whole?  Or nahh, I'd rather not.. What would I do without FRIENDS?  I mean the show?  See I met most of them through the screen. How else would i? Was never allowed to step out to go anywhere else other than to get educated or blessed in a church and even that, was controlled and monitored.  I found comfort in my itel button phone with small screen. Searched for cool names to add up on Facebook and became 'friends'. It was a dream come true. But as soon as the screen went off, I was back to being an audience of one. Performing for me, by me. Isn't that fun?  Books? I read.. A lot. Both, appropriate and inappropriate books. But when I found FRIENDS, I mean the show again.. It healed several parts of me. I lived vicariously through them. I still do.  Yes! I now had six friends and we lived close to one another, paved through ...