Twenty-Twenty
and all the vibes it came with…
I just saw a photo I took on New Year’s Eve 2019. I was at a party enjoying myself. A proper Yoruba party, with lots of food and drinks. I remember hours after taking that picture I was on a Gokada for maybe a 40 minutes ride from Alagbado to Oshodi because typical Lagos traffic does not care if the year is coming to an end or not, and I was rushing to meet up with my friend’s games night.
I got to Oshodi, then continued my journey to Ikoyi with an Uber, and let’s just say I had a good New Year’s Eve filled with laughs and drinks. It was fun and I honestly didn’t expect that because I didn’t know most of the people there. I just wanted to show up. But it was nice being there. I genuinely had fun.
I left at almost 11pm or so. Got home and slept into the new year. This is the first NYE where I did not have to go to church and honestly, it wasn’t bad. Having the second, today.
Anyway, long story short, I had a good day on December 31st, 2019 (even though a Nigerian man was stressing me) and I had no idea 2020 was going to be the year that it became.
New Job
Twenty-Twenty or 2020 started on a high note like every other year. I spent the first day with family and I have no memories of what happened after until January 6th when I resumed at my new job.
It was my first time working in a physical office and meeting my colleagues. Before that, I was working remotely and I never met my employer or colleagues. So it was an experience.
I’ve been at my job for almost one year now and it’s been filled with a lot of learning and happy days. I worked on a couple of interesting things including a brand film. I also went from one position to the other. Fascinating!
I’m probably going to write something for my anniversary, which is in 6 days.
Covid and all the bad vibes it came with
Covid came and the world went to shit. Literally.
I can not even explain how the year started with me celebrating my new job and two months later, we were all worried sick about this virus and staying alive.
The government imposed a lockdown and some people were stocking up on tissues (I still don’t know the rationale behind it), others on food. Some could barely stock up on anything. I was mostly worried about the latter. I was worried about how they were coping.
Some other people spent it with their partners. Must be really nice.
Anyhoo, I went from celebrating going to a physical office daily to working from home. Back to my normal life, if you may.
I also started designing again and I did the Daily UI for 50 days.
The lockdown lasted for a couple of months and honestly I am failing to recall what went down that period apart from the fact that I was dying of boredom and loneliness.
Okay, I remember moving houses in June. It was quite something and it’s one moment I am proud of because there was a lot of growth after one year. Also, I felt better after spending my entire day house hunting in Gbagada (inside the weather, with Amanda).
I resumed working at the office in July and it has been forward since then.
END SARS
Whew.
I protested for the first time in my life in October 2020 and it was about police brutality in Nigeria.
I know I said before that the world went to shit when covid came. I know. But I have to say it again, with focus on my dear country, Nigeria. Everything went to shit. Literally.
Nigerian youths went to the streets to demand that the police and our government stopped killing us and guess what they did? Killed us even more.
20–10–2020
“I’ve never been this broken in my entire life. We will never forget that the people that swore to protect us, killed us”
That was all I could say a day after peaceful protesters were shot at.
Look, I’m still confused and tired. I’m still wondering why they thought it was okay to shoot at peaceful unarmed protesters. I’m still asking questions.
End SARS did a lot on my mental health and well-being. It was too much for me. And until this day., I still can not watch those videos and not have a headache from crying.
I felt so defeated. I still do.
But for organizations like Fem Co, I have little hope. I was so proud of these women and the effort they put into the #EndSARS movement. It felt like Nigeria could work.
The End
Not much happened after.
I was overwhelmed for the most part of the last quarter of 2020. I was tired. I was stressed and I woke up every other day thinking about the people that died in the hands of SARS and the people that died while they were asking not to be killed — by their own government. I was sick.
But I am thankful for my friends and Twitter for free therapy. I don’t know what I would have done without them. Literally.
This year I tried my best to show up and my guys did the same for me. For that, I am grateful.
When I started writing about my year, I got confused and stopped because for some reason I had no memory of how the year went. I was struggling to remember some things but then I really wanted to write about it because I have only done this once (2018) and every time I go back to read it, it feels good.
So why not write another one? Well, here you have it!
Happy New Year in advance and I wish you and me, a better year ahead.
P.S. This article made it to my personal blog where I plan to write only random musings. I have not decided if I’ll keep it or just focus on Medium. Check it out — https://theweekendmusings.wordpress.com/
