Happy ’22! I cannot overemphasize how every read, comment and like from last year has made me who I am at this every hour. For this, I say my new favorite word (after Nkem of course); Imela– Thank You. My friend Emmanuel put me up to a challenge recently.
It is essential that at a particular time of our life, we should all make self portraits of ourselves. Either by writing, painting, photograph or anything you do. It is a reflection of where we are coming from and a deep appreciation of your arrival at yourself-an acceptance.
After sharing his own self portrait that left me dumb founded, he challenged me to write one of myself too. Initially, I fought the urge to write what might have ended up sounding like a praise poem to myself until I realized it was not all praises. It went like this.
A self portrait In all honesty, I am not the most genuine human I know. If anything, one of my greatest fears is being human. I want to transcend beyond the human nature, not physically and not to be called a god. I just don’t want to ever be put on the same pedestal with human actions. This is what keeps me up on some nights. I stare into thin space and pray for those who wrong me because I believe it makes me better than them. I commit all of my dreams to the Divine and ask that he considers me special and gives me some free pass. I listen to dead artistes and feel what they feel because I consider myself supernatural. Sometimes I speak about aliens too. But in all of these dreams to be not human, it seems to me that simply being human brings more ease. People scarcely seem as worried for their actions like I do. It seems like they have an acceptance of who they are and are less worried about who they could be. Sometimes I act like them. Or maybe I simply just act like myself. Everyday, we pick up characters and act them out and force ourselves to believe that is who we are. So, in writing this self portrait of you, Yemisi, which day would I consider? The days you are intensely happy may simply just be dopamine. The days you cry may be your serotonin running low. But the days you show rage and jealousy and feel betrayal, that is who you are. Then , you let yourself truly be you. Human. In your most genuine form. So be you. But be a better you. The best kind of you. Even the gods will eye with envy.
So let me challenge you to do a self portrait of yourself with your words, your paint, your music, whatever it is that you do. Happy 2022! May the odds be ever in your favour
With all the love in my heart,
Oluwayemisi.
YOU ARE! 
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