Farabale, the story is just starting.

Dear Reader,

This week has been many things; tumultuous (within myself) and around the world.  For about four years now, I have been building a career as a writer. But late last month, I had to admit to myself that I no longer want that future anymore- I wrote a little about that here. So now I am experimenting and trying to forge a different path. The picture looks blurry, but I’m excited at the possibilities.

As such I’ve been learning and researching prominent people in my field of interest, trying their stories so I can mirror their journey. One thing that stood out for me is how all of them seemed to start from base; there was a foundation and then several blocks before getting to the top where everyone can see them. Unless you’re a trust fund baby, no one sleeps one day and find themselves at the top the next. There has to be an accumulation of efforts, which with luck/opportunity eventually get you to where you want to be.

I think many young people can be so hard on themselves, especially as social media brings so many realities to our awareness; you start coding today and you hope to be a senior developer in six months. There’s this sense of urgency to attain your goals now now and everywhere you look there’s someone doing x300 what you’re doing. 

I’m telling myself now to farabale, that everything is in stages and this is my building/learning stage. Give yourself time to grow. Every day, I write my life’s history so I must not be impatient, so eager to move to the next chapter, I forget to enjoy the story. 

Away from my musings, I read pretty interesting stuff this week, so let’s unpack them: 

1. This inspiring story about Njoku Emmanuel, a 19-year old CEO of LazerPay who decided at age 13 that coding was what he wanted to do and never looked back. If you love well-written stories, then you’ll enjoy reading this even more. 

2. Of all the articles, books, short stories, I have read about Love, this article titled Love is Biological Bribery, is probably the most interesting so far.  Can love really be explained by anthropology?

3. This piece on planned obsolescence, a 114-year-young light bulb and how most products are intentionally designed to fail. 

4. ‘So what is Wrong with Mediocrity?,’ Ore Eni-Ibukun posits. Why is there only a linear definition of success and why does not aiming for the top make us perceived as failures? I particularly loved reading this one. 

5. Imagine working for a company remotely for months during a pandemic and then realising it’s a fake company? The main question on my mind while reading about Ali Ayad and his fake design agency was, WHY? 

6. ‘Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day. ‘-  E. B White. In this clime, it’s easy to lose hope in humanity, to only see bleakness. I found this letter E.B White wrote quite uplifting.

7. Katy Dion set out to look for a father for her child and separate love from the equation. She ended up finding both in one man.

8. In this era of cancel culture and social media harassment, are we deliberately jerks on the internet or is it the design of these online spaces that enable harassment? 

9. Fiction:  Eloghosa Osunde is one of my favourite writers of all time and after reading this story, you’ll see why. Warning: it’s unlike anything you’ve ever read. 

10. If you’re trying to wrap your head around what’s going on with Ukraine and Russia, this Twitter thread breaks it down so easily and is a good place to start your reading. 

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What this newsletter is listening to: 

Billie Eilish and Jhené Aiko.

I’ve been in my sad girl era + reflective mood all week and these women just seem to get it. 

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I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I did. I also want this to be, beyond a newsletter, a community of sorts. So feel free to write back, tell me your thoughts on some of the stories I shared, and even your favourite story from the week! 

Away from this newsletter, what’s the best story you read this week?  Share it with me, and who knows? It might feature in my next letter. 

Thank you for reading. Until next week. 

With love, 

Titi.