Homegirl,
Your mind…
How are you nurturing it?
Are you leaving it to its own devices, some random elements out there or are you simply leaving it to starve?
As I said, life examinations will come! It had better met your mind prepared.
How else do you nurture your mind than to consciously keep learning? No, I am not talking about your academics or degree. I am talking about daily increasing your knowledge, broadening your perspectives, changing your attitudes, improving your skills and widening your horizon.
All these can only happen through reading, listening to and watching people discuss and handle life topics.
Ha, please don’t say you hate reading.
Reading is not for professors or scholars.
Reading is for leaders. Leaders are forward-thinkers, progressives.
I am sure you would like to be one.
If you hate reading and stay away from it, it will show in your life that you don’t read.
Even Jesus asked the Pharisees and even his own disciples whenever they are confused about some issues, “Have you not read?”
He expected them to have knowledge and understanding of these things because the information was available in the Scripture.
King Solomon, you remember him? That man had all the trappings of success; so yeah, he could give advice. He admonished us to buy wisdom and sell it not.
There were the days when you had to walk the length and breadth of libraries and bookshops just to lay your hands on one book that discussed a topic you are so much interested. You finally find it; you buy and guard it jealously.
But we are a blessed generation today.
We have the Internet—free eBooks, blogs, graphic books, comics, vlogs, YouTube—a jaw-dropping wealth of information and affordable smart devices to access them. Yet, it seems the more we have access, the less we know things.
You are a 21st century girl, with the best smartphone your money can buy, yet you don’t know how many continents are in the world and which particular one you currently live in.
You don’t know what ‘oesophagus’ is.
You are about to be married, yet you don’t know that where baby comes from is different from where urine passes every day.
You don’t know what ovulation period is or how to calculate yours. You don’t know that your discharge appears differently at different times of the month and that they mean different things.
You know next to nothing about your own body.
Some marriages have had delay in conception for years because of this simple information.
You want to be a notable speaker on issues one day. You want to be a woman making waves in the boardroom, achieving heights, yet Korean and Filipino movies are your best friends, spending 75% of your day together.
You want to be an excellent mom someday, whose children are praised for their intelligence and culture. Yet, you, their first and natural role model do not have a grasp of any topic or language or etiquette.
Hey, you don’t wanna be that mom whose child asked what the meaning of “transient” was and whose reply was, “Go and ask your daddy.”
You will be indoctrinating your child that moms are dumb and only dads know things.
Just like the girl, who when amazed to see that her classmate’s mom got an award for an achievement in her profession, commented, “I never knew moms usually get awards for anything, maybe my mom is just dumb because all she does all day is watch TV and play Candy Crush on her phone. She doesn’t even know what ‘transient’ is.”
Hey, it’s okay to not know everything, but it’s not okay to know NOTHING.
The best of them all is to KNOW SOMETHING about ALMOST EVERYTHING.
But this is not achieved in a day; it is a lifelong process.
Life examinations are coming soon. Girl, are you prepared?
Watch movies (even if they are Korean or Filipino, it’s what you love that matters). Watch Fashion One, Spice TV, Star Gist, Jara etc. They are okay in their own right, but also take more time to read.
For example, read, listen to and watch notable/smart women like Jumoke Adenowo, Ibukun Awosika, Tara-Fela Durotoye, Oby Ezekwesili, TY Bello, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Funke-Felix Adejumo, Omilola Oshikoya, Lupita Nyong’o, Maya Angelou (of blessed memory), Sheryl Sandberg, Arianna Huffington, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and many others.
Listen to them talk about how they handle life. Discover how so much alike you are in your realities and challenges as women. Learn what they have done differently to tackle stuff that came their way and how they became so much successful that they get standing ovation.
Watch them; YouTube videos are free! You only need to use the same MB you use to download those latest movies.
Read and listen to people discuss diverse topics on personal finance, emotional intelligence, race, gender equality, health, child-raising, nutrition, personal finance, even fashion and style. Read biographies, autobiographies and memoirs of successful people.
Please, tell me after three months how you feel about yourself and your world, and how you fare in conversations, especially with intellectuals.
Please, let me know if your problem-solving skills have increased or not.
It is very important to nurture your mind consciously to its maximum growth and development in preparation for your purpose and realities in life.
Girl, it’s not okay to just have dreams, you need to take conscious steps towards achieving it.
You can excel as a woman! You can excel in the classroom, boardroom, on the field, in the society, in the sitting room, kitchen and the other room(s).
However, you need an intelligent, forward-thinking, progressive and developing mind for all of that.
So use your smartphone maximally!
The best time to learn is now, especially when no one is really competing with you for your own time and space. By the time you are married, busy, and overscheduled, you will still find time to learn because it would have become essential to you like air, water and food.
Are you ready?
Please stay beautiful!
Your Homegirl,
Adeyinka Oresanya.
#tomyownhomegirl
#iamyourhomegirlsotalktome
