Reader it’s been a minute or an hour or a week anyways; you get the gist. It’s another week of me reminding you to love yourself, choose yourself, and clap for yourself. I don’t know what you think I’m like, but I can assure you that I’m nothing close to being perfect; I’m very far from it.

Omo, before I get carried away, how are you Reader? How was your week? How did you maneuver the whole week? My week was okay until the last 48 hours, a series of news has found a way to destabilize me. Let me give you the tea (Fun fact: tea is spelled thé in French).

Yesterday someone who has a reputation that he was even dubbed “the Nigerian Sheldon” was outed as a fraud on Twitter. If you haven’t seen the Big Bang Theory, Sheldon is a genius who kind of knows everything a genius should and more. The whole gist went boom in a minute, and the Nigeria Tech Twitter caught fire. It was disappointing to many people but not to me anyway; there are very few people whose lives interest me on the internet, let alone envy them.

While this went on, the news went viral that a girl was beaten till she was unconscious and burnt alive for “blasphemy .” My questions were, “What is blasphemy?”, “What qualifies for blasphemy, and what doesn’t?” “Why do people see the need to fight to defend their god?” The truth is, I’ve never been that religious person and would almost never be because religion is a sham (at least to me). If it’s not a dramatic Pastor somewhere performing some “miracles” by wrestling a demon, then there is a prosperity sermon going on somewhere. We also have the “religion of peace” fanatics demonstrating peace in the way they understand best (if you’re offended by this, please overlook this because I LOVE MY HEAD and wouldn’t love to lose it). Don’t get me wrong, I believe in God, or let me say I believe in the existence of extraterrestrial/supreme being(s). I read the Bible daily because I enjoy reading it. Still, the idea of most religions and their principles, especially Abrahamic religions, doesn’t sit right with me. I could go on and on about religion because I’m sad and angry Reader, but common sense is to stay within the theme of this newsletter.

ASUU ruined everything by saying they might suspend the strike soon. I just made a 12-week plan on Monday, which might become useless because of their indecisiveness. It wasn’t the best end of the week, but it’s okay, I guess.

Reader, take a moment and breathe. We live in such a fast-paced and competitive world that we forget to breathe sometimes. If you deep it, you have nothing to prove to anyone but yourself, so why not take a breath? We keep chasing deadlines until we’re dead. We’re always chasing the successive win that we forget to appreciate the recent victory. Another thing is I don’t believe in the concept of “small wins,” and you shouldn’t, too; the idea is toxic. There’s no such thing as a small win in a football league system because every win carries the same points; either you win 100-0 or win 1-0, it’s still 3 points.

Why do we classify our wins? Reader, before you call something a win, you must have overcome a challenge. Why are we now making it seem insignificant? Because it’s not what everybody will recognize? Maybe you should take a moment and breathe, acknowledge how far you’ve come. You’re doing well; if all you did today was make someone feel better, that’s a win. You might have saved a life. And, if all you did was learn a new thing? It’s a win Reader; you don’t know how that knowledge might make a difference tomorrow. Winning doesn’t have to be gargantuan; breathe and live Reader. You have earned it.

If you see any typo, excuse it, please.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Kendrick Lamar's album is out, you don't need to listen to all the songs because I understand rap might not be your thing. Just listen to Mother I Sober and We Cry Together.
2. Five pages in Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo and I can say it will be a great read. I recommend.
3. ​Rants on the matter at hand, feast on it.
4. I've read this at least 5 times, Naomi Osaka talks about her mental health.
5. Other people's anger shouldn't affect you, here's why.
6. Don't forget. Here we go.
7. I've been watching a lot psychology and cognitive behaviour videos, can seem to be something you might be pumped for, so no videos or podcast today.
8. Don't forget to recommend my newsletter to someone you love. Link here​

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk,

Pierre