I have told anyone who would listen that my new year began on the 1st of February, 2023. Not a day earlier… I am now ready for all the sweet goodness that the year is bringing my way.
Last year took me down a peg or two…I am sometimes a sucker for pain, so I might just be grateful for that. And despite multiple lacklustre attempts over four months, I have finally gotten my thoughts down.
I sat down at the end of 2022, and I couldn’t remember any good thing that happened. I thought hard and every memory that popped into my head was either something that made me sad, a hard lesson or something I wanted to forget. “How is that possible?!” I mentally screamed at myself. Nothing good for 12 months?
Despite the gloom that surrounded me on 31st December, I was human and that meant all 365 days couldn’t be bad. I tore up a piece of paper and started to crack my head about the good things that seemed to elude me. Bit by bit, good memories began falling into place like long-lost pieces of puzzles onto paper.
I felt dumbstruck. Was it a case of ingratitude? Or was I so clouded by the things that went wrong? As I began to recollect, I quickly realised it was the latter. The last six months of the year had just been chaotic enough to block a part of me that has always shone through – excited Iretomiwa.
The first half of the year was good. A little too good. I kept wondering when the other shoe would drop. And then it did – it was spectacular, at least for me it was!
Sigh… I have told God that nothing in His sometimes-gorgeous green earth would allow me to drag myself to such depths again. In November, I sat down to write a scathing letter that proved that I was capable of resentment, deep-seated anger and despair. (Maybe I would release it in my memoir, or maybe I’m much too embarrassed to let the world know that I was capable of such thoughts… either way, there is a note in my phone along with other incriminating evidence).
I will tell you two of the lessons I learnt. I will not give anyone or anything the power to make me feel less about myself or my work. Nothing should have that much power over you. Because, if you begin to believe whatever it is, it will seep into your soul. It is that simple. Protect yourself and the things you love very jealously.
The second is for me to treat my body and soul very well. Because I have a demanding job, it was very easy for me to get sucked in and forget that I was human, which meant that the concepts of rest, exercise, tender loving care, and the likes are not alien to me after all. I kept falling ill and felt betrayed by my body. I should have just stopped and listened to my body. Life may have been much simpler if I did.
But you see, it’s not all darkness and anger. That is what I am hell-bent on immortalising in words.
That year was a gorgeous one. I expanded at work – somewhat; I travelled to East and West Africa. My first trip to Ghana was to speak and attend the eighth edition of the Women in PR Ghana (WIPRG). I had never seen so many women in one place – it was a beautiful experience. And the warmth with which they welcomed me floored me. The cherry on top was speaking about an aspect of my job that I need to also focus more effort on – building your social currency. And listening to feedback about my session got me emotional. To see women across Ghana share their thoughts on my takes brought everything home. We may be in different zip codes, but many of our experiences and challenges were consistent.
- Iretomiwa Akintunde-Johnson is a lawyer and Lead Adviser at ID Africa
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