I looked around and saw that I needed to tidy up. Not a sweep through the room, not just moving things around here and there and calling it a day. But a deep clean, the kind that takes up your whole day or even your entire weekend and makes your house look like a construction site in the best possible way. Where you’re on your knees scrubbing your oven because you want it to look and smell brand new. Where you play "where’s the missing puzzle?" with your food storage boxes trying to find their lid.

It’s 7am in the morning and of course I slept through the highly anticipated Super Bowl half time show. Luckily, the internet is right there to help me out. I avoid Instagram , tik tok and everything  that could give me any kinds of spoilers and go straight to YouTube. Disregarding my rule of no phone and screen time thirty mins after I wake up. Today there’s an exception to the rule. I rub the sleep off my eyes because I want to see clearly, volume on high because I don’t want to miss a single beat and lyric…wait is that Samuel L. Jackson?? Here we go.

The air is humid, the kind that I love, the kind of humidity that can only be felt on African soil. Somewhere in the background, someone is listening to a Black Sherif verse on high volume, while driving by full speed.  I wanted to write, on a notebook, with pen and paper to ensure no distractions and to get back into the element of writing. Ink always brought on a lot of revelations, this being one of them:

It’s three days left until my Ghana trip and while everyone else is all set, my suitcases are empty. Weeks prior I had opened a new note on the notes app and wrote down which items I wanted to take along, what essentials to pack, and which outfits I would wear. From the little black dress to a mustard colored bikini set, it was all there. As I started packing, I quickly noticed that some of the things

Writing this while enjoying the serene sounds of nature. Waves are splashing towards the shore. The tide is high. The sun is rising over the ocean waters. The air tastes like salt with a tinge of humidity, my skin is dewy, inhaling the sun like its life depends on it. There’s a rooster crowing in the background. I welcome every light breeze with a smile on my face.  A smile I haven’t been able to get rid of, I have not wanted to get rid of since I got here. Swaying palm trees dancing to a rhythm of their own. I am home

What scares you? So much that you won’t allow yourself to finally thrive?

I look at my life reflectively and stare at the words I wrote in my Morning Pages

The story goes like this: People you love hurt you, in a way you never thought possible. The hurt shapes you, forms you, creates a new person maybe a bitter one, a more cautious one, with walls as high as skyscrapers. You vow to yourself to never trust again

When life is life-ing extra hard, it is easy to not take care of ourselves and to neglect the most important person in our lives: us.

It stars differently for everyone, for some it starts with neglecting their nutrition:

listens to “man at the garden” once

Some of us grew up thinking whatever we had was undeserving. Success wasn’t celebrated enough (or at all) and many times we were told that we could always do one better.

Build your village and watch it take care of you.

My body is tired. My body is tired. I am sleep deprived. Dehydrated, because for some reason I keep forgetting to drink water and did I mention my body is tired?

When rent is due but motivation is on hold.

I wrote this on a treadmill, listening to “Thong Song” by Sisqo. (Just thought I’d throw that in there).

In my Fitness Girl Era.

Health is wealth. We’ve heard it time and time again and I couldn’t agree more. You are what you eat; and if that means I am a double chocolate ganache cake then I guess, I’ll take it? But in all seriousness I used to hate any sort of physical activity… what do you mean I should sweat and pant and taste blood in my mouth all free willingly?

In an ideal world, the sun would be shining all year round and I wouldn’t have to go through the transition of summer to fall and fall to winter. Days would stay long and warm and nights would remain short and sweet.

When I was younger I wanted to have a million friends. Be it contacts on msn, Blackberry Messenger, MySpace or real life. Know everyone, be known by everyone, have a squad, a clique; the more, the merrier.

It’s easy to get stuck in the what could have beens when life isn’t going the way you thought it would or the way you had planned for it to go. Growing up, it’s all set out for us whether by our parents and caretakers, or teachers or family members. If they believe in you..

CB once sang: It’s never the right time to say goodbye. Because it isn’t. You don’t have to be a philosopher or an R&B singer to know that. Have you ever had to have a difficult conversation with someone

Live life fully. I stare out the window, amazed by the perfectly blue sky. The clouds look drawn today. Picture perfect it seems. I think of the many times I looked out the window at my parents’ place. Daydreaming.