A memory of something that happened in my first year in boarding school flashed through my mind this morning. I was kneeling beside a bunk bed, reaching for a pair of slippers from under the bed when a senior walked by and asked me how I was. I wasn’t fine. I was miserable.

A particular senior Tosin was making my life miserable. She had woken me up multiple nights in a row telling me to look for somewhere else to sleep, because she liked the position of my bed – top bunk, under a fan, by a wall – talk about being blessed with prime property even from a young age! I had a corner piece and it had entered her eye and she was LITERALLY giving me sleepless nights over it.

So there I was casually being asked how I was and I knew that I had two choices – 1. Respond with the generic, “I’m fine, thank you.” 2. Tell her how I really was.

I chose 2.

I shared what had happened over the past few nights with her. How I hadn’t slept well, how I got paralyzed with fear whenever I saw senior Tosin, how mean she was to me, how unsafe I felt, I blurted it all out amidst sobs and she – GOD bless her – promised to do something about it.

What happened next was a mystery, and I believe that it was also a defining moment for me.

I got up and had to STEADY MYSELF because I felt SO MUCH LIGHTER!! I remember thinking, “What’s happening?” | was 12 or 13 then and it suddenly occurred to me that I had been carrying a huge weight around without even knowing it.

That, I believe was my first lesson on the power of Vulnerability. I didn’t know the word then, I just knew that I had told senior Toyin all the evil things that senior Tosin was doing, I got up after that and I felt lighter!!

Every time l’m inspired to document a recollection like this, I know someone needs to read it. 

So I’m hoping that by reading this today, you (someone) make the conscious decision to relieve yourself of invincible weight 🤍