Jaded

I know you think I am jaded

And I think I know why

You are perpetually confounded by my post lockdown attitudes

My love of solitude, silence, brevity, and abhorrence for drama

Even though my introverted ways are no secret to you or me

You wonder why I am in no hurry to resume the pre lockdown

Patterns, attitudes, stressors, and harried existence

You suspect I cover up my people exhaustion with a veneer and appearance

Of soul searching; mind building, internal conversations, and quiet solitude

It is a liberating realization that former patterns, methodologies, beliefs, Lifestyle habits, pressures, and culturally accepted right doing can be a trap

And stumbling block to growth, productivity, and the attaining to

Lofty ambitions and grand life purposes

The sweet taste of rest

Of mind, body, soul, and spirit

Uncovered the barefaced lies the rat race has fed us

The blatant falsehood that we must work till we drop

To enjoy the good things and simple joys of life

The sober realization that we must come face to face

with the man in the mirror and be hit with some blistering home truths

- we do not know ourselves as we thought we did

- we do not know our loved ones as we thought we did

Lockdowns, stay-at-homes, work-from homes, and social distances

Provided the much needed reset we did not know we needed

to save us from ourselves

The chance to challenge the status quo — Look it in the eye

and declare without fear ‘You are outmoded, stagnant and in need of overhaul and replacement’

To risk an honest, bold, fear-inducing, and jarring inventory of our lives

And face some hard and bitter truths

A somber thing to realize but change has been screaming all along

Unfortunately for us all, she was drowned out by the louder voices of life and living

2020’s searing upheaval ravaged like a refining fire

A raging conflagration consuming all and sundry in its path

But hope shines through and calls us anew

For out of the ashes shall sprout

New hopes, new dreams, new courses to chart

New goals, new ambitions, new heights to aspire

New vistas, new resolutions, new life paths to attain

And endless possibilities and opportunities to explore

We must therefore go forth in victory

To conquer and win so that we emerge at last at the other side

Fully formed and fulfilled into the new day and dawn

© Imabong Faminu, 2020