Tag: Depression

Inspiration

Of Life, Expectations, and Hopes for 2024

Jilomes

In primary school, we used to sing a marching song: “The day is bright; it’s bright and fair; oh happy day; the day of joy; … mama jollof rice!” Of course the “mama jollof rice” part was arguably not in the original rendering, but it was a testament to the joy that filled the hearts of the singers. Today, those singers are now adults, and for many, the joy has left. But with a whole year ahead of us, being joyful could be the recipe for staying sane.

Continue reading “Of Life, Expectations, and Hopes for 2024” →
Inspiration

Pressure Ti Po: When the Joneses Struggle to Keep Up

Jilomes

Growing up, except one was born into an unbelievably liquid family, one would have at some point or the other been advised against trying to “keep up with the Joneses”. Whereas the parochial connectivity of those days prevented many persons from knowing sufficient Joneses to benchmark against, today, social media networks have exponentially multiplied the Jonesian gene pool, such that you can be enjoying a 2G connection under hot sun in Nguru, while some random stranger suffering under a transparent lake in the Maldives would make you think your life is a joke.

Continue reading “Pressure Ti Po: When the Joneses Struggle to Keep Up” →
Inspiration, Randoms

When Emotions Spill

Jilomes

As I decided to write this piece, I went in search of a quote I could use as an opener. This quote literally jumped at me and I think it captures the essence of what I am about to address.

“Having anxiety and depression is like being scared and tired at the same time. It’s the fear of failure, but no urge to be productive. It’s wanting friends but hate socializing. It’s wanting to be alone, but not wanting to be lonely. It’s feeling everything at once then feeling paralyzingly numb.”

—Culled from healthyplace.com

My undergraduate class has a WhatsApp group where we do everything from bonding to fighting to serious debating. Yesterday, someone brought up an issue about euthanasia, which then morphed into a discourse on depression and possible reasons for a person to want to end his/her life. This discourse unlocked Pandora’s box. Continue reading “When Emotions Spill” →

Change, Inspiration

A Silent Killer

Jilomes

This week, in a peaceful community in Cross River State, an anomaly occurred. A vivacious young man committed suicide. It’s an anomaly because Nigerians are not known for suicides. Our propensity to hope is matchless. A recent poll ranked Nigeria as the “most positive country”. How then do we now have a suicide on our hands? Continue reading “A Silent Killer” →