My 2024 Wrapped

things that did & didn’t happen.

Dec 29, 2024

Everybody might be saying it, but for me, 2024 was one of the most interesting and impactful years of my life so far.

I had a feeling at the start that it would be a good year, but that was only cause I was excited about the things on my “To-Do list”.

Which I only halfway touched, in the end.

All in all, this year was blessed for me and I’m grateful to God.

Let’s see *some* of the things that happened (and didn’t happen) in the last 12 months.

Things I Did

Graduated From The University

After 44 months/194 weeks/1362 days/32,688 hours/1,961,280 minutes/117,676,800 seconds,

I finally finally got my Bsc. Degree in Mass Communication.

Being in the university was crazy enough on it’s own, but being a Covenant University student, my God.

You’ll have to experience it yourself to understand; I can’t even explain.

But I loved it.

Not for the academics, “strict” rules and the sometimes questionable actions of the school management,

But for the friends I made, the personal growth I underwent and the profound lessons I learnt in many ways.

So, it was great to graduate with my guys and I’m glad that phase is all over.

Never again.

My graduation thanksgiving was also the day after and I took enough pictures and videos to last a lifetime.

Including the hardest picture of the year:

Started my Substack Newsletter/Blog

You probably won’t believe that the reason you and I are here right now is because of an impulsive decision I made around 10 pm on August 12, 2024.

Maybe not impulsive, but it was a spur of the moment thing.

Before Substack, Medium was where I uploaded my stories.

I liked having a place to show people my work and although I wasn’t really bothered about the “growth”, it was ridiculously slow.

Then I saw a tweet from

Abbietayo

saying that she was creating a Substack newsletter and then I thought, “Eh, why not?”

My first problem was coming up with a name.

Then after racking my brain for minutes,

I chose the blandest and most basic name ever,

then coupled it with the blandest and most basic image ever-

It’s really meh, if we’re being honest.

But fortunately for me, my writing isn’t meh.

So, here we are:
4 months/19 weeks/503 days later.
312 subscribers (as of posting).
35 posts.
11k+ estimated total views.
2300+ estimated total people reached.

It’s been really wild to me.

To have so many people that enjoy my writing and give me great feedback every day is a blessing.

I’m grateful for you, who’s ever liked a post, commented, restacked and even shared with your friends.

Thank you.

The best part is that we’ve barely even started.

I’m working and planning towards my upcoming book meeting and surpassing every expectation.

Amen.

Attended My First TED Talk

My school held a Tedx event this year, and I had the opportunity to work on the Marketing team as a “Social Media Assistant”.

Which simply means that I had to write advert scripts, IG captions, brainstorm content ideas and all of that.

It was a very simple role, but I didn’t mind it.

I met some of my current friends during preparations and it was a shiny addition to my CV.

I also met AnEndlessOcean.

I wouldn’t call myself a “fan”, but he was really cool and we had a lot of interesting conversations about a lot of interesting things.

I also “met” Hilda Baci, but story for another day. 😂

Participated In My First Model UN

CIMUN was so much fun.

One of the best things I did this year.

Despite the fact that I had to represent the poorest country in the world.

But it was a completely enjoyable experience throughout and it’s one I’d love to have again.

I made some new friends too and I also realised just how relentless and frustrating I can be as a rival.

(They call it “debating”, but it’s really just knowing how to tear your opponent’s arguments into pieces and make them question their intelligence and everything they’ve ever believed...)

So yeah.

I got awarded for knowing how to do just that.

Lanched My First Book

In my department, back in school, I was one of the heads of a “Career Group”.

It was the Writing (obviously?) group, and one of the projects we did was a compilation of short stories and poems.

“The Unspoken: A Tale of Love & Betrayal”

It was very challenging to put entries together, then compile and edit them, all on my own.

Talk less of the stress my department put me through when it was finally time to actually print the book.

But I thank God it all came together and I’m proud to have pioneered and be part of something like that.

The theme of the book was “love and betrayal” and my entries were a short fiction story (Peter’s Denial) and a poem.

Here’s the poem hehe:

(might not be based on a true story…)

What do you think of my poetry skills? 🙂‍↕️

Things I Didn’t Do

Didn’t Save a Dime

I really don’t know how this happened.

0 Naira saved in the entire year.

It’s not that I saved and removed o.

Nothing at all.

And it’s so ironic to me because I made more money this year than I did in any other year.

So what was the problem?

T-Pain? Reckless spending? Extreme “self-care”?

I wish I could say I forgot, but the truth is I was always remembering, it just didn’t seem “worth it”.

Either way, it’s very disappointing and I must do better next year.

So help me God.

I Did Not Fall in Love

“Falling in love” was on my list of plans for 2024, funny enough.

I had no intention of going to find it, but I was open if it came.

However, I ended up having probably the most romance-starved year of my adult life.

No serious crush. No talking stage. No situationship.

I’m not even mad at it; it’s just funny because I was really confident God would send her my way this year.

Instead, God just looked at me from heaven and-

The only “romantic” highlight of my year was that I got one of my long-term crushes to be my Valentine.

Even then, it wasn’t anything special.

We just exchanged gifts and had some pleasant conversations.

I already accepted since 2022 that we were never going to be more than friends.

So, it is what it is.

I’m going to write about it in The Girls I Loved in Uni Part #3, whenever I get the vibe to. (yes, I didn’t forget.)

(Quick shameless plug: Read Part #1 & Part #2 if you haven’t yet.)

Fine, I’ll be honest.

I did get into a “talking stage” of sorts towards the end of this year.

We like each other but circumstances beyond our control are pointing to the fact that we probably won’t go beyond being good friends.

And that’s okay too.

Like I said, it is what it is.

P.S. - I might seem “unlucky” with “love”😂 and maybe I am, but I don’t ever worry about it.

In time, it’ll happen.

And even if it doesn’t, that’s okay too.

Either way, I remain a #realloverboy.

Fell Out With 3 of My “Close Friends”

Not going to dwell much on this, because there’s no point.

The first one, we just stopped talking.
The second one, we came to a mutual agreement to part ways since the friendship wasn’t working again. (I’ll admit that much of the fault was on me.)
The third one, well… let’s chalk it down to a misunderstanding that escalated way out of proportion and beyond the point of reconciliation.

My point is, people really do come and go.

You don’t have to like it.

Sometimes, you’re indifferent. Sometimes, it hurts.

But as long as you treat the people you care about with love and never let your ego/pride get in the way,

Then you don’t have to worry about who stays and who goes.

The people for you will always ride with you, no matter what.

I Didn’t Read The Bible Through

I’d have been disappointed, but I read the bible a lot this year.

I studied it more, learnt so many new verses and got some deep insights here and there for this and that.

However, I still would have liked to read it from start to finish.

Which is what I will be doing in 2025, God willing.

Feel free to join me.

I Lost Money

Do I need to say much?

I made a few “investments” here and took a few “risks” there.

Most didn’t pay off; the few that did didn’t pay off enough to cover the cost of the initial “investment”.

So basically, they didn’t pay off too.

No, I didn’t do “Anchor”.

And no, I didn’t gamble.

But sometimes I wonder if those things would have been a more profitable investment than the things I did.

I’m not going to tell you, so don’t ask. 😂

(don’t gamble btw, waste of money.)

Anyways, we live and we learn.

Money comes and goes; never be too afraid to spend it or too desperate to make it.

That’s it!

2024 in a very small nutshell.

So many other things happened, honestly: I grew my writing presence online, coached my department’s football team (lmao.), made a lot of good friends, met some “online” friends for the first time, wrote so many good stories, met a great woman, deleted Twitter, attended Xperience for the first time, and so on...

I also: didn’t read enough books, spent too much time on the internet, got angry at times when I should have said “sorry”, let resentment fester too long in a relationship that was dear to me, didn’t publish my first novel, didn’t fix my sleep schedule, didn’t finish my Udemy courses, and so on...

But, fortunately for me (and for you), our lives do NOT have to be restricted by a calender.

“New year, New me” is such a fable.

We can do the things we want to do today.

We can make amends today.

We can change our lives today.

As long as we’re alive, we have the capacity to make a difference, for us and for others.

So cancel those “New Year resolutions” and just write down the changes you want to see every day, for the rest of your life.

It’s been a good year. God is good.

Despite everything, we still have reasons to be grateful.

Thank you all for rocking with me. We keep going.

January’s content calender is almost filled up already.

Next post on Wednesday! (+ some announcements on the way.)