I’m sweating on my bed. It’s hot and dark. My lights have been off for three days now and sleeping in the nights is now hell. But I don’t only feel hot in my bed today, I think I feel feverish as well. I check my clock and it’s 3AM. Alas!

I’ve entered a new year of my life. Today is my birthday. This day causes me to have mixed reactions. In as much as I praise God for giving me another 365 days, I’m also very unhappy because there’re a lot of things I planned for my life to happen that I’ve not seen. And I am not alone. Akuvi planned for a good job. But she is still hanging around this company that’s giving her peanuts.

My close friend Esi planned and prayed that by age 27 she would be married but she’s still single. She’s a good girl with a loving family and a great job; but that life partner is yet to show up or perhaps find her and pressure is piling up on her. Not just from her friends and family but also from herself.

I think of her as I lay in my bed with my own headaches. Kwame, my buddy has not really been successful as an employee. He moved to about five jobs the whole of last year. He’s frustrated because he doesn’t seem to find his feet anywhere. He wants to start his own business but that’s another headache he’s grappling with; worst of all, his sweetheart, Kyereme is threatening to leave him if he doesn’t sit up.

I don’t know why almost each of my friends has such a story to tell. Well, I check the time and it’s 5 am. I can’t believe I’ve spent the last two hours thinking. I guess I could have at least spent 5 minutes to thank the giver of life for yet another year. But my heart is so over burdened! I want to give up because I’ve tried so many times. I worked harder and planned well on how to get my desires. Besides, I also made requests to the Supreme Being but it seems just a handful have materialized and this so much upsets me.

Giving up will not be a bad idea. But I think of my friends who have had the worst of breaks and I tell myself there’s hope for tomorrow.

So I get up from my bed and prepare for work. I’m going to strive to be my best even though I haven’t seen a lot of the things I planned for. That’s a better life than living in self pity. And guess what? Just when I sat behind my laptop to type, Ama called me. She had good news. Your guess is as good as mine.  

This call came a week after she had sent me a text that she was giving up and live her life as a normal successful single lady irrespective of what society thought of her. It’s interesting how we often get our good breaks at the point of giving up. Why does it happen this way?

I also begun to count my blessings as it were. As my colleagues sang the birthday songs and it echoed in my ears, it dawned on me that things had not really been bad as I thought they had been. And that I rather got the best instead of what I wished for.

Few hours on my bed before I got to celebrate my birthday at work, my emotions and thoughts had thrown me at the crossroads. I’m beaming with smiles now and I wish I had wings to flap them as a sign of gratitude.

What am I saying with these stories? Don’t give in now because things are bad. There’s always a way. Even at the crossroads, there could be good news to comfort the heart and soul. Until we meet again, cheer up! Get that red wine and don’t forget to save half a glass for me.

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