PROGRESS OBERIKO BLOG

  I eventually saw the end of this book as I promised. Yaaaay! It may not seem like an achievement to others but I count it as such because for the past few years I’ve not been able to bring myself to complete reading a book. As a matter of truth, I still have Chimamanda’s ‘ Half of a Yellow Sun ’ on my bookshelf, waiting to be completed. It was one of the gifts I received on my 21st birthday, and I found it quite captivating at the beginning when I started reading. But once I got to the chapter where it spoke more about the Biafra war and politics, I saw my interest dwindling. Not a fan of politics at all. But now, I think I need to return to that book, maybe not just to continue from the page I left off, but to start all over again. So, on my way to Scotland, I ran into a duty-free shop at the airport and saw some really good books that got me salivating, and I got this Harvard Business Review series on Emotional Intelligence focusing on Confidence. Not confidence as you know it,...

I want to stress the need for volunteering. Volunteering means offering your skills, time, and resource to the benefit of other organizations or to someone else, without having an interest in being paid. I know that the term volunteering may sound synonymous with “ OSHOFREE ” for some people, especially Nigerians. It’s not your fault. For an economy where people struggle for survival, people will definitely eschew anything that doesn’t put money on their table. But regardless, the importance of volunteering cannot be overemphasized.  Volunteering gives you the opportunity to render service, and at the same time develop your skills. Sometimes our problem is that we focus too much on our stomachs and on immediate satisfaction that we lose out on many other opportunities for growth.   Yes, “man must survive” but there are so many other factors that can contribute to man’s survival, and some of them include: recommendations, improving your cv, building relationships, having goodw...

  Organizations should help us stop lying about this.  As for me, I can’t work so well  under pressure. First of all, why do you want to even put me under pressure? Don’t you know it’ll affect my mental well-being? Come to think of it, a well-organized organization will plan ahead of time, inform their employees, and take the necessary precautions ahead of time. Why are you making it look like an employee is inefficient or incapable if they’re unable to work under pressure? What's the idea behind being able to work under pressure sef? Pressure puts people under tension and anxiety, especially me!  😂   You need to see me when I’m running late for mass, about to miss a train, or late for an appointment; I speak to objects as though they had ears, everything on my way must give way, otherwise, ' wahala ' for them. I’d be speaking to myself, vex anyhow, rush, and just go Gaga!  😂   I remember when I was about to miss a deadline for submitting a project, ...

  Something horrible happened to me recently. Turns out it is one of my 2021 highlights  Quite a lengthy read tho... I was all packed to leave for Brighton from London. Had one piece of luggage and a backpack, with my purse hanging in front of me.  Got on the bus, then on a train and then landed at the National rail station to board to Brighton. It would take 8mins for the train to arrive so I sat on a waiting chair where a young man was already seated, greeted him with a smile and sat beside him, with my backpack on the middle seat separating us.  Train arrived and I jumped on it, sat on a seat beside the toilet but decided to move to another cos of how close it was to the toilet. My earphones were plugged in throughout most of the journey. One & half hours into the journey we arrived at Brighton and people were already stood up waiting to alight, I noticed my backpack was missing.😳🤯 Scurried over and under my seat, see if it was there, but no, it wasn’t. Left...

Queen Elizabeth, The Queen of England, and her husband, Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh If there’s one union on earth that I’ve always truly admired it’ll be that of the Queen of England and her husband (who is not a king). Although, it appears that the union has been posed to always appear nothing less than perfect, however, the feigned perfection is not what I admire. I adore their consistency, faith, and loyalty to one another. Prince Philip, now late(1921-2021), was the true definition of ‘husband material. I loved him! My love for him tripled when I saw the movie series THE CROWN! The movie which portrayed him as both loyal, spirited, loving, understanding, and dogged got me rolling over for his personality. He didn’t always have to ‘do as the Queen says, he had his own influence on her as well even as he bowed before her as Queen. On various occasions he knelt before her and apologized when he was wrong (although behind closed doors, just between him and his Queen), he compr...

Have you realized that waiting only appears longer when you do nothing but WAIT? Imagine waiting for a bus while pressing your phone or having a conversation with someone. Waiting for the meal to be heated in the microwave while doing the dishes. Waiting for a video to download while polishing your nails Etc... On these various occasions, the waiting time passes without you noticing how long you have spent waiting.  But if you simply focus on waiting without engaging in anything else, the wait looks forever and boring. For this reason, I’d like to urge you to #ENGAGE whilst you #WAIT! As you pray and hope for God to bless you with that dream job, how about you engage in something e.g volunteer jobs/projects? What stops you from engaging in building yourself/career whilst you wait for a life partner? As you wait for that strike/holiday to be over, why don’t you read books or learn a skill? During the total lockdown last year, I found it hard to complain of boredom when others did....

Random facts about Me: As I clock a significant age in my life, I thought to share some random 27 facts about me. Well, I think it’s more than 27. Have a read. A bit of an emotional person Got a sweet tooth Can be both stern and loving Mostly withdrawn  Very adventurous Quite sensitive  Love loud music Not a huge fan of having a cold bath Keep stuff a lot... (still got my result from Kg2 ).  Hardly travel light, always packing stuff.  I love surprises. P.S: I didn’t say I love to be shocked! Color:  Blue  Orange Hobbies:  Shopping  Traveling  Cooking  Writing  Weaknesses:  Very cold prone Quite sensitive  A bit reserved Favorite sport :  Shopping (Yes! shopping is a sport...lol) Taking a long walk Table tennis Most odd thing I’ve done: Sleeping-walking (On the road o,  somebody had to hold me. Lol) Sleeping-eating  Hidden facts: My right index finger was affected by Wicklow  Done tooth extraction. So in...

There’s been so much buzz and fuss about RAPE and seeing the way some men justify this atrocious act is appalling. I’ve had ‘fights’ with many in my dm claiming that rape is caused by indecently dressed ladies. And my stand remains rape is caused by RAPISTS! Asides all of those arguments, I’d like to share this story - A session I had with one of my mentees. *********** Here’s Ada’s story: P.S: (Not real names) After close of business that day, her aunt asked

So there was this guy ‘chyking’ me (asking me out). He was like 7years older than me. Anytime I passed through their house, his sisters would call out to him saying “ Kevwe, your babe dey pas o ”. I was still a teenager, and he was way older, I despised him. Cos he’d obstinately escort me to fetch water, against my will. Even when I’ve warned him severally to gimme SPACE, he wouldn’t listen. This guy was stalking me and I hated it! Before you know it the “area boys” who normally teased me whenever I was carrying a bucket of water on my head, would find another reason to tease me even more; they’d begin to call him ‘my guy’. And I’d be so mad! I fetched water morning and evening, and this guy would just goan position himself somewhere and be waiting for the hour when I’d pass through their compound, as there was no other road to the borehole. He’d walk by my side, asking to help me, but I always shunned him,  most times I’d double my pace and walk faster even with water on my head, ...

So one day, my Aunt’ visited. You know those kind of ‘bad belle’ aunties that look forward to seeing ‘FAIL’ in your report card so that they can leave a heavy knock on your head and call you ‘OLODO’, and tell your parents that they’re wasting their money on you. (Although I never got a bad comment on my result). So, this my auntie came to our house, with some other relatives. I grew up dreading this woman. Thus when I learned of her visit, I ran out of the house to go play somewhere with friends. I thought I had escaped her nagging and bullying but she sent for me; she ordered them to call me very fast, “That pikin too like play ”, she queried. Mom was outside packing our dried clothes from the sun. I was already edgy from fear of what her questions would be, and my mom knew of course how much I dreaded this woman. So I waited for mom to finish packing just so we could go in together. As she was going inside the house I hid behind her,  (trying to hide from my aunt) mo...