#BN2015 Epilogues: 2015 Was The Year of Understanding for Chidi

Last year BellaNaija Features put together an inspiring feature series to round off the year. The 2014 Epilogues featured 10 real people who took an introspective look at their year and wrote about it. This year, we decided to make the call public to our readers. {Click here if you missed it} It is our hope and desire that we will have enough entries to have a story up every day from the 1st to the 31st of December. We have received an impressive number of entries and we hope that you will share yours with us.

We kicked off the series and so far we’ve had the following entries: Jennifer G , Morountodun , Victory, Mayowa ,  Harmony ,Dekky , OJ , Busola , Modupe, The Prodigal Daughter , Adetola, Ayomikun , Omami Jojo , Kehinde , Iember ,  Hadiza , Florence , Amaha , Vanessa , Winifred , Anne-Rose and Edie.

We have had an overwhelming response to the call for Epilogues and we’re grateful to everyone who has sent in an entry. We will do our best to share every story we received before the deadline (even if it runs into the new year. Because BellaNaijarians are so awesome!)  Chidi recounts his year in today’s episode of the series. In what he calls his year of understanding, 2015 was a remarkable one for him. We hope you enjoy his story.
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With a heavy head and sleepy eyes, muttering and grumbling, I dragged my feet to the prayer circle downstairs. This has been a family norm; praying our way into the New Year, but I am yet to be accustomed to it. Personally, I feel New Year eve is just like every other day. C’mon everyday is as important as we make it–Right?

Well I joined the prayer with nothing specific to thank God for and nothing specific in mind to ask. I just wished the prayer session would be quick ‘make person go sleep joor’. As the prayer session was on, the only thing I could thank for was for the gift of life. The year 2014 seemed to be without a ‘highpoint’; I was still confused ‘AF’ on what to do with my life, with all the smoking going on, CGPA still ‘no gree high’. Every girl I’ve been with thinks I am just perfect as a fall-back guy.

The prayer got to the point when prophetic utterances were made and out of all “2015 will be your year of Understanding” stuck to my memory. I just couldn’t forget it. My only prayer for 2015 was enlightening on my life’s purpose. Actually that has been my number one prayer point since 2012. The answer to my prayer was right in front of me all these years, I just couldn’t see it. I am passionate about a lot of things: football, music, movies and books, but I still felt like I’ve not found my number one passion yet.

In January, a ‘very close friend of mine’ was having troubles paying his school fees and it was a week to school-fee payment deadline. Like a hungry lion I pounced into the frame. Before then, I never had a problem giving to people but I usually don’t give past amount I cannot let go. We paid the school fees on the deadline day.

From that day till the ending of that session, it was us moving from a money problem to another; ‘Money wey Paale dey send no dey reach feed 2 people’, but I was happy doing whatever I did. I just understood my number one passion; Helping people. This led me into the creating EXODUS VISION, a media group tasked on helping people find help, scheduled to take full action next year.

I got to meet this beautiful girl in March and I felt she was the one. I still feel she is the one; I really loved her. With all the heartfelt affection poured out on daily basis, she wasn’t interested in a relationship with me.

She kept making me feel like I don’t deserve her attention, or why would a girl think taking your calls is a privilege one should savour? On my birthday which was in April all she sent me was ‘Happy birthday’ on WhatsApp which never really bothered me till someone told me few months later about her ‘sexcapades’ with this guy I really dislike. I am done with her a** anyway.

I understood that to get a lady with qualities you desire, you have to become a man a lady with such qualities would desire. So I am working zealously on developing myself.

In November, we just resumed for our final session in UNILORIN and it was just an amazing relief that I’m about to graduate from the “Better by stress” university.

I was on my way to Anambra state for the burial of my granddad when I got this life changing call from this ‘very close friend of mine’.

“Chidi! I am dead!”

“Oga wetin happen” I panicked a little.

“Chidi! I am f**ked!!” His voice sounding like a broken record

“Guy tell me now, wetin happen. Where u dey now sef”

“I go tell you later. I wan go meet level adviser now”

It was that this ‘very close friend of mine’ was advised to withdraw, due to new NUC directive of wanting to scrape out ‘Pass’ from the grade given to university graduates. All I could think was: “God, why now?” I cried, knowing what he had been through these past years. Now having to start all over?

Life happens. But in all I remember the words of John C Maxwell: “the great achievers don’t sit back and expect success to come because they deserve it. They keep moving forward and persevering because they are determined to achieve it”.

This year I had a chance of truly understanding my core values and developing my sense of identity. I had always chosen public admiration over personal/divine admiration, always aligning my actions towards people’s opinion about me. But no matter how hard you try, you cannot consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with how you see yourself.

All thanks to you Rae, your leaving started the revolution. Without much ado, I’d say toast to the real friends who stuck around, toast to the ones that left when the well dried up, toast to the love lost and love found, and most especially all thanks to almighty God, the giver of understanding.

The knowledge I have amassed this year makes me earnestly await the coming of 2016.

Photo Credit: Dreamstime| Mimagephotography