Today marks day 60 into my writing journey. This past month was difficult and draining and the last thing on my mind was writing. The idea of not writing was equally devastating. So I tried my best to write. I knew I had a story to tell, another keep worth fighting for, worth writing about, albeit one sentence at a time. Homeschooling was finally getting to me and so was work. There were far more deadlines, far more appointments, far more meetings to attend, all of it tiring. But I knew I had to write about these experiences. Like focusing on the people that matter as I journey through this thing called life. It for them that my writing makes the most sense. My children’s clothes with subtle messages such as radiating kindness or keep being tiny but might, continue to be daily inspiration to me.

Then there was the End SAR movement in Nigeria. Nigerian youth reminded us all why leadership matters. It matters for ending police brutality. It matters for ending corruption. It matters for addressing the trouble with Nigeria which continues till this day. I knew I had to write because I didn’t like what was going on and someone had to put it in words.

But just when I felt like losing hope, I was reminded by my children to always focus on the bright side. Like when my son was kicked out of school at age 2, couldn’t speak even at age 3, but wants to be an astronaut and knows all the planets and their possibilities at age 6. The bright side was better. It helped me write. So I wrote about claiming one’s space in life, spreading love with meal trains, rethinking the possibilities of motherhood, celebrating the audacity of being black and female and why winning for our children matters. The bright side was excellent to me.

My everyday keep, with subjects so dear to me, stories that allow me to be vulnerable, or stories often not described or taken seriously, are the reasons why I write. No one writes about the daily struggles or joys of working mothers. I can’t even think of a book or a magazine dedicated to our lives, our views. Despite this past month being very difficult and draining, I knew I had to write. I wrote so that I can read my own experiences, reflect on it, recharge where I must or release what must go, from my mind, into words, everyday, until everything is clear to me. Reading about these experiences is excellent to me. Though the struggle with writing remains, I approach the next 30 day with confidence, for the bright side, is now always on my mind.