Reflections on Connections

You know, when the holidays are near, I often dread the task of reaching out to a lot of people to give them compliments for the season. Once upon a time, I used to be so enthusiastic about that because it just felt good to spread love and light around. But I have come to meet and know quite a number of people over the years, and the thought of reaching out to them all in one day was tedious on its own.

Ever since the pandemic, everyone seems to just want to be on their own and face their issues. I know that I feel that way, at least. I no just wan send anybody, dey get my peace of mind. Pidgin for, "I really just want to be on my own and have my peace of mind." Oftentimes, the weight of the thoughts I have these days takes a lot of energy. So I do feel like I should get some love from the people around me too, and not just from me thinking about them alone. Life's not a one-way street after all.

However, when I think of how lonely everyone—or most people, at least—would be if we all chose to be all by ourselves and not show care and concern for one another, I realise that maybe I should just do it after all and reach out to people. And so I did.

I thought about a few people and reached out to them. The holidays are a time to spread love and be kind to one another, and that includes gestures like gifting. I couldn't do that, however—send something tangible to people—and so I thought to send love with genuine thoughts in words, being hearty in my praise and approbation for them.

Phone calls for some, text messages for the rest. Over here on Hive, @hivebuzz provided a very interesting way to send wishes to the people we care about for the holidays. It was inspired by someone very dear to me. I thought of a few and pondered specific things to keep the messages genuine and heartfelt rather than shallow. But I missed a few people.

The energy this year was a bit different from how it used to be. Scratch that; it was vastly different. It felt like a regular day, with harmattan heavily upon us. I guess we have been through so much this year in this country with the way things have been on a steep decline. In a way, the terrible state of the economy saps the joy out of it. I know it’s not just me on this one, as I have heard the same thing from close friends. It is what it is, and so we’ll remain resilient.

I thought about how laborious it felt to reach out to people during the holidays. I pondered how I could not feel that way next time. I mean, the holidays aren’t the only time one should reach out to people; there are plenty of other times to do that. For this particular occasion, however, an idea to efficiently do it was needed.

“Hey! What if we start from when the season is coming and reach out in batches throughout the season rather than doing it all in one day or something?” I thought to myself. Of course, that should work. I mean, Christmas Day is supposed to be a day to spend time with family and friends and also to have a retreat from the year's drama, so why put on such a duty on that day?

I personally consider doing these things to be important: reaching out to people and communicating with them. The year’s challenges and hustle may have made me a little closed-off as I concentrated most of my attention on “the gring,” but it goes for everyone when there’s a little more light and concern to go around. Hopefully, I’ll do more of that in the new year.

I’m just passing along my thoughts today again. The new year is in a couple of hours, so there are these reflections here and there. I wish everyone a great year ahead.