This is another topic that strikes a deep chord: moments of kindness from loved ones and strangers is something I experience regularly.

The one that stands out right now is this:

In 2018 I started producing a range of smoothies to sell and my family and friends helped me get it off the ground. I had flavours mixing up banana and soy milk with peanut butter; as well as mango based flavours and a super flavour with bananas and dandelion and dates as well.

It was fun making them and the feeling I got from hearing rave reviews from my customers always made me smile with awe and pride.

But earlier this year I was in a bad way; my salary at my regular job was threatened by a circumstance that was largely out of my control, the blender I use for the smoothies stopped working midway through an order, and I was experiencing a terrible episode of a toxic mix of anxious thoughts, depression and lack of self-confidence. This occurred in April and in the weeks leading to my birthday in May, I teetered between sobbing-in-my-pillow-unhappy nights and God-what-the-hell-am-I-doing-with-my-life days.

And the worst part was when my inner bougie princess wanted to drown her sorrows in super expensive nights out at fancy restaurants that I simply couldn’t afford it.

As my Nigerian friends would say “poverty na bastard”

But then, two weeks or so before my birthday in late May, a friend of mine sent me a WhatsApp message telling me about a school fair that she wanted me to go sell my smoothies at. She was supposed to look for two vendors but gave both slots to me.

For her, this wasn’t a big deal: I’m her friend, this is a great opportunity for me. But for me, this was a message straight from God, giving me a ray of light after I’d been sinking in a pool of my own despair.

For me, it was a “You lifted me from the miry clay, and set my feet on solid ground Psalm 40” moment and after I wiped away my tears and calmed my racing heart, I sent her a text back, thanking her. And she responded with “Oh sis, you know I’m always trying to figure out ways to make your smoothies business successful.”

She said it so flippantly.

She will never know how her gesture gave me hope on a particularly bad day.

And how her words showed me that, I may feel all alone with my problems, but in reality, my safety blanket of loved ones is closer than I give them credit for.