enjoying life – Mimi's Thoughts

A Simple Question?

“What does Emma Corrigan want out of life? Money? Fame? Security?”

As I reread Sophie Kinsella’s Can You Keep a Secret this week, that question from chapter fifteen had me pausing. I directed the question to myself.

To answer the question, my mind went back to my conversation in Baskets and Contentment.

After all the hustle and bustle, the nights to mornings, mornings to evenings, Mondays to Sundays, and the Januarys to Decembers, it all comes down to this one question.

What do I/You want out of life?

Some people want peace. Some want love… or to be loved without effort.
Some want security, a steady income, a life that feels safe.
Others want freedom, adventure, money, fame, and everything that sparkles.
Some want healing. Some want to be understood.
Some want success, recognition, or to finally feel proud of themselves.
Some just want rest. Some want meaning.
Some want joy in small, ordinary days.

Some want a combination of most of these things…
…And some people don’t quite know what they want… only what they are tired of.

I am also one of those who want a combination of things… peace, rest, and joy in small ordinary days.

That’s why I completely understand Emma Corrigan’s response to Jack’s question; “Happiness, I suppose. Doing what I want to be doing. Feeling I’ve made my mark on the world.”

If you struggle with a response to this, I would like to recommend Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven life. The book begins with the question; What on earth am I here for?. I found my answers with the help of that book.

Life in a Year: October 2025

October wasn’t bad. The first half of it was easy.

The second half of the month however wasnt as easygoing.

During the easy part of the month of October, I enjoyed some good books and movies. The movie I enjoyed most was Play Dirty, starring Lakieth Stanfield and Mark Wahlberg. I enjoyed some good music too and found a new song that I fell in love with… Featherstone by The Paper Kites.

I also spent some time with Amaka and her baby, Ehi. I enjoyed watching her in this motherhood role.

Things began to escalate on the 16th. My mom had a follow-up doctors appointment, and so we hit the road, along with my older sister, who had been visiting. I drove us from makurdi to Abuja for this appointment.

I killed two birds with one stone. I took the opportunity to see a doctor and get a full medical checkup. I am glad I did.

My mom and I returned to base after four days. I was able to catch up with an alumni meeting that i enjoyed very much, and then the hectic work week started.

Work became so hectic. I had to work six days instead of five for two weeks. By the time PMS decided to hit me, I found myself crying on one of the days…at work. Hmmmm.

I wasn’t able to unwind on most nights, but I was able to squeeze time in for Colleen Hoover’s Reminders of Him, and I am glad because it was worth it.

Update

“wonderful; I reckon we’ll see more posts on this 🙂” John Malone said in a comment on my blog post So far… it looks Good.

I had three plants from my visit to Domitila’s garden.

Two days ago I visited my mom, well, I went there to get a few offshoots from her collection of plants, so I won’t say I actually visited…did I?

I got back home and carefully nestled them in temporary cups.

So, in addition to my four from Domitila, I’m a proud owner of Thirteen babies…😁

Today I noticed a little brightness on the tips of one of the cactus 🌵 and I realized it was growing…that gave me some joy.

I have three cacti, I plan to find some more.

Hey Su’eddie…what do you think?

Some days

“Babe, have you been drinking?” He couldn’t help but ask.

I threw my head back and laughed so much, I even shocked myself.

My husband had gotten home earlier than I had and was in the bedroom when I walked into the house, bouncy and chatty at 5:25pm.

I noticed how he had looked at me for a little while before asking.

I paused for a while to realize that I was actually a bit out of character…

Not that I’m usually gloomy and moody but I’m never too excited after close of work, especially when I am tired and have to make dinner and do stuff as well.

I hadn’t been drinking…I just was in really good spirits.

Maybe it was the shoes, they were really comfortable…I had them on all day and I didn’t feel a thing.

Maybe it was because my jeans weren’t too tight today and I was happy my current weight loss method was working.

I don’t have a clue why… I may never know.

What I know for certain; I felt good and happy.

I guess some days are like that

Joy In Simplicity

Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.

I haven’t responded to any daily prompts in a while… but this one, no I couldn’t ignore this one.

As simple as listening to music seems, it brings me so much joy.

Especially the ones with the funny lyrics… Not funny funny but weird funny. I don’t know if this makes sense. You listen and wonder how they came up with such thoughts in the first place.

I actually had been laughing at Lewis Capaldi and his Forget Me when I saw this prompt.

So, the one thing that I do that brings joy to my life is simply turning on the music.

In Pursuit

Yesterday, while I was at work, I read a post on Writing From The Heart with Brian; 100 Things I Love. The post led me to a few other similar posts and within 30 minutes I was convinced I had to do something similar.

For a couple of weeks I have been getting a nudge to focus more on positive things. It’s all I’ve been thinking about.

By the end of the day, I got home and decided to binge on some TED talks before starting up with dinner and coincidentally… or was it?… The third TED talk by Dmitry Golubnichy titled 100 Happy Days came up and I decided… I need to focus on the positive things a little more… the things that make me happy.

Just like Golubnichy said, we tend to set targets about almost everything except the most important thing in our lives; Our Happiness.

I’m in pursuit of happiness… my sister Msugh asked; “After 40 what else does one need 😄?”

I decided.

#100happydays

#happinesschallenge

#100thingsilove

Grow

Growth is not limited to physical development alone. We never stop growing. My sister Angie wrote a poem some time ago; we never stop playing, our toys only change.

It is the same with growth. We never stop growing, the factors only change.

As adults, we need to continue to grow, develop and renew ourselves mentally, emotionally and even physically.

Read a new book, watch a movie, find a good television series and spend time with it, research every new thing you learn from these.

Switch your genre. Move out of that comfort zone.

Have intelligent conversations, ask questions. Confirm facts from the conversations, don’t digest everything you hear.

Meet new people, mix your circle.

Ask questions. Don’t make assumptions.

Exercise your brain, play games.

Grow

Words

I have always been fascinated about crosswords. I spent most of my growing up days wondering if I could ever be like my cousin’s mum, Olga. She used to have crossword books and she would solve them page by page. It amazed me more because she was Russian and English was actually her second language.

I never did anything about my fascination for crosswords, infact I remember a little over 10 years ago, I found a crossword booklet but I never went past page 1.

Fortunately for me, our human love for screens has helped lately. About a year ago, just when I decided to do a 50% cut on social media, I decided to get alternative apps for screen time and I was able to get a good crossword game. It has five stages from Easy to Very Hard. Each stage has atleast 50 crosswords, so I have been doing a lot of word crossing for some time now.

Different words; related words, unrelated words, new words and old words, crossing here and there.

That’s how some of us use our words, as though it’s just a game. We throw them here and there… Not knowing and not minding how and where they fall.

The thing about words, is how you just can’t take them back. You say it and that’s it. Some words cut deep, real deep, and it can take a while or even forever for some people to heal.

I believe that I must think before I speak, just in the same way I pause and ponder on my words before entering them in the crossword.

Biblical aid – James 1:19-20

Don’t Rush

I once had a bottle of sprite and an apple. It was given to me at a meeting that I had attended. I wondered if I should eat the apple that night and then have the sprite the next day.

I got home tired and so I left them in the fridge and went to sleep

Two days later, I got an idea, I sliced the apple, soaked it in the sprite and then I put it a cup with a lid. I left it for a whole week without even looking its direction.

One evening. I got home and all I wanted to do was enjoy my apple sprite. I poured some Whiskey in it and I had a pleasant drink.

I called it Don’t Rush

Yeah, I guess that’s how people come up with recipes.

Giving Tuesday

“Mummy, why don’t we have Thanksgiving”?

This is a question i have had to answer every year for the past three years.

Having been exposed to Thanksgiving from the movies and shows he sees, my son always longs for Thanksgiving and all that comes with it, just as he sees it on television.

Although I have told him over and again how it isn’t in our tradition to celebrate Thanksgiving, today I find myself wanting to be a part of a Thanksgiving residue event.

The Tuesday following Thanksgiving has become known as Giving Tuesday. It was founded in New York in 2012 with the purpose of touching and changing lives in the community. I have never really been drawn to it, but as I listened to words of Bobby Gruenewald from today’s youversion word of the day, I felt the need to participate in my own way and in my own community.

What totally got me is the fact that my giving must not be financial. I happen to be a huge fan of the gift of Acts of Kindness.

Is this the same for you?

My sister had a suggestion for a non-financial gift, she said, ” Please let’s be generous with our smiles today. I’ve noticed people are smiling less. Country hard!
Most people will feel better when smiled at.
It won’t pay their bills but it will make them feel better for a while. And it’s worth it” .

Is there someone you can give to today? A smile, your time, a word of encouragement, a listening ear, forgiveness, love, a meal.

While we give, let us remember to keep the left hand from knowing what the right is giving and vise versa. Have a happy Giving Tuesday.