Complex Simplicity

Gosh. I am not one to start a sentence with such a colloquial word but I think in this instance, it is perfectly befitting. I am still clutching to the heels of June wondering where o where did it go, pleading and protesting for it to come back…seriously, have we really gone past the half way mark of 2012?! And as I stop and take stock and begin to review the monstrous list of goals that I etched into my beloved notepad at the start of the year, I can’t help but wonder whether they were indeed all realistic and/or attainable…

Could I be the next Nigella Lawson by the end of the year??

For example, in no uncertain terms, I alluded to the fact that I would start to cook more with my amazing big sister who could easily be considered as the Nigerian Nigella Lawson. The agreement was at least fortnightly (a BBM straight face would be so appropriate right now). This went rather swimmingly to begin with, having mastered carrot cake in January, egusi stew by February and honey, drenched hot wings by March. However, this has slowly been replaced with everything and anything which basically summates to not much! And let’s not forget that I aimed to read a book once a month and so far, I have only read two! (Book reviews still pending)…but that’s not all, I also vowed that this would be the year that I would really delve deeper into the bible and create blueprints of the women that I intend to emulate. Like it or not, as much as I would love to be Wendy Darling from Peter Pan and never ever have to grow up, one day I will become someone’s wife. I will have the responsibility of raising a child who will ultimately be my personal blank canvas; I will have to saturate it with colour, enrich it with morals and thrust it into the limelight for all to see…so I decided to hit the ground running, because be rest assured, I have a LOT of work to do; I definitely do not recall the Proverbs 31 woman having an issue with impatience…

But after this self-reflective spurt, I decided that I would do the unthinkable – I decided to scrap my list (well not all of it, my women’s career event is immovable; that must take place this year). I decided that I would no longer be weighed down or walk about with a noose around my neck in the form of my goals, feeling obligated to achieve each and every single thing. Instead, I would become more reckless (steady on, it’s nothing seedy or decadent )…I would concentrate on things that may not necessarily be easily quantifiable or indeed tangible by the time 31 December 2012 comes knocking at my door. Things like improving my character by having greater integrity for example. So if someone requests for me to pray for them, I actually do pray for them…or taking the time to visit museums and exhibitions just to shut the world out. If there is one thing I love about visiting exhibitions, it’s an atmosphere that is often heavily saturated with tranquillity coupled with absolute endless genius…It is one of the few opportunities that I get to truly shut the world out, ignore my never ending emails and concentrate on steadying my heart rate to something that resembles normal.

In a bid to make it to this stop that we call success, sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in the ‘rat race’ trying to live up to expectations we have placed on ourselves. And this is not always healthy as you often miss the little things in life due to the insurmountable pressure to achieve. My admirable friend and social enterprise partner Le passed on an invaluable lesson that her grandmother taught her; it will become the golden thread that I hope will hold everything together for the remainder of this year in everything I do: ‘Be strong, be simple, be still.’ And this is exactly what I intend to do…no more complex lists and endless goals but instead it’s about finding simplicity in the midst of the chaos; indeed it is striking that balance and getting to that place we call complex simplicity…the most beautiful juxtaposition to describe such a crazy world… Until the next time…xxx