ADULT PROBLEMS (EPISODE 3): IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR BEAUTY, YOU'LL FIND IT

Oh how I miss this space.

It's been a month of posting nothing and I thought it was befitting to return with a storytime on something I've been up to.

Somewhere in February, I think, my earpiece decided it had finished serving me. Naturally I would get a new one asap. But this time, I decided to wait a little, maybe because I was too lazy to go to “town” just to buy an earpiece. 

I wondered how I was going to get through the journey to work everyday without getting bored. This new development meant that I'd be paying more attention to my surroundings as I walk to and from work.

And that was the magic I didn't know I needed.

I noticed that there were a lot of flowers along the way. Not conspicuous enough when my ears were clogged. It was as if my hearing was directly connected to my sight.

So many things that had always been there now seemed to be under a microscope. Over the course of time, here are some things I've learnt 

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1. A lesson on shamelessness

These flowers are by the roadside in plain site. When I started I used to take pictures when the road was empty or in such a way that people will not notice. 

Creatively taking a picture of the sky and having people think that I was trying to read something off my phone that wasn't too clear😭.

But the more I did it, the bolder I became. Like, I'm not commiting a crime or invading anyone privacy, I'm just taking a picture of that backyard flower because it pretty that's it, we applaud people for worse. 

So I've accepted my calling with my full chest. If you see me bending to take the pictures or navigating a bush of weeds to find that hidden gem of a flower, I know you have questions but this girl has no shame. A girl can have a hobby and it can be as nonsensical as making nature an aesthetic (because it is).Period

And I will go ahead and share it on my social media because life is hard already and we all need something unserious like flowers and skies to look at. 

So if you've noticed a string of nature pics from me, fasten your seatbelts, I think it's going to get worse😂.

2. A lesson on mango trees and seasons

Mango season came and mangoes were in full bloom. The trees had been green all this time, nothing special then boom! March came and these trees started getting colourful, I call them “the Christmas trees”. From the ground, you could see little spots of yellow hanging on the branches like ornaments on a Christmas tree.

Mango trees are known for longevity. It takes three to eight years for them to start producing fruits. They grow so big and stay for so long that I think we get used to their existence. Nobody seems to notice them until mangoes are in season. When I say nobody, I mean humans and animals alike. During mango season, flies seem to be waiting hands and feet on Lady Mango. Little boys and girls are using sticks to poke at branches so that Aunty Mango will let some of her kids down. Adults are using style to pick mangoes or shamelessly wholesaling them from the trees in buckets like a trophy. 

Before

After

It's just intriguing that something that was once overlooked can become the star of the show in a matter of days. Then be relegated to obscurity when we feel that they don't offer value anymore.

3. A lesson on beauty and cleanliness

I've seen pictures of landscapes from certain parts of the world and couldn't help but be amazed at the sheer beauty. These silent walks down the road have shown me that we have the capacity in this country Ghana to achieve such if we paid a little attention to beauty and most importantly cleanliness.

There are pictures I've taken that I've had to crop out portions of because the surroundings were untidy. I literally go from 😍 to 🤢. Beautiful plants side by side with dirty stagnant water, streets littered with plastic waste. A scenic path defiled with the early morning poop of a stray dog, one fault degrading something so beautiful. 

4. A lesson on ruined attention spans

Walking to work everyday without an earpiece is never supposed to be a problem. It kinda opened my eyes to how I'm getting uncomfortable with quietness and stillness due to this desire to fill the silences with activity. And most times, that is where God is.

Always needing a 10 minute quick fix of a podcast, a 3 minute emotional boost from a song rather than a thirty minute long walk of meditation and self reflection.

Imagine the beauty and "flowers" I have missed because I was not paying attention

Will I stop using my earpiece? Of course not, it does me a lot of good.

But I will make a conscious effort to remove them once in a while so that I can pay attention to the miracles around me? Yes.

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All in all if we pause and look at life, no matter how bad it is, we'll still be able to find some beauty. Maybe just a little, but beauty is beauty, no matter how small.

Seeing how closely connected hearing is to sight, if we can shut out the noise, we might see things we never saw before.

If you want to check out the photos, here's the link😉 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/11F3fx2wnV36CHS26

Thank you for your patience and a huge shout out to all those who stopped by during the quiet to read and reread. Take one bofrot and pass the plate to the next person. We begin this season of blog posts in Jesus' name. Amen!