Who Else Wants A Walk To Remember?

It's day 29 of documenting 2025

No luck yesterday.
I 'believed' that power would be restored....
But it didn't happen.
I actually couldn't control that.
What I could control was my ability to find a place to charge my phone.
And here I am, my friend!
The streak is still alive 🙌

I may not be active on social media for the rest of today.
But that's okay.
I made sure to answer all necessary messages last night and finish up all content.
All I'm able to do, is to bring today's post to your screen.
If anyone asks, 'how was your day?'
I'd say, 'It was great 😃'

Anyways, some updates...
I took down notes (as promised) and I'll share them in a bit.
Also, I'll end today's post with a poem as well, after telling you the idea behind it.
That aside, I discovered this app few days ago....
It's called 'IIReader', created by Elevenlabs.
It's an amazing text-to-speech app and I figured that out by trying it last night.
A wonderful thing about it is the fact that there are no in-app purchases....
Meaning it's totally free to use!
I pasted the link to my blog and it showed up.
Then I clicked on yesterday's post and the British female voice I picked started reading.
Amazing, right?
You can paste text or a whole Ebook so it can read it aloud.
You can also pick the voices you want the audio to be in.
Male, Female, Australian, American, British...the choice is yours.

You can try the IIReader app if you're the type that doesn't have much time to read but can listen to audio.
Just a teeny recommendation of mine 😉
If you can, let me know in the comments when you try it.
(You can be an anonymous commenter....no restrictions).

Alright, we move to today's notes.
I'm reading the book, Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins.
(Who I like to call Tony...)
And I'm on the fifth chapter that talks about beliefs.
I didn't completely read the whole section I started, but I took down notes on my own words.
So I shared the definition of a belief yesterday, according to Tony.

This is what I wrote ✍️
A belief is a feeling of certainty about something.
A sense of certainty that allows us to tap into resources that allow us to produce results in our lives.
Often, our lack of belief, our lack of certainty, causes us not to be able to use the capacity that lies within us.

Not much...I know.
The need to answer pending messages made me unable to finish the section.
Call it an excuse.....
But I'm sure I would have gotten more notes down if power was available.
I may not finish up the section today, depending on the power situation.
But as always, I'll find a way to improvise 😁

Okay, let me tell you the story behind the poem I'm going to share.
The poem is titled, 'Ode To The Winter Night'
There's no winter season in Nigeria, I know.
But hear me out.
The poem was inspired by a walk I had with a friend of mine.
It was in the evening, almost nightfall and by then, the weather was cold.
Hence the 'winter' part.
So, my friend and I took a walk around my neighborhood and we talked as he played with a deck of cards in his hand.
Little detail, my friend was a playboy (before I knew him) and a rascal who did bad things (I'm talking drugs, online scam, wasteful spending)
And me, I'm Daddy's princess.
So our ideas are very different.
But one thing that attracted me to him is his free spirit.

I'm the kind of girl that sometimes gives a damn about what people think, especially in my area.
But my friend doesn't care about that and he's so free with everyone.
Hanging out with him taught me not to care about what others think.
Some of them even think we're dating (nah! 😅).

A highlight of the walk was when we sat metres away from my house.
By then, it was 7pm.
I was talking to him about staying off his old ways completely.
He's not into those things anymore and life has taught him some bitter lessons.
But he's reluctant about letting go.
So he did something interesting.
He showed me the cards in his hands...the whole deck.

"You see these cards, think of my life as these cards. I can choose to scatter them", he said as he shuffled them and spread them out.
Some of them fell off.
"You see, some pieces can even fall off".
I helped him pick the fallen cards.
"But I can arrange them again".
Then he arranged the cards again into a neat pile.
Instantly it hit me.
He was taking full responsibility for his life. Something most guys in my area don't seem to do.
We exchanged smiles and I was convinced he would change.
He showed me a card trick that I totally fell for.
"Wow, nice one!" I said.
Minutes later, we said our goodbyes and I went home.

You see....
This brings to mind a quote or saying,
"It doesn't matter what you've done, what matters is what you will do".
My friend is on his journey, and I'm on mine.
He's a dreamer and a hustler.
I believe he will do great things.
I will do great things.
You will too.

Thanks for reading, my friend 😊
I may be documenting 2025 as a challenge.
But the analytics for this blog shows that my stories matter.
Thank you for letting me know that.
I'll be back tomorrow.
(Hopefully the power is restored before then...)
Here's the poem I crafted from the experience of the walk.

Ode To The Winter Night

The air, a painter, brushed cool and crisp,
Its canvas alive with a murmured lisp.
Conversations drifted like clouds in flight,
As fluorescence kissed the arms of twilight.

A deck of cards danced in his steady hands,
Fiddled with care, like shifting sands.
Our laughter soared, a songbird’s tune,
Between soft ‘hmms’ and words that bloomed.

Honesty poured like unbridled streams,
Sincere confessions, the kind that gleam.
A winter’s cold wrapped us in its hold,
Yet the warmth of truth was richer than gold.

We trotted like horses, a rhythmic stride,
Led by the pull of the rider beside.
No dares were needed, just truth to bare,
A game of courage spun light as air.

And then the finale, a moment divine,
A magic trick played, a sleight of the mind.
The card revealed, a magician’s lore,
The night whispered, “This is what hearts are for.”

O winter night, with your frost and flame,
Your fleeting touch will never wane.
For in your glow, we wove a tale,
A bond unbroken, a timeless trail.

I designed this poem as a carousel post on Instagram.
Check out what it looks like, as well as other amazing poems.
See MysticVerses.