A 25-day Blackout?

It's day 210 of documenting 2025.

The word is in!

There will be a blackout in Lagos....for 25 whole days! 😦

At first, when my dad showed me the news yesterday....I thought it was fake news.

But then I saw it myself, on my own phone.

How could this happen? 

According to the news, it is for the maintenance of the power system.

It was predetermined that businesses would be affected and millions of naira in revenue would be lost.

But they said it was a "sacrifice" to be made, due to the rate at which the National Grid was collapsing.

The outage started yesterday...

28th July.

It will last till August 21st.

Oh boy! 😔 

It's about to get tough...

I believe we Lagosians will get through this...like we always have.

And it better be worth the sacrifice, or else....

I'll stop there.

My dad, already armed with the information, will know what to do when our water is used up.

Good thing the phone users at home all have power banks...and know where we can charge them. We're prepared.

Bad news aside, let's get into Highlights...and then I'll probably share a poem or a story.

365 Days With Self-discipline 

📌 On Deferring Happiness

"I have found that one of the commonest causes of unhappiness among my patients is that they are attempting to live their lives on the deferred payment plan. 

They do not live, nor enjoy life now, but wait for some future event or occurrence."

Quote by Maxwell Maltz

It’s important to be future-oriented and prioritize future rewards over instant gratification. However, this statement is only valid to a certain point. 

If you live exclusively in the future, thinking that achieving some goal in the future is the only way to bring you happiness, chances are you won’t be happy either now or when you reach your goals — by then, you’ll come up with yet another event that must happen in order for you to be happy.

For this reason, it’s important to ensure that while your focus is on the future, it isn’t a condition for you to be happy.

For one, if you’re unhappy today, it will affect your well-being and make you less likely to reach your goals.

Positivity breeds more positivity, while negativity spawns more negativity. A lack of happiness today can ruin your chances of making your future vision turn into reality.

Second, happiness is a habit — and just like any other habit, it requires some self-control to practice it. Activities like expressing gratitude for what you have, reframing negative events into valuable experiences, and drawing pleasure from the little things are all essential practices you need to engage in regularly to stay in top mental shape.

Last but not least, if you’re always waiting for some future occurrence, thinking that it will change your life, you’re essentially delegating the responsibility for your own happiness to some event happening (or not) in the future. Does that sound like a behavior of a successful person?

Nope...it doesn't.

PS. I shared the whole note.

Always live in the present moment and be grateful 🥲 

I think that's what today's highlight is all about.

Moving on...

I think I'll share a poem from an upcoming collection of mine called "Lanterns To The Lost".

The Weight of Your Own Soul

How long will you trade your crown for dust?

Bend your spine to win favor from shadows,

as if your worth were written

in someone else’s trembling breath.

You have one life.

One heartbeat counting down.

And yet you scatter it

entrusting your happiness

to the tides of other people’s moods.

Are you distracted by their noise?

Then retreat.

Find silence deep enough

to hear your own pulse.

Turn from the whirlwind

and ask your mind what it was made for.

For toil without purpose

is just another form of sleep.

And even the busiest hands

can belong to the most wasted life.

No one drowns by ignoring another’s storm,

but who can survive

without watching the currents of their own soul?

Stop drifting.

There is work to do within.

The kind that saves you.

The kind that saves you...

That's deep 😌 

And there's a whole lot more in the collection...I call them "soul-speak".

You know what?

Let me share another one....

Providence Woven In Dust

What is divine

does not stand apart from chaos

even chance wears the robe of purpose.

What breaks you

was permitted to bend you toward something whole.

Even the spinning of the wheel

is governed by hands unseen,

carving meaning from the mess.

You are not separate

from the vast ache of the world.

The shift of the sky, the shiver of the sea,

the quiet death of a leaf

all part of the same breath you carry.

What serves the whole, serves you.

So let the winds blow strange

and the ground give way

this, too, is sacred choreography.

Toss your hunger for more scrolls, more signs.

The answers aren’t buried in pages,

but in surrender.

Die with truth in your mouth, not bitterness.

Die grateful

for the divine script written in starlight and storm.

You see what I mean?

It's like the words speak directly to you and make you think.

Apart from that, I add a little line under each poem, "Something To Think About"....with a question you can reflect on.

I'm still working on it....but I'm sure it will be out before September.

And you'll be able to get it for free on my Selar store.

It's not about sales this time around.

It's about passing across a deeper message....and a soft reminder.

Besides the power outage news, it's all good over here....not much wind (for the meantime) and a bright sky with a bit of sun.

I hope it's the same where you are.

Thanks for reading 🎀 

I'm Duon Ada.

I'm documenting 2025.

And I'll see you tomorrow.

Ciao 💕