Dora's Letter ✉️

It's day 298 of documenting 2025.
67 days to 2026!

A letter 💌
Written in a way that seemed incoherent but written with much love 💕
From a friend I made through one bold step.
More details on that later....

It's Saturday and we went on an outing! 😄
From my aunt's house where we kept our bags to my maternal family house.
I saw my late mum's father, my only living grandpa....and my mum's brother, whom I haven't met before.

They were so happy to see us.
Me, my brother and my dad.
My mum's sister also came to the house to see us.
She's very chatty and as she recounted stories, I realized where my mum got her warrior spirit from.
It seems like it runs in the family.

My mum's brother prayer for us and gave us fruits and cans of malt.
My dad already started talking me out of drinking mine...because he knew of my picky system.
Can you imagine that I couldn't eat bread and pap before leaving my aunt's house?

It's light food, right?
Yeah....but as soon as it got into my stomach, I vomited it out.
I was suspecting the bread 😒
I probably won't be eating it ever again.
What stayed in was the yam and plantain that my aunt later made for me. Organic food from now on.

Oh yeah....where was I?
My mum's family house.
We stayed there for a while, and I listened as my chatty aunt talked about politics and the coming elections in our mother tongue.
The Igbo Language.
I'm already training my ear to listen to it....and I can also say a few phrases.
That's by the way.....

My dad, my brother and I left the family house a few hours later, and then trekked to my uncle's house, which is basically the family house.
My dad's sister stays there, so that's where we went.
We got there, ate lunch and by then I was quite tired.

I slept off till evening when my dad woke me up so we could take a walk to the main family house.
It was locked....so we headed back.
The walk was nice, and I took some pictures after remembering that my friend asked if I took any.
The landscape pictures from the sunset view were pretty nice 🙂

Well, that's all for the outing.
Back to the letter, I want to share a few thoughts about being a friend to someone who might not be learned, but is very smart.
But that would be after today's highlights....

365 Days With Self-discipline
📌 On the Suffocating Mantras

"The Yogic sages say that all the pain of a human life is caused by words, as is all the joy.
We create words to define our experience and those words bring attendant emotions that jerk us around like dogs on a leash.
We get seduced by our own mantras (I’m a failure... I’m lonely... I’m a failure... I’m lonely...) and we become monuments to them. To stop talking for a while, then, is to attempt to strip away the power of words, to stop choking ourselves with words, to liberate ourselves from our suffocating mantras."

Quote by Elizabeth Gilbert

Self-talk can build you up or it can drag you down.
If each day you repeat in your head the mantra that you’re a failure or you’re lonely, guess what you’re going to get… Success and companionship? Think again.

You exhibit actions congruent with your inner self-talk.
If you consider yourself a failure and a lonely person, that’s what you’re going to get: more failure and loneliness.

Be aware of the suffocating mantras in your life.
Liberate yourself from suffering by refusing the negative self-talk.
Each time you tell yourself something negative, seek the proof of the opposite.

When you say to yourself, “I’m a failure,” think of one — just one — situation in which you succeeded. How can you be a failure if you experience successes?
When you say, “I’m weak-willed,” think of one — just one — instance in which you managed to overcome a temptation.

You might not have the level of
self-discipline you desire, but it doesn’t mean that you’re automatically too weak-willed to change.

Strip away the power of negative mantras by citing (in your head) the evidence against them.
Repeat this evidence as a sort of a “counter-mantra” so that you can, instance by instance, weaken the grip of the negative mantra and eventually free yourself of it.

What Martin is trying to say here can actually be found in Scripture.
"As he thinketh in his heart, so is he"
(Proverbs 23:7)

What we say to ourselves will make up how we act or make decisions.
Things that give off negative vibes shouldn't be what we cultivate in our minds.
The more we say good things to ourselves, the better our decisions and actions will be.

Personally, I like to repeat affirmations to myself, even if it's once a day.
Whenever I face something difficult, I remember what God says about me that I repeat to myself.
And I just act accordingly.
That's just me 🙂

Alright, back to the letter.
Something I mentioned at the beginning of this post, and even before the highlights.
It's a letter a friend wrote for me.
Who's that friend?
Dora.

You know, this year has given me a lot of blessings.
Dora is one of them.
When I met her, I actually wrote a post about it on this blog.
I also wrote a few more posts with her name as the title, so you can search for "Dora" on my blog...and those posts will pop up.

I met her at the tutorial center I went to in preparation for JAMB.
That was in March/April.
Then I got to know her house and started visiting her at home.
Her family came to know me as her good friend.
Probably her only friend, because no one else comes to visit her.

She would call me most times....and when I had the time, I would visit her.
Sometimes we would eat together, gist and laugh...or watch a movie on my phone.
I think that was what we did the last time I came for a visit.
Fun times ☺️

How would I describe Dora?
Innocent.
She would watch movies and wonder why the characters exhibited bad behaviors.

Another way I would describe her?
Pure.
When she's singing praises to God, it's with her whole heart.
And I'm sure God listens to her.

When she's angry or sad, she lets it out.
She doesn't really keep it in.
She would either vent it out to me....or she would cry by herself.
And I think she gets over it eventually, and keeps living her life.

The last time I visited, was the evening before I traveled.
I wasn't feeling so good but I prayed to God to make it happen. He did.
I was able to get to her house and give her a big hug 🫂

Then we talked for a while and it didn't feel any different from the other times.
It didn't feel like I was leaving.
But she knew that she may not see me in a while.

After bidding her family goodbye, I was set to leave and she gave me a letter.
I didn't read it until after I arrived at my aunt's house.
It was this morning I read it.
Then I realized something.

Although she didn't string her  sentences properly, I could sense the emotional message of the letter.
She regarded me as her best friend and said that she would miss me so much...that she won't stop crying.
I hope that doesn't happen.

I will miss Dora as well.
She's one of a kind.
And I pray that God keeps her, guides her and becomes her friend....as I'm no longer there.
I will never forget Dora...as she's part of my story now.
A new chapter is about to begin. Watch out.

Thanks for reading 🎀
You can catch up on former posts and search for the posts I wrote about Dora as well.
First, head to the main website, which is   Documenting 2025.
Then search for "Dora".

See you in the next post 💜