Nigeria's Independence! What a way to launch into October!

Before I say anything more... BE SURE TO JOIN 👉this Hive Naija sister community👈, created especially for the collaboration with Hive Naija and DreemPort for October.

And... did you see?

Are you a great detective? Good with sorting out clues?

@deraaa has mentioned that there is a special hidden treasure nestled in that new community! Check out her post 👉HERE👈 to see if your detective skills are on point!

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One of the sweet reasons that @hive-naija created that community was because @ecency has some amazing rewards for communities registered with that front end! Not only do YOU earn points (that are transferred into awesome upvotes!!!) when you post, comment, upvote using the Ecency front end - but every time you post into Ecency - and submit to the Hive-Naija community- you earn points for that community too! LOTS of them! And that adds up!!!

So, feel free to take full advantage of those delicious points by utitlizing Ecency as much as possible! hehehe It's a win/win/win/win situation for all!

REST WEEK.

We just finished up our final week of the DreemPort X Marks the Post Treasure Hunt. Lots of prizes, lots of clues, lots of fun was had by all the pirates! hehehe But now... it's that glorious time of month when we get to reeeeeeeeeeest. In some ways, I felt like my mind was already going on strike last week - and choosing to rest before our rest week officially rushed in!

Have you ever felt like that? That your brain simply had enough and was declaring a strike?

I can't even begin to tell you the amount of stress the has been picking my brain clean like vultures on a carcass! How's that for an image? To be honest, I've been irritated about it too! Sometimes, it's just about taking one more step in front of the other - not questioning what feels good, or what you have stamina for, or what is ideal. You must just keep moving forward - no questions asked, no excuses made. But then, sometimes your brain just simply says no. No. I'm NOT moving forward, I'm gonna sit right here and regroup. We can go when I say we can.

Imagine the audacity. lol

I've been under this sort of pecking for weeks now, and I trace it all back to when I proudly declared that we would #speekpeece. I had to just chuckle a bit right there as I typed that. If you really want to know how deep the foundation of your peace goes - step into the storm. It will be the fastest and most telling test of how grounded you really are.

I've been thinking about this post for days, and something dawned on me. If you truly want to speak into a gathering, you better be able to feel what they feel. There is nothing quite so arrogant and unappealing as someone who floats above a situation, trying to speak INTO that situation. How easy it is to sit, unaffected, and speak pretty words of peace into the hearts of people who are rocked deeply with instability, insecurity, anxiety and fear. It was like I needed to be reminded of the severity of pain, death, doubt, loneliness, misunderstanding, conflict and more in order to even ATTEMPT to be effective for the month of October.

Even now, I'm waiting for word on a dear friend. Waiting for possibly news that you can't quite prepare for. Waiting. How would I hear words of peace that would actually soothe me - in this place, right now? The thought is heavy on my heart as I prepare to do the same for others. Mindful of the pain, sharing in someone's suffering, and STILL wanting to infuse them with peace, despite the difficulty. Maybe, because of the newly appreciated difficulty? It's a tentative thing, and yet - I'm grateful to use this pain now, to be a constant reminder for the future.

I'm sure if you've read my posts over the last 4 weeks or so (and for the first time in a while I didn't write at ALL last week) you can most likely hear that I've been struggling. But so many have. SO. MANY. HAVE.

But even though we have, I am charging us to rise up from it, and press on for the sake of peace. For the sake of unity. For the sake of open communication and humility and love and compassion. In spite of the hardships (different and same and everything in between) I'm still en-COURAGE-ing us all to refrain from setting fires, and instead, choosing to speak healing.

The three weeks of our challenge is not going to be enough. It's naive to set ourselves up for anything but what it is INTENDED to be: a seed. But that's how things are born. Life begins with a seed. Even the largest trees in the world began with a seed. So... expect nothing, and expect everything. Expect immediate changes, and expect ripple effects years and years in the future. Expect this to be great fun, and easy - and expect the hardest things you've had to do in a while. Because I will tell you, when you attempt a real crack at creating peace - that's the last thing that you're going to find - at least, initially. But, I'll also tell you - don't give up. Because IN the battle is where you'll be surprised with the extra measure of grace that shows up when you least expect it. Peace that will surprise you. Joy that is simply defiant and refusing to be quenched.

We will be starting off with simple tasks next week. I'll share them throughout this week to get you ready to #speekpeece. I'm glad that we have a group of dreemers to link arms with. Be kind to one another... I have a feeling we're gonna need it. ❤️ Looking forward to the collab, #hivenaija!

All images were used from sources that allow their beautiful work to be displayed on commercial blogs. They do not require attribution, but I do so willingly so allow my readers to know that I write and blog with integrity ❤️ Also, their work is beautiful! Just because they don't ask for acknowledgement, doesn't mean I shouldn't give it! Thank you photographers!