Hi! I’m trying out a new thing where I’m alternating letters between myself and someone else. I’m trying to do something where the stories you read aren’t just my stories but the stories of people just like you.

This week, we’re reading a letter from my friend Bolu (who was supposed to send me a draft last week but delayed till this one), Bolu runs Utterly Human, a brand that shows the human behind the arts. I hope you enjoy this letter; God knows Bolu took three years to actually give me this letter.

Regularly scheduled programming

Hi, my name is Boluwatife, and I will be taking over Ink Love and Light today.

One thing I have learnt in all my years of existence is how messy life is. How it’s not just one straight line from when you’re born to when you die. You must realise that your life is a collection of experiences, a mosaic of all the people you have been and will be. You must let go of the ideology that you are here to exist as one person or as one thing, and you must give room for pivots. You are ever-changing, ever unfolding, ever forming. Every day is a perfect day to start your life again. Not the first day of the year, month or week. You can decide on a random Tuesday at 2:37 pm to pivot, and when you’re asked when you became the person you are; you respond as “since today”

You must try for something while you’re alive; you were not born to arrive at the end of your life exactly the way you were born. Become many things, become many people; if something ignites a fire within you, chase it relentlessly; trying is better than regretting, so try. Trust that every pivot, every change, every detour is leading you somewhere; the dots might not connect flawlessly, but life isn't meant to be flawless so go live it as messily as you can.

And if you do not know what the grand vision looks like for your life, this is your invitation to throw a shit ton of spaghetti at the wall and make a big mess till you find what sticks, at the moment that doubt creeps in or you feel the need to dress up your life into a big neat bow, ask yourself if the people you love deeply have their lives in a neat bow or if you love them because of all the detours and pivots that led them to you.

Maybe all the dots won’t connect, maybe all the pivots won’t add up at the finish line, but you will know that it was worth it, not just because of what you achieved but who you became in the process, and I think that’s so incredible.

Also think about it this way; when you’re old and grey and kids ask you about your life, don’t you want to have interesting gist for them????

ON LIFE.

I'm in the process of building a startup media brand called Utterly Human. I wanted to create a space where humanity dictates creativity, and I wanted to tell people’s stories, trying stories, failing stories and success stories because people need to see themselves represented in the media.

It’s equal parts exciting and scary. The person who said, “Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life” is a bloody liar, and if I ever see them face to face, there will be a physical altercation lmao. It has completely taken over my life, I dream of it, but I'm excited to, and I love making stuff, and I’m so glad that I get to make things for a living.

ON BOOKS

I love reading poetry, and I have been reading ‘Come home to Yourself’ by Deja Rae; I have never felt so called out and hugged by a book in my life. At this point, I have the whole book underlined.

One of my favourite lines in the book is, “When you finally decide to jump—you will hit the ground hard. Your entire foundation will shake; everything you thought you knew about yourself will be questioned. You will wonder whether you made the right decision, and you will consider going back. You will think of all the reasons why you can’t move forward, and you will focus on everything that you lack. But friend—if you are hurting, you are healing. You are breaking through your bondage. There is an abundance of beauty that awaits you; please remember, this universe will never forsake you.”

ON MUSIC

I heard this song on TikTok and it’s so hauntingly real. This is my self-soothing music and I have been playing it on a loop for days.

LEMONADE

I have had writer's block for about a month now, I haven’t been able to write anything or even journal and this is the first thing I have written and I think it’s safe to say that the block has been shattered. Happy to be writing again. Follow my writing here:

That is all from me; this newsletter was made possible by my existential crisis and 1.2 billion messages from Zia reminding me to write.

Stay soul-led. Stay Human.