Travel through Print while home in Nigeria

 

 I am a contradiction. I became aware of this for the first time when I was asked at a job interview some years ago to describe myself. I am happy, I am sad; I am guarded and open all at once. I love change and look forward to it but I also hold on tight to my routines. My one big dream when I grow up is to travel and see the world. However, life is tough and in a third world economy like mine, travel is a luxury I cannot afford. So I came up with a cheaper way to live my dream; by reading books. Love stories, war stories, history, tales of conspiracy, life style, poetry, religion, fashion, tourism, true stories, adventure, fiction, all of it. For a moment I experience the world of diverse characters and scenarios so innately created by an author; worlds so different from mine and sometimes similar. Every time I pick up a book to read it’s a journey I make with the characters; no passports, no money to save up, no visas, no customs double checking. I just walk into these intriguing places; a whole new world to see; different foods to taste, different languages to speak, different cultures.

I am recently reading for the second time (because I love the story so much) Eat, Pray, Love1. A book described by Time magazine as “An engaging, intelligent, and highly entertaining memoir…..her account of her time in India is beautiful and honest and free of patchouli-scented obscurities”.2  An amazing, relatable, true life story about among other things, three of my favorite topics: food, spirituality and love. A story of an evolving woman on a self-finding journey because suddenly, her world seemed like someone else’s. For me, it’s a story about having a hunger for more in life and having the courage to recognize that hunger and do something about it. Well, it took two continents, three countries and a to-do list of eat, pray, love to find the real her. When I finished reading the book the first time, I found myself deep in thought for a few days. So many times I’ve felt a void in my life and I didn’t even know what to do with it or how to fill it. I learnt from this woman’s story first that anything is possible. Secondly that I am not alone in whatever I am going through and third, that the world is so big yet so small.

My world is a beehive of limitations which are a consequence of culture, gender, religion, and a bad economy. Reading books and journeying with the characters in them have broken these walls that limit me or define me. That I can experience a world full of love in one book then experience war in the next speaks a lot to my personality. While I look forward to seeing Venice and Paris physically someday, I am grateful for the gift of books and the beautiful places they have shown me and in them, I find my truest self.

1. Bestseller by Elizabeth Gilbert, 2006

2. Review by Time magazine on review page of Eat, Pray, Love.

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2 responses to “Travel through Print while home in Nigeria

  1. Quite an insight into the authenticity of your personality for those who know you. You should write.

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