F*ck, I hate writer's block...

I can’t believe I stared at my screen, waiting for that inspiration to come, but nothing. Zilch. Nada. Just the blankness of my mind staring back at me like a challenge I wasn’t ready to face.

But I said, "F*ck it, just do it." So here I am, writing with nothing to say—no ideas, no brilliant flashes of creativity… oh wait… something is coming. A spark, a flicker of thought. I guess this has once again proven to me the power of action. Just doing the thing and course-correcting along the way. It’s messy, it’s uncertain, but it’s movement. And movement is all I need right now.

Well, now that I’ve put some words down… I can check this off the list and sleep like a baby. Maybe this post is a stepping stone to posting more, to breaking free of this block, one word at a time.

Today, let’s talk about RESPECT.

When I was a kid, I was taught to always respect my elders. Respect was this intangible thing meant for people older than me, people who’d lived more life, seen more things. It was almost sacred. Then I went to uni and saw people with money getting respect. So I thought, maybe respect is for the rich and elderly. Maybe it’s about power, status, the kind of things you can count or see.

Then life made me a teacher… Before I knew it, I was giving respect to people half my age. Thirteen-year-olds who hadn’t yet seen the world, who were just starting to figure out who they were. Yet, there was something in them that demanded respect, something I hadn’t expected.

There’s this kid, Ife. Young, brilliant, and full of life. Ife is the kind of person who doesn’t just accept things the way they are. She questions, she challenges, she pushes boundaries that most people wouldn’t even think to touch. She’s that young rebel I see challenging societal norms, that spark of defiance that refuses to be extinguished.

She doesn’t know this yet, but she’s teaching me. She’s teaching me that respect isn’t just for the old, the rich, or the powerful. It’s for anyone who stands for something, anyone who dares to be different, who dares to be themselves in a world that’s constantly telling them to be something else.

And that’s the thing about respect. It’s not something you can measure with money or years. It’s something you give freely to those who earn it, not through their age or their wealth, but through their actions, their courage, their spirit.

So here’s to Ife, and all the Ifes out there. The rebels, the challengers, the ones who don’t fit neatly into the boxes the world tries to put them in. They’re the ones who remind us what respect really means. They’re the ones who deserve it most.

And maybe, just maybe, they’re the ones who will inspire us to keep pushing forward, even when the words don’t come easy. Because if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that respect, like creativity, isn’t about waiting for the perfect moment. It’s about recognizing the value in the moments we’re given, and doing something with them, no matter how small.