31/07/2025
It's been a while since I dropped a motivational post. Make I dash you one today.
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Something interesting happened during yesterday’s WAFCON Cup Final between the Super Falcons of Nigeria and Atlas Lionesses of Morocco.
You already know that we were playing against the host nation and that at halftime, Morocco had scored two goals and Nigeria, zilch. The pressure was immense.
You also know that in a turnaround reminiscent of the Nigeria-Brazil semi-final match at the Atlanta ’96 Olympics, the Falcons went into the dressing room—I don’t know what the coach and Asisat Oshoala said to them that lit them up—and came out legs blazing! We went from 2-0 to 3-2. We won.
What you may not know, is that at halftime, when we were down 2-0, an overzealous journalist working with the Voice of Nigeria, perhaps eager to top the search engine or break the news before anyone else, wrote a news report that the Moroccans had won the cup, defeated Nigeria, and cut off our dream of the 10th win we’d dubbed Mission X.
It be your own people, you know.
That report was like a mirror of life. How many times, people count you out too early because you failed an exam, missed a job opportunity, lost money in an investment or faced shame. Sometimes, it’s you who counts yourself out.
But it’s only halftime. Whose report will you believe?
The one that’s been written about you at 30, 35, 40, 45, 50? Or the one that will be written at the end of your life? People (and yourself) will judge you based on what they see now. But the game of your life is still on.
This week, if they count you out, keep going. If they declare the end for you, start a new beginning. If they call you finished, continue—let them see that you haven’t even started.
Tomorrow, your second-half Monday begins.
Play like they’re writing a premature headline. Then give them the final score that will make them write a retraction in bigger letters than the one in their untimely headline.
You’ve got this, my Comeback Kin
