Time stood still

Temidayo trudged listlessly along the road back to her apartment. It was 8pm and the end of another gruelling day at the office. Usually, she mindlessly went through the boring routines of her day: wake up, prepare for work, go to work, work, come back from work, eat, watch a movie and sleep...and the next day was just the same. For five years, she had been doing exactly this with no complaints, just simply floating through each day. But today was different. Blame the old scrap-book from her university days she accidentally found, containing all her ambitions, plans and ideas; or the poster that she mistakenly came across, publicizing a seminar by her old roommate...or simply by the plain fact that today was her thirtieth birthday. Either way, it had been a pretty depressing day.

She unlocked the door to the tiny 2-room apartment and put on the light. Throwing her bag languidly on the floor, she sat down on a small couch and put her head in her hands. Unwillingly, her mind travelled back to her university days, when her whole life seemed to stretch out enticingly before her. She had been so excited about the future, determined to pursue her passions and give expression to all the potential God placed inside her. She was all set to take over the world and had enthusiastically been making plans, writing her ideas, reading about it and all. Every day, she day-dreamed of her future, saw herself taking over the fashion world, speaking to thousands of young women, being a financial giant and of course, standing beside a great man and actively supporting him as he pursued his own destiny. And now, six years after her graduation...was it really six years already? It still seemed like it was only last week...she could still see it vividly. The crowds, the parties, the strained nerves from attending to irritating people who unashamedly demanded for food, the tears from saying good-bye...she could see it right there. But after that, all she could see was time floating by, each uneventful day flowing into the next...NYSC, getting a job, working at first 9am – 8pm, then after two years and a promotion, 9am – 6pm every day. Church maybe once in two weeks, when she didn’t have to work on Sundays. She hadn’t even been able to keep her relationships...two very unpleasant break-ups and she simply stopped trying. Now, her world consisted of a few friends she still saw every once in a while, her apartment and of course, her job.

Then, the tears came. And boy, did they flow. Age-long bottled up tears of pent-up frustration, and disappointment came gushing out as if a dam had broken. Deep, guttural sobs raked through her small frame as the pictures kept flashing through her mind. She wept not so much for the time she had wasted but for the future. To her, there was nothing to look forward to except an endless climb up the labour ladder, a rat race for better pay and living conditions...all for what? Her faith had long lain dormant and along with it every passion that had once excited and energized her. Now her life was simply an idle river, floating lazily on and on without an end in mind. Time would keep floating by, she knew and so also she would continue to trudge limply along this path called time, every day the same as the one before.

Then suddenly, like the soft harmattan breeze blowing through her window, a small voice spoke softly to her heart, “Time is standing still for you now. What will you do?”