Eba is the Goal.

This evening I spilled hot water on myself. The spill itself was insignificant, what was was my response.
I had been working out, doing some curls and I went to quickly check up on my water for eba, I met it boiling.

A thread

I decided to pour out some of the water cos it was too much. As soon as I tilted the pot, my arms still had some tremor from the workouts, I tilted it inaccurately and the water doused my hand. Steam everywhere.

Bubbling boiling water, all over my fingers.

It felt painful af, but I did not make a sound.

Not even a groan. I gently put down the pot and rushed to the taps, leaving my hand under the cool water for a few minutes. And I began to contemplate how much more different this situation would have been many years ago.

Back then, all my hands would have swollen, serious burns and petulant cries for days. Nowadays, I take full boiling water to the hand with not even a perceptible rise in my blood pressure. My uncle was a few feet away, he didn't even notice a thing. I was that cool.

I'm a bit of a nudist, I don't like wearing clothes. If you did home econs back in school, you'll know that Aprons were invented for a reason. But I get goat head, I no dey hear word. I still work in the kitchen without clothes, an obvious recipe for disaster. And I do fall into

disaster.

Sometimes, I get hot oil splatters on my chest, full on. I merely sigh at the inconvenience and continue cooking. Sometimes they form a transient scar, that fades a few days later. This could not have happened to me a few years ago, back then I couldn't withstand pain.

I was softer, more irritable. I was a different Mosquito.

When I was younger, I used to watch my mother in the kitchen with reverence. My mom was like wonderwoman in the kitchen. She'd dip her hand in the hot water to retrieve a spoon or turn off a kerosene stove by slapping

the flaming wicks, she could literally wash her face with frying oil just to show she could, I swear, the woman no dey feel pain. She even had a way of holding turning stick "Omorogun" with just two fingers, as if she injected steroid into her fingers.

If you see me holding turning stick, I wield it as if I'm holding a double-edged great sword with all my shoulder.

As a child I saw my mum's power in the kitchen as somewhat unachievable. Superhuman, even.

And that's because that level of skill was never meant for me, not that version of me then and there.

And that's something with goals, at least good goals. People see their goals, how hard it is, how unachievable it is, and they get discouraged.

And that's because that level of skill was never meant for me, not that version of me then and there.

And that's something with goals, at least good goals. People see their goals, how hard it is, how unachievable it is, and they get discouraged.

The you that begins the race and the you that finishes it, are two very different people. When you embark on a journey, the journey changes you. You become a totally different soul on the other side. That's what goals are all about, but we hardly realise,

we think the goal is about the goal, but the goal is a representation of us, a litmus test of who we can become. The goal is a furnace that remolds us. Reforms us along the way.

The Ibos say, when a man wakes up, is his morning.

In the man that went to bed the night before, in the man that slept and in the man that woke, you shall find three very different people.

The next time you look upon your goal and are daunted by how far it is, by how poorly-armed you are, you have to realise that you must begin

your race with what you have now.

For along the way, shall you find the tools that will take you farther, that will take you onwards. The person that will finish the race will come and meet you along the way. Your only duty is to start.

A newer and more experienced you, will continue.

I still don't know how to turn eba with only two fingers, despite having biceps twice the size of my mum's. But I know that the Mosquito that will eventually turn eba with two fingers is waiting for me on the other side,

he has something I do not yet have, he has knowledge of some esoteric sacrilegious technique, or he has some bigger forearms, I sincerely don't know what exactly he has, but I do know whatever he has, I'm going to get it along the way and I shall become him.

All I have to do is keep turning eba. I will not only change the eba, but the eba too will change me.

They say what the you want, wants you too. Which, of course, is literally nonsense.

It simply means on the other side of what you want, is a version of you waiting to embrace you. All you need do is take a step toward that other you.

I have taken my step towards Eba. Will you take yours too?