Or, reflections on the cycle of life — I only learned to ride a bicycle last year, after turning 40, and in the process, learned a more than just cycling. I’ve wanted to learn to cycle since I was a child, so I’m really a few decades late here. (There was that one time when I’d tried a…

It’s impossible to understand their success otherwise — Why is Apple so successful and their products so popular? The common narrative around this question is some version of “Apple customers are sheep” or “Because people will buy anything with an Apple logo on it,” or “Because people want to be cool, and Apple has a cool brand.” All…

Funny, isn’t it, how “average” is somehow a bad word? — You wouldn’t consider it a compliment if someone called a project you worked on or a meal you made average. You certainly wouldn’t take it very kindly to have our work called average, or our lives, and God help you if you dared to say that to a parent about…

And the risks at each layer — When I create, I feel both most alive and most at risk. That’s one half of the creative paradox. You know what I mean, don’t you? And by creation and art, I don’t just mean drawing and painting, writing and music, and whatever other classic arts come to mind. I…

But handles are not doors — It’s my job to label people. That’s not how I like to think about it, but that’s how patients sometimes see the diagnoses doctors give them: like we’ve slapped a sticker on them that says, “Dangerous! Don’t touch!” And I get that. There’s been great progress in the public perception…

How I came to rethink what it means to be confident Many people who know me think of me as confident. I can see why: it’s in how I talk, the way I socialise, maybe even what I wear. Underneath all that, though, those who get a bit closer quickly learn that I’m actually wracked with self-doubt and uncertainty and can…

The many faces of family — I remember my cousins as a big part of my growing up. They feature in many of my favourite childhood memories. I remember them coming over to spend a week or four with us. I remember how my brothers and I would ask our parents if they’d be in Akure…

How successful you feel is often more about how you define success than it’s about what you’ve achieved. I learned that early on in my medical career. Like most medical students, I saw medicine in terms of the ability to work out a cure for whatever ailed people. I still…

Reflections on a faith journey — The first time I returned to faith was on a balcony in my medical school. My mum had come to faith in my first year of life, while doing her Masters in Michigan State University. She had grown up in a religious home with her parents being regular church attenders…