There was a woman, honestly, I did not know her while she walked the face of the earth. Or maybe I did, saw her picture one time on TY Bello’s Instagram page. But just didn’t take note of her life.
However, like many other men who had lived and affected lives, her death has spread across and beyond the continent.
I thought it wise to dig deep into the life of this great icon celebrated by many. And I just love to share what I found.
First, she was a beauty to behold. Everybody who knew her knows this.
Ibidunni Ighodalo was beautiful. Now, if all you see is the physical beauty, you are still on point!!
But I need you to look beyond that and see a woman who turned her pains into gains, her sorrows into joy and ashes to true and lasting beauty.
Ibidunni had every right to be angry, bitter and sad towards God and man. And why won’t she?
Why on earth should she be denied the privilege of having her own child? For a silly mistake by some unprofessional surgeons that messed up with her womb during an appendicitis surgery when she was 16.
And for that careless act, for the first eleven years of her marriage, she sought for a child with everything she’s got, her blood, money and sweat.
Ohh Ibidunni, only if she knew earlier what God had in store for her. You know, according to her own words, it was so much agony!!
Having to go through IVF 11 different times and all failed. There are no words to describe such torments. It was an emotional, psychological, physical and financial drain. Ibidunni, how my heart melts for her. She had so much love to give; it was just natural for her to seek a child on whom she could pour her love.
And in pursuit of that, For those many years, she admitted she stopped living, she just barely existed.
I was trying to imagine what that meant, like; you are actually alive, but without life. And I just couldn’t stop thinking; how many persons are like that right now?
You have stopped living your life because of someone or because of something.
Like Ibidunni, a beauty queen who was once the face of the luxury brand soap LUX and Queen of Elizabeth R Events.
Reduced to some shadows without life nor purpose, mainly just existing. Wow! She let her pain got her. And we can’t blame her right? She was in so much pain!! 😭😭
Hmmm… Allow me to breathe in and out here. Ibidunni. How I love to call her name as I write this.
Are you like her right now? Have you stopped living even though alive?
What pain has humanity cost you? How has the world push you so hard against the wall?
And now, it seems you can’t breathe! You had either stopped living, or living to pay back the rage!!
I just want to remind you, you do not have the entire time on the earth to live. If you must live, you must live NOW. And be fully alive.
You will do it like Ibidunni did it!!
Yes. The moment she realised she still had the right and power to live her dreams, her very best life. She rose above her pains, glorified and turned them into gains.
Ibidunni didn’t just have two beautiful children she graciously adopted and loved with all her heart, she established a foundation that helps hold woman hands with hope and strength through their times of infertility; she helped many women get treatment, investing millions to ensuring that many women conceived and carry their own child with their own hands.
Could beauty be more?
Could there have been a more fulfilling life for her?
And now, even though she is no more on the earth, she is very much alive!
Oh she is!! She lived well and beautifully crafted her name in the sands of time. And now, she lived on, forever!!!
You know, Ibidunnis’ story is not the first I have read of people turning their pains into great gains. Have you read the story of Tyler Perry who only knew pains, beatings and abuse from his father, yet rose to become the first black man to own a movie studio in the United States. Look at Oprah Winfrey, Goodluck Jonathan, these are contemporaries who lived above their limitations and turned their ugly experiences into greatness.
How about men of old like Thomas Edison, failed about a thousand times before he finally won, inventing the light bulb. Google about Abraham Lincoln, he didn’t become America’s president on a plater of gold. And then my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Jesus went through hell to bring us to heaven.
Little wonder He says, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone”.
Let’s come back to you now. Life may have thrown you some lemon, but it’s solely in your power to make a bitter lemon out of it, or a lemonade.
You know I always say this, if you are reading from Nigeria, you kind of have every right to give up and just stay angry. But you see, the problems we have are also our opportunities to blossom!
Yours could be a husband or a wife. Maybe you got disappointed and heartbroken, and now you are angry. Or barely just existing.
Maybe you lost a loved one, and now life has no more meaning.
Now please pay attention, because nobody is going to do this for you!! You’ve got to fight and live again!!!
Trust me, you do not have all the time in the world to waste, just merely existing.
Stop the disrespect, rage and hate on yourself and others. Look beyond your pain and see the brighter side of life.
Who says it’s going to be easy?
And who also says it’s not possible!!
Nothing good comes easy, at least not at the start. And nothing, absolutely nothing is impossible!!!
And if Ibidunni, and those many other guys could do it, then you can too.
So show yourself some love, then begin to love again.
It’s time to LIVE and live your best life!!!!!!!
Script Writer
Online Business Consultant
Write Your Hustle Series
