11/05/2026
"Ndili bobo."
We say it before anyone even finishes asking.
At work. At home. On the phone with family. At church when someone asks how you're doing.
Ndili bobo.
Fine.
But here's what's strange.
You say it so many times, to so many people, that eventually you stop checking if it's actually true.
And then 2am comes.
The house is quiet. Everyone is asleep. There's nothing to scroll, nowhere to be, no one to perform "fine" for.
And something surfaces.
That thought you keep outrunning during the day. The feeling that has no name. The heaviness you can't explain to anyone, because how do you explain something when you don't fully understand it yourself?
That's not a bad night.
That's your mind finally getting a moment to be honest with you.
The version of you at 2am isn't broken.
It's just the one that finally stopped pretending.
