17/03/2026
“We write ‘Rest in Peace’ for the dead…
but when was the last time you actually lived in it?”
⸻
Tunde woke up tired… again.
Not the kind of tired sleep fixes.
The kind that sits behind your eyes even after 8 hours.
His alarm rang at 5:30am.
He didn’t hate his job.
He just didn’t feel anything about it anymore.
Brush. Bath. Traffic. Emails. Deadlines.
Repeat.
On the bus, he scrolled through his phone.
Someone just got engaged.
Another bought a car.
A friend relocated abroad.
He double-tapped a few posts…
and quietly felt like he was falling behind in a race nobody explained to him.
⸻
“You’re not lazy.
You’re just exhausted from trying to keep up.”
⸻
At work, his boss said, “We need more urgency.”
At home, his girlfriend said, “You’ve changed.”
His parents said, “At your age, we had more figured out.”
And somehow…
everyone was right.
That night, he lay in bed staring at the ceiling, heart racing for no clear reason.
No war.
No disaster.
Just life.
⸻
“Nothing is chasing you…
yet you keep running.”
⸻
The next morning, something small happened.
On his way to work, the bus broke down.
People complained. Some cursed. Others rushed off angrily.
But Tunde just… sat there.
For the first time in months, he wasn’t moving.
No noise. No pressure. No expectations in that moment.
Just silence.
A woman beside him sighed and said,
“Maybe this is the only time today we’ll actually breathe.”
They both laughed.
But it stayed with him.
⸻
“What if peace isn’t something you find…
but something you stop interrupting?”
⸻
That evening, Tunde did something unusual.
He turned off his phone.
❌ No scrolling.
❌ No comparisons.
❌ No silent competition.
He ate his food slowly.
He sat outside for a few minutes.
He let his thoughts come… and go.
Nothing dramatic happened.
The world didn’t change.
But for the first time in a long while…
his chest didn’t feel tight.
And it hit him.
All this time, he had been postponing peace.
Delaying it.
Treating it like a reward for “when things finally work out.”
But peace was never at the finish line.
It was in the pauses he kept skipping.
⸻
We say “Rest in Peace” like peace is something reserved for the end.
But maybe…
the real tragedy isn’t dying without peace.
It’s living your whole life without ever allowing yourself to feel it.
⸻
If this made you pause for a second, you needed it.
Maybe someone else does too.
