A letter to my friend.

The time was 1:00am, and I was working on my laptop when my phone rang. I checked and it was my friend, Damilare.

At first, I was scared because why would he call in the middle of the night? I prayed it wasn’t an emergency before I picked up. And, when I did, I was met with a weak and shaky voice, “Monsuroh, I am tired”, he said.

“I have tried everything possible, but it keeps wrecking. My catfish business was ruined by a heavy rainfall, my rent is due, I’m struggling to get a job, I have no one to call, yet my siblings keep asking me for money because I am the only guy among them. My uncles? They keep stressing how it is important that I get married early. I am very tired. My head is full”.

I listened carefully to him as he spoke. I didn’t want to interrupt him because he was crying as he was talking even though he tried to hide it from me. After a long silence, he said, “I think I want to end it all. I don’t think I can keep up with this life. This is not the life I signed up for. I thought graduating the top of my class would do anything, but it seems it’s even irrelevant now. What do I do now? What can I do? I tried learning a tech skill, but my laptop crashed, and I couldn’t even raise money to fix it…”

After this, he hung up. At this point, I wasn’t scared, rather, I thought of what I could do to make him know that he’s not alone. First, I sent him a text so he wouldn’t take any rash decisions before I finally decided on what to do.

I’m a voiceover artist, and most times, I record my scripts in the midnight because of the silence of the night. I could hear my voice and make it communicate the messages exactly how I want it to with little to no distractions, and this time, it is going to be a motivation for my friend. So, I picked my pen, and my journal, and I started writing.

Prior to this, I made sure I called back and spoke some soothing words to him so he could sleep. Then, I returned to my table to record the motivation with his name, Oluwadamilare.

I finished recording, and I sent it to him. When he woke up to my message, he called me, cried a lot, and thanked me because the message was impactful. Thank Goodness because my mission was accomplished!

This is 2:04am, and here’s the message I sent to my friend that reawakened him. For a minute, I’m grateful for the voice. Prior to now, I never knew my voice could do this magic, because I mostly used it for brands, but now, I found a new way to use it for the benefit of the people around me, especially my friends.

Thanks to the thoughts and the silence of the night.

▶️ 3Speak