C for Mental Health is a consociation of Nigerian students championing student mental health in Nigeria through meaningful discourse, advocacy and community engagement. Newsletters are by students for students!

There is something to be said about tenacity, the will to keep going against all odds. Despite setbacks, losses, and moments of doubt, just sheer perseverance. Sometimes it feels exhilarating, like an unstoppable force. Other times, it is exhausting, a quiet struggle to keep moving forward.

People often ask where I find the will to keep trying. I wish I could say I have an endless source of motivation, but really, it is just the gut wrenching desire to see things through. To exhaust every possible option, not necessarily to win, but to know that I did my part. Whether it bears fruit or not, at least I tried. There is a strange kind of peace in that.

Lately, I have been obsessed with the idea of dying empty. Ifeoma Nwobu puts it best:

"If I achieve nothing else, I want you who are reading this to believe that you can do many great things. Your sole aim should be to die empty. Leave nothing behind. Max out every potential, every talent, and every gift that you have been blessed with. Give them the diverse expressions they deserve, some as businesses, some as jobs or mere obligations, many as hobbies. In a world that teaches you to do just black and white, always fight to be a weaver of color. In fact, make a rainbow."

This idea of giving every talent, every passion, every dream the expression it deserves is what fuels me to keep trying. Not just for the outcome, but for the process. To create, to learn, to push forward, and to leave nothing undone.

Because in the end, the goal is not just to exist, it is to live fully, to give fully, and to leave this world knowing you poured out everything within you.

Uzonna Okoyenta

is a final year law student at the University of Nigeria passionate about reading, public speaking and education reform. She is also the founder of the Consociation for Mental Health.