I Wrote My Own Funeral Speech. It Became a Blueprint for How I Want to Live.

The universe is about 13.8 billion years old.I am, if I am fortunate, going to get somewhere around 70 or 80 years. I sat with that comparison recently and it genuinely shook something in me. If you compressed the entire history of the universe into a single year, my whole life would only show up in the final seconds of December 31st. Not even a full minute. A few seconds, somewhere right before midnight.A few seconds out of 13.8 billion years.For a moment that felt terrifying. Then it felt like the most clarifying thought I have had in a long time.Because if my time is that small, then nothing in it should be wasted on things that do not matter.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/Screenshot_20250530-201742.jpg"/>... I started thinking about the great civilizations that came before me. Ancient Egypt. The Roman Empire. Powerful African kingdoms that stood for centuries. My own life is nothing compared to any of those long stretches of history. But here is the part that actually comforted me. Every one of those long civilizations was still built by individuals who lived short, ordinary lives. Leaders, thinkers, writers, farmers, mothers, regular people working with the same limited time I have, yet somehow shaping generations they would never live to meet.So my life being short does not make it small. It just means I cannot afford to waste the seconds I have. So I did something unusual.I sat down and tried to write my own funeral speech. Not because I am in a rush to need one, but because I wanted to know, honestly and without performance, what I am actually living for. Here is part of what I wrote.I do not want people to talk first about money, titles, or awards. I want someone to stand up and say that Quareeb believed life should be meaningful. That he was curious about the world and passionate about history and ideas. That he believed knowledge could change how people see the world, not just for exams, but for understanding themselves. That he used his voice, through writing, advocacy, storytelling, and the youth organizations he poured himself into, to speak the truth, raise awareness, and encourage young people to think critically and see new possibilities for themselves. I want them to say that I believed strongly in Africa and in the power of young people. That I connected with global youth communities, learned from people outside my own borders, and brought new perspectives back home. That I never saw myself as just a student in Nigeria, but as someone trying to contribute to a much bigger global conversation.I want them to say I was humble but determined. That even when the opportunities in front of me were small, I kept pushing myself to grow anyway. That I believed small beginnings could lead to something much bigger than they first appeared. If someone ever speaks at my funeral, I hope it sounds something like this.Quareeb (Emini_Excellent) believed that life should be meaningful. He was curious about the world and passionate about history and ideas. He used his voice to tell stories, connect people, and inspire young minds. He believed that Africa's history and future deserved to be told with pride and intelligence. He lived simply but dreamed greatly. At the end of life, what will really count is not how many posts I made, or how many titles and awards sit next to my name. What matters is whether I helped people think differently. Whether I used whatever knowledge I gathered to contribute something real. Whether I encouraged others to keep learning and growing. Whether I stayed true to my values when nobody was checking. None of us know exactly how long we have. But if my ideas, my words, and my actions can positively touch even a few people, even in small and quiet ways, then this life will have meant something. This thinking led me somewhere else too. I started asking myself what my actual gift to the world is supposed to be, and when I am supposed to start giving it. I do not think my gift is fame or wealth. My gift connects to ideas, stories, and history. I believe knowledge empowers people. I believe storytelling shifts how people see themselves and their own history. I believe connection opens doors that money alone cannot open. The honest truth is that I do not need to wait until I am older, more established, or fully formed to start giving that gift. I can start now, while I am still a student, still figuring out my own education and identity, by sharing what I learn, writing honestly about Africa, and engaging with young people across the world through the platforms I already have access to.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/Screenshot_20260516-213531.jpg"/>.. Every post, every article, every voice note, every honest conversation is a seed. Improving the world does not require a massive project from day one. Sometimes it is as simple as helping one person see something clearly, challenging a false narrative about Africa, or creating a respectful space where people feel safe enough to think out loud. The work begins today, lived with curiosity, truth, and humility, because this is not a project with a deadline. It is a lifelong direction. I may not see the full impact of it. I will stumble. I will fail in places. But small, consistent steps eventually grow into something much larger than they looked at the start. While I was working through all of this, I also had to be honest with myself about something I am still struggling with. Studying leadership made me realize that leaders and managers are not the same thing. Managers focus on planning, organizing, and controlling resources to hit specific targets. Leaders focus on inspiring people toward a shared vision. Managers tend to ask how. Leaders tend to ask why. Managers often think in short cycles. Leaders tend to think long term, beyond what they will personally see completed. I also do not believe leadership is something only a few special people are born with. Some people may have natural traits like charisma or confidence, and that is real. But I believe leadership is mostly built through experience, practice, and the willingness to keep showing up. I often tell people that everyone is already a leader in some form, simply because we are alive and connected to other people. If you are a parent, you are already leading your family. If you are an older sibling, you are already leading the younger one, whether you asked for that role or not. Leadership is not only about official titles or inherited positions. But here is the part I have not fully solved yet.I am not naturally shy. Put me in a small group, or in a one on one conversation, and I am completely myself, fully expressive, fully confident. But put me in front of a large crowd, and something shifts almost instantly. My heart starts racing. My voice begins to shake. The exact same ideas that feel so clear in my head somehow get stuck on the way out of my mouth. I have walked out of more than one public speaking moment feeling disappointed in myself, knowing I had more inside me than what actually came out in front of everyone. But online, through writing like this, through voice notes, through the words filling this page right now, I feel almost entirely free. Like the real version of myself. Like someone who actually has something worth saying and the space to say it properly.I am still learning how to bring that same confidence into a room full of people. I have not mastered it yet. I am not pretending I have. But naming it here, honestly, without dressing it up, feels like the first real step toward eventually changing it.<img alt="" src="/media/inline_insight_image/file_00000000a9b871f4aafea6c050009eb3.png"/>... When I think about people like Nelson Mandela, who gave his life to ending apartheid, or Malala Yousafzai, who kept advocating for girls' education even after being targeted for it, I am reminded that the people history remembers were not perfect or fearless. They were simply consistent in the direction they chose, year after year, speech after speech, setback after setback. That is the example I am trying to follow, fear and all.The seconds are already running, just like they are for everyone reading this. I would rather spend mine building something honest than spend them comfortable and silent.So today I want to ask you the same question I asked myself.If your entire life were compressed into one single year of the universe's existence, and your whole story only appeared in the final seconds before midnight on December 31st, what would you want those seconds to have meant.Drop your honest answer below. I am reading every single one. 🌍

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