Who is Etinosa Obaseki?

…is a question I often struggle with. Over time, the answer has varied a bit, but never, I think to widely away from a few core things. 

My most recent life motto, which is my second favourite of all time (my favourite is the one just before it: “Keep Moving Forward” from 2007 animation Meet the Robinsons), is “Live. Learn. Loop” and I think it captures the essence of who I am and who I’d like to be.

I like to live. I believe that life is in the experiences, good or bad, the memories and moments are all we have. They are a core part of the human condition and so I go around looking for moments and memories to cherish. I like to make an adventure out of my most mundane things and I like to share these adventures and so I make a lot of friends, I taste a lot of food (although, I don’t really like fish so much), I tell a lot of stories and listen to a lot as well.

I like to learn. I like to consider myself a knowledgeable person, and yet there will always be so much I don’t know about myself, about other people or about the world I’m in. So, I consider myself devoted to lifelong learning. Learning about how things work, learning about why things work, learning about people, places, culture. I gather all this knowledge because I think that it contributes to a richer, fuller experience of life. It makes living better.

I’m in a Loop. The human condition is a loop. No really, it is. Jon Bellion’s 2014 album The Human Condition starts and ends on exactly the same note. I think it’s a great metaphor for the actual human condition. We’re stuck in a seemingly never ending cycle of repetitive events, but I think that every iteration can be made a little better than the last if we’re deliberate about making better experiences for ourselves and for others as well as learning from each iteration.

That’s who I am. A lifelong learner, constantly hunting for new experiences and hoping to make life a little better for everybody.