Episode 2 - Riding the Waves of You

Toye Oyelese

Part One — Life Isn't a Straight Line Hey, welcome back to Navvy Tales! It's Dr. Toye again. Here's something the world teaches us without ever saying it out loud: you should be getting better at everything, all the time. Better every single day. Like a line on a graph that only goes up, up, up. Think about it. If you did great on a test, you should do even better next time. If you had an awesome week, next week should be even more awesome. We're taught to love the straight line that only climbs. But I've got news for you: life doesn't work like a straight line. It works like waves. Think about the ocean. The tide comes in high, then it goes back out low. Then high again. Does low tide mean the ocean messed up? Of course not! That's just what oceans do. Up, then down, then up again. You're the same. Some weeks you feel full of energy. Then comes a week where you're tired and everything feels hard. That's not you failing. That's just your low tide. It's supposed to happen. The tricky part is this. When you believe in the straight line, that normal dip feels like something went wrong. You think, "What did I do? Why did I lose it?" And then you feel bad about feeling bad. But nothing went wrong. You were just having low tide. Part Two — Four Things That Go Up and Down Inside You So, what exactly goes up and down? It turns out there are four big ones. Stay with me — this is the useful part. The first one is your Battery. You know how a phone or a game controller has a battery? You've got one too. When it's full, you feel awake, focused, ready for hard stuff. When it's low, everything feels like too much — even small jobs feel huge, and you just want to stop and rest. A low battery isn't broken. It just means: time to recharge. The second one is your Why Meter. This is how much things matter to you right now. When it's high, what you're doing feels important, and you get why you're doing it. When it's low, stuff starts to feel pointless — you catch yourself going, "Wait, why am I even doing this?" That empty feeling isn't failure. It's a signal that you need a new reason, or a fresh way to look at it. The third one is the Changing You. Sometimes you feel totally sure who you are and what you like. Other times you feel mixed-up, like you're changing and don't quite fit your old self anymore. Maybe you used to be the quiet kid, and now a part of you wants to try out for the play. That in-between feeling is messy — but it usually means you're growing into a new version of you. The fourth one is your People Meter. This is how your friendships and family feel right now. When it's strong, you feel safe, included, like you can just be yourself. When it's weak, you might feel left out, or like everyone needs too much from you. That's a signal too. It means either you need to speak up and set a limit — "I need some space" — or you need to reach for someone you trust. None of these four are good or bad. They're just weather. They tell you what's going on inside you today. Part Three — The Goal Isn't to Stop the Waves Now, a lot of people wish these ups and downs would just... stop. They want to feel exactly the same, nice and steady, every single day. But that's like asking the ocean to stop making waves. It's never going to happen. So here's the real goal. It's not to stop the waves. It's to learn to ride them — like a surfer, or like riding your bike over bumps without falling off. You don't get rid of the bumps. You just get good at rolling with them. And sometimes the waves get confusing, because different parts of you want different things at the same time. Like part of you wants to tell a friend a secret, and another part wants to keep it safe. When that happens, you don't have to figure out "the one real you." You just notice: which part is doing the talking right now? Which part is loudest? So this week, try this. When you feel a big feeling, pause and ask: "Which of my waves is high or low right now? Is my battery low? Is my Why Meter empty?" Just noticing is a kind of superpower. That's enough for today, before I go chasing more side-trails than usual. Remember: your ups and downs are not a sign you're failing. They're just information. The trick isn't to stop the waves — it's to learn to dance with them. Next time, we'll talk about something wild: how you're not just one single you inside. Until then — enjoy your rhythms. See you next time!