FIVE TIPS TO STAY HEALTHY DURING A PANDEMIC

In times when the usual order of the world ceases, when access to recreational centres, parks and even a visit to the stadium to cheer your favourite football team is prohibited because there’s public concern over you contracting a deadly virus and spreading the same to friends and family,  it’s usually difficult to stay positive, happy and most especially, healthy.

Here are five things you can do to stay healthy during a pandemic:

1. STAY FIT

Engage in regular physical exercises

During a pandemic, access to the gym is limited and sometimes restricted, and jogging under the slumbering eyes of the early morning sun may be banned due to the imposition of lockdowns and curfews. Nonetheless, you must stay fit. You don’t want to come out of the pandemic looking like a stuffed pillow unable to run around the park breathing in the cool evening breeze.

You could stay physically fit by engaging in home workout techniques like sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups. Having gym tools in your house is an advantage. Because the world is at a standstill and there are restrictions on movements, doesn’t mean you should allow restrictions in the blood vessels supplying your heart. You have to stay fit!

2. DON’T DWELL ON THE BAD NEWS

Listening to the news during a pandemic is very crucial to stay informed on what is going on in the world around you; however, you shouldn’t focus your mind on consuming the negative news dominating the TV screen. Doing so will only wear you out, and you don’t want to be worn out when you need all your energy to stay alive. 

Occasionally take your mind off the news to focus on the birds living freely like never before. Focus on the trees swinging in the rhythm of the wind, and the bushes and flowers blossoming without human interference. Take your mind off the pandemic and focus it on something beautiful, like nature.

3. KEEP CONNECTIONS ALIVE

connect with friends and family

It is easy to feel isolated and lonely during a pandemic, especially when you can’t attend your favourite reading club or your dance rehearsals. To avoid feeling lonely and depressed, keep in touch with your friends and loved ones through calls, texts and social media. You can always facetime with family, do group video calls with your friends and colleagues and ask after one another. You don’t have to play catch-up when the pandemic is over.

4. TAKE UP A NEW COURSE

learn something new

One positive thing about a pandemic is that you get to have all the time in the world. There’s no traffic, no busy bus stations, no hold up at work and no delays in the banking halls. It is you, yourself and you in the comfort of your house with electricity and internet. Why not take up that new online course? Why not enrol in that online certification program? You want to come out of the pandemic better than you were. Besides, taking a new course keeps you preoccupied and makes your mind and body active.

5. EAT FRUITS AND DRINK PLENTY WATER

Fruits help to keep your immune system active and your body healthy. Having a good immune system means that you’re unlikely to fall sick when others do, and if you fall sick, you’re likely to recover faster than others. So, take enough fruits and drink a lot of water to stay hydrated. Keep your body system active and agile and be sure to live through the pandemic.

There you have it! Five things you could do in the event of a pandemic.

WHEN IS IT OKAY NOT TO KNOW?

Last week, I was involved in a serious conversation with a colleague. In the heat of the convo, he asked a question to which he knew the answer to just so he’ll find out if indeed I truly knew it. After critically considering the question, I began beating about the bush in response. Truth is, I wasn’t very much familiar with the answer, and having given off an impression of knowing, I knew I couldn’t ‘fall my hands’.

When he saw that I was going round and round in response, he remarked, ‘there’s no shame in admitting that you don’t know.’

I was momentarily taken aback by that statement and then I decided to come out clean; after all, admitting to one case of not knowing will not degrade my intelligence. So, I asked him to tell me what the answer was.

I wasn’t prepared for what came next. It was as though he let out the initial statement as bait to draw me into his net. He made me feel comfortable with not knowing, and after admitting so, he ridiculed the fact that I didn’t know.

It was very terrible. It felt like I was the most foolish person on earth. I’m certain that you too must have passed through a similar experience, maybe worse, who knows?

But guess what?

I stumbled upon a quote that said while going through the WhatsApp statuses of some persons in my contact list just a few days ago. It read: “the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it’s the illusion of knowledge.”

Frankly speaking, I don’t like admitting that I don’t know. The teachers I had while growing up made it seem like a crime if you didn’t know the answer to their question. It was almost like they expected you to know everything. This was the same mentality I grew up with and looking at how it has affected me today, I’ve come to understand that this is very wrong.

No man is an island of knowledge. There are so many things you and I don’t know, and while we can only attempt to know them, we can’t do anything about those things as long as we don’t know them. So, why stress it?

Paraphrasing the quote, it’s better to accept that you don’t know than to claim that you know. That in itself is the greatest enemy of knowledge.

It doesn’t matter what others may say about you, it doesn’t matter how they may label you. In the end, you’ll get to know and that knowledge will make you a better person.

So, what should you do when you don’t know?

1. Admit that you don’t know.

While I can’t guarantee you that it is very easy to admit you don’t know a thing or that you’ll not be looked down on if you make the admission, I can guarantee you that admitting you don’t know prepares you for knowledge so long as you have the right mindset.

2. Be willing to know what you don’t know.

While some knowledge is not for everybody—the stylist doesn’t have a business with the knowledge of the intricate structural design of a rocket launcher—you must be willing to find out the truth about certain things that concern you.

Take, for example, you’re this same stylist and you don’t know why black is an important colour of style, have you seen that you must seek out this knowledge because it directly affects you?

3. Be open-minded to accept new information.

Some people are just too stubborn. They hold on to what they think is correct, even when it is proven without a doubt that such knowledge is wrong.

It is not enough for us to accept we don’t know and still dwell in the fact that we don’t know; after all, ‘it’s okay not to know, isn’t it?’ No.

Equally, it’s still not enough for us to accept to be schooled in what we don’t know but thereafter, vehemently refuse to accept the new information that is passed across to us.

That said, we must make the necessary adjustments.

Remember, it is only okay not to know when you:
• Admit you don’t know
• Decide to know what you don’t know, and;
• Accept the new information you previously did not know.

Final Words

Don’t let anyone shame you for your ignorance of knowledge. Similarly, don’t act as though you know something when you don’t know it.

But if you feel that it is too humiliating for you to admit you don’t know a particular thing, you can try out this trick I employ:

“Whenever I’m faced with something I don’t know, I make quick research to acquaint myself with the basic knowledge of the subject. Once this is done and I can say a thing or two about that particular thing, I go deeper in search of the information that I may have missed during my quick search. By doing so, I become better versed in that matter and ultimately become a better person.

“However, in a case where I cannot get the basic information about the subject, I swallow my ego and admit that I don’t know. Then I open up my head and mind as I seek to know.”

You too can do the same!

You too can know even when you don’t know.

Remember, the greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge.

Do have a knowledgeable week!

Don’t forget to come back next Monday for another dose of Monday Inspiration!

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The Park Experience

The car slowed to a stop by the side of the bubbling tarred road and the driver announced, “this is where you stop. This place is Iwo road.”

I adjusted myself to alight from the Toyota Sienna car I’d boarded from Lagos. Sitting in the middle did not help, too: I had to wait for the lady beside me to slide open the car door so I could step outside. She finally did, and I was greeted by the burning sun over my back as I sucked in warm air mixed with the smell of vegetables and corn immediately my feet touched the ground.

I circled round to the back of the car where the driver was already waiting with the car boot opened. I took out my back bag and my black medium-sized echolac box. Some young men were already waiting to pick up the bags as the driver slammed the boot shut.

“No, no, no… Leave it,” I said to one of them who tried to pick up the box.

I turned around to observe the expressly tarred road crammed by slow-moving vehicles, roadside vendors, with several pedestrians trying to cross the road. ‘This is Ibadan’, I muttered.

“Oga, where you dey go?”

I turned sharply to see who it was that talked to me. He was dark and tall with prominent scars plastered across his face. His teeth were arranged haphazardly and stained, but his navy blue sleeveless top and black jeans didn’t look dirty.

“Iwo. I’m looking for the place where I’d board a vehicle going to Iwo,” I said.

“Okay, I can take you there,” he volunteered.

As I followed him, observing the roadside display of shoes and sandals, I couldn’t help but be grateful, ‘the Lord has blessed me with a good Samaritan,’ I reasoned.

“Bros, make I help you carry your bag na,” he said.

“No, don’t worry.”

The khaki-coloured back bag wasn’t too heavy on my back as I dragged the echolac box behind me. I didn’t want to overuse the privilege of this stranger, neither did I want to pay any fees to anyone for carrying my bags.

“See Bros,” the stranger started, “my mind no dey okay as I see as only you dey carry these big bags. Make I help you with one.”

I didn’t budge, but after he persisted, I surrendered my box to him and he swiftly lifted it over his head. Soon, we crossed the road and a few steps later got to the Iwo motor park.

“Thank you so much,” I said, as he dropped the box.

I approached a man who I presumed was the driver of one of the cars that were loading passengers to Iwo. It was a black Toyota Corolla car that still looked very decent despite its age.

“How much to Iwo?” I asked as I dropped the box into the opened car boot.

Before I could get a response, my supposed stranger-friend said something that made me turn sharply. He had been standing there all this time.

“You say?”

“I say, give me my money,” he repeated, rather indifferently.

“Huh?” I was surprised. “Money?”

“Ahn Ahn!” he exclaimed, “all the waka wey I don waka na for wetin? Gimme my money joor!”

I looked him up again from top to bottom, ‘Good Samaritan indeed.’

“I think say na charity work you dey do oh… No be just to show me this place? Shebi na you say make you help me carry my bag na, I no beg you. So, money for trekking?”

The whole thing seemed very funny to me. I kinda had a feeling that this was what was coming, that was why I had initially rejected his offers to carry my bag.

“Which kind charity work, oga?” he said, his voice was gradually rising into a pitch, “something wey person dey use chop, you dey call am charity.”

The shit was getting more real than the humour I was expressing, and the driver was already bothering me to settle with him so we could leave for Iwo.

“Okay, how much is it?” I asked.

“₦600.”

I gasped in shock. I stood transfixed, unable to process the information I’d just heard. After a moment, I recovered from the shock of the amount.

“₦600 for what? For just trekking from there to here? Did I even ask you to carry my bag for me? Abi you carry me for back? How much be from here to Iwo sef wey you wan collect ₦600?”

The distance to the park from where I met this guy can be likened to the length of a football pitch. I laughed, ₦600 to walk?

I noticed that the both of us were isolated and that he was tilting towards hostility, and I wasn’t ready to allow my white top to be stained with his hands over ₦600. So, I moved over to the car that was to take us to Iwo and complained to the driver. The driver then called the attention of two other men who sprang up to listen to the ensuing misunderstanding.

“Did you talk price when he met you?” one of them said to the disputing guy.

“No, but he say make I help am show am the park, I carry this him back for my back from all that side.”

“Oga, I no beg you to carry my bag… Na you volunteer yourself. If you no collect ₦100, make you leave am. Which one be ₦600? Shey you wan carry me go Iwo?”

I was becoming increasingly infuriated with his demands. For Heaven’s sake, I’ve lived in Lagos, I’ve lived in the east, too. If he can extort money from everyone, it wasn’t going to be me.”

His temper was gradually rising too, but the money he was demanding was too outrageous to the point that one other person came in and reiterated the same.

“Oga, na wetin him give you you go collect o,” the first man said.

“Which kind ₦100?” he said angrily, “see, me and you go fight here now if you no give me my money.” He readjusted his stance and maintained the straight frown he’d had on his face all the while.

“Oga, you better calm down o,” I said, “you and who go fight here? You better calm down and accept ₦100; after all, we didn’t agree on anything.”

Realising that the odds were not in his favour, he took a different approach.

“See, I fit to leave this money for you,” he said, “but I go swear for am and the swear go work.”

I laughed.

“Swear? When we didn’t agree price? Oga please leave the money and swear,” I said, “please swear. You think say I dey fear swear? No dey look say because I wear glass, come wear white and black, say I resemble person you fit bully o.”

The driver came by and told me that the car was filled already and about to move, that I should settle with the young man and come enter the car. It was then I realised that I wasn’t having ₦100 notes with me, the least was a single ₦50 note and a ₦200 note.

The man who had been the de facto mediator was next to advise me.

“Just give am wetin you get, make him dey go,” he said.

To avoid further arguments and because of the urgency to leave, I had to lean into what he said. So I dipped my hands in my jean pocket and brought out a ₦200 note.

“I’m giving you this money just because you carried my bag. If to say you no carry am, na ₦100 you for collect this afternoon,” I said and handed over the money to him.

He took the money and left, but that wasn’t after he had made a hilarious remark.

“Na people like you wey if they make them God, everybody go suffer.”

“You don’t know me, oga,” I responded, “if to say you talk say you need money, I for help your life.”

He finally walked away and I went to take my seat at the space reserved for me in front of the vehicle.

I turned to the driver, “How much is the transport?”

He adjusted himself on his seat and stepped out of the car. “Give him ₦1,000,” he said, gesturing to a young man standing by my side of the car and arranging some naira notes.

I took out a ₦1,000 note and handed it over to the man.

“How much is the transport?” I asked him as he collected the money from me.

He was busy with the other people at the park that he didn’t bother to respond to my question. Anyways, I settled in, tried to calm myself as I pondered over the events of the past minutes.

Then I heard something that interested me. The guy I’d given the money said something to the driver in their Yoruba language. I’m not Yoruba, but having stayed in Lagos, I understood the language to an extent.

The driver came into the car and started the ignition. He was about to drive the car out when I turned to him.

“What of the ₦400 change the guy outside told you to give to me?”

He turned to me in bewilderment; apparently, I looked too foreign that he didn’t know I understood the language. But he made a sound recovery.

“The place you’re dropping is different from the place every other person is dropping,” he said.

“That’s not a problem. Drop me wherever you’re dropping every other person, I’ll find my way. Just give me my change.”

He reluctantly brought out the money from his pocket and handed it to me without saying another word.

‘These people are exploitative,’ I muttered, and we journeyed along in silence.

I’ll Say It Again, Regardless…

When it comes to motivating people to become better versions of themselves, many believe that whatever should be said has been said already. For some people, the mere hint of a motivational speech turns them off. 

It’s so sad that in this part of the world where I come from, not many people pay attention to inspiring words. Many feel it’s all cliched, a sham and an unnecessary waste of time. It has gotten to the point that the noble profession of “motivational speaking” is now used as a tool for sarcasm, comedy and banter.

However, if you’re expecting me to follow this trend, or perhaps to alter the point of this article; then, I’m sorry, this article is not for you, you can stop reading at this point.

If you’re still reading, I want you to understand that motivating people to do better, to become better versions of themselves is not a trivial matter. It is not something that should be discarded as cliched and of little importance.

Why?

All over the world, in one way or the other, people need to be motivated to carry on, to stay on course, to pursue their dreams. Although, while it is good to be able to self-motivate yourself, you cannot deny the fact that sometimes, we just need to draw it from outside. After all, we don’t generate the air we breathe in to stay alive, we get it from the environment.

So, it’s not enough to say once and not say again; in fact, the average human being needs to tell herself positive words several times every single day to cushion the effects of the negative ones that may pop up.

What are you telling yourself and what am I saying to you?

KEEP GOING, DON’T GIVE UP!

I’m certain that you must have heard this phrase several times before. You see it on billboards and fliers, hear it from radios, watch it on televisions, and so on. You might also have attended seminars and events where the person speaking kept on emphasizing it. Truth is, you’ve heard it many many times.

If you’re still reading, I’m guessing you’re nodding your head at this point and asking yourself what exactly my point is. Alright, to clearly emphasize my point, I’ll tell you a story.

There was this black Pathfinder jeep my cousin rode. Each time she went out with the car, she’d always branch by the fuel station to get petrol for it. It kept happening again and again and again. 

There was one time when there was not enough petrol in the car, she had to branch to the nearest fuel station before continuing to her destination.

What am I trying to suggest?

She refuelled the car, again and again, each time with the same hydrocarbon; the same components but different quantities. If she didn’t refuel, the car wouldn’t go further. 

Similarly, you and I need to refuel consistently. Our fuel is the words we speak, the motivation we get, the “never give up”, the “just do it”, the “keep going” and the likes. No matter how full of these words we may be, we should remember that the car always needs a refuel after exhausting its existing volume. 

The most important thing is that we should understand that these motivational words are not cliched. They are there to motivate you, to help you to keep your vehicle moving forward. And when you exhaust the volume you have, you have to refuel.

One last thing, 

“The vehicles that remain on the roads are the ones that make use of their fuel.”

— euphoriawrites

It’s not enough for you to listen and sink in these words and not act upon any one of them. You have to put the motivation you’ve received to good use. You have to step out.

So, dear friend,

KEEP GOING. KEEP FIGHTING. NEVER GIVE UP.

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Driving Through Ibadan

…and we’re back!

Welcome to another edition of TGIF! It’s the first Friday Lifestyle in a very long long long time.

By way of apology for the long absence, I’d be telling you a story in this post. It’s a real-life story, so just stay put and listen… or should I have said, read? Anyways, here it goes!

Have you been to Ibadan before? You haven’t? Then, it won’t be wrong if I say you’ve not seen “crazy”, at least, the Ibadan version of crazy.

Well, I think I should start with some background information. Ibadan is the capital city of Oyo State, Nigeria and is dominated by the Yoruba speaking people of the country. It is one of the oldest and most famous cities in the country. It has seen its fair share of the good, the not so good and the ugly.

So, back to my story.

I was in this white, almost brand new Toyota Hiace Hummer bus that slowly manoeuvred its way around the congested Ibadan traffic at around 7:00 pm. It was a corporate vehicle owned by the organisation I work with and we were returning from a successful visit to Lagos, Nigeria. I was seated in front, just beside the driver.

The road was crammed with vehicles of all types; vans, SUVs, buses, taxis, tricycles and motorcycles. The city bustled and bubbled; roadside sellers called out to passersby; vehicles caused unwanted cacophonies with their impatient honks; couples walked hand in hand into eateries—the chatter never stopped along the narrow double-laned road.

“You’re mad! You’re foolish!”

I turned right to see who was swearing at our bus. It was a tricycle operator who our driver had overtaken in a manner he didn’t like. He was a young-looking man probably in his late 20s dressed in a red top and blue jeans and his tricycle was loaded with passengers.

He overtook us again and continued his swearing; he swore and cursed in his native Yoruba tongue. It continued like a drag race and each time he overtook us, he swore at our driver. I turned my attention to our bus driver, a complete Yoruba man by all standards. He had literally flown us from Lagos, and despite how fast he was, he was very careful. I thought he didn’t deserve the insult and I wasn’t surprised when he couldn’t just sit still and swallow it all up. More like, I knew his reaction would come despite how hard we tried to calm him down.

“Baba ẹ!” he cursed back at the tricycle driver.

“Baba, please calm down. Don’t answer him. Let him go with his wahala.” We tried calming him down but it was too late, he was already too pissed.

There’s this popular African proverb that goes like this: “When the gods want to kill a man, he would first make him mad.” That was exactly what happened to this young man, only that his case wasn’t death, it was debt.

The traffic was worsened by the long line of cars parked by the side of the road. This made it difficult for two moving cars to drive side by side. It was in one of these places, beside one of the parked cars, that the tricycle operator attempted to overtake our bus for the umpteenth time. This time around, in addition to his swearing, he decided to come directly in front of our vehicle.

Unfortunately, his driving wasn’t as smooth as his swearing, as the rear of his tricycle caught onto the front bumper of our vehicle. It stuck there too, just as the driver applied the brakes.

Baba immediately jumped down from the vehicle to confront the tricycle guy. Funny enough, both the bus and the tricycle were packed at the centre of the road, adding to the traffic jam.

What happened to the tricycle operator upon realizing his error was like someone falling from a 10 storey building. His passengers had all deserted him and people who had gathered at the scene condemned him. He, at that moment, went from being the arrogant swearing brat to a quiet humble lamb.

The guy begged. I looked at him and while I could pity the fact that he may not have the money to repair our bus, I laughed internally at his deflated ego. How have the mighty fallen and the weapons of warfare perished!

You should see his face that night. My guy lost his passengers and was faced with the possibility of paying for a bus bumper. It got to a point that he began to ask other people to help beg us.

In the end, we let him off the hook with a warning of going forth and sinning no more. The damage was already done, so we lifted the tricycle out from under the bumper. Without a single word, and with a quiet expression on his face, he stepped into his tricycle and zoomed off.

Luckily, the bus had insurance and was fixed the following day.

So, that’s the end of my story. I hope you learnt a thing or two?

I’ll be waiting for your comments in the comments section. See you next Friday!!

Oh… Wait! Come back on Sunday for a refreshing piece of poetry.