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Your solution is closer than you think – look within

 

Your solution is closer than you think – look within

This is 2025. A year like no other. How you started it may be under the control of circumstance but how you end is up to you.

Instead of living your life feeling disappointed with everything and everyone, why not look at yourself critically in the mirror of your own choices and decisions, forgive the sides of things that you messed up, take a deep breath, remove the dark sunglasses that make you see even the sun as dark, reappoint yourself as the one responsible for your growth and then make the moves that you alone can make for the life that you so want to live.

A short story of resilience

One of my old-time friends shared a post on Facebook very recently. Even though it was a curation of her personal experiences and moments of deep vulnerability, I found her post to be very profound, and in line with the perspective I wanted to share with you here.

Below is her story. (Slightly edited for grammar)

Between 2021-2023, I was doing averagely well. I had a fairly good job, getting jobs with my fashion house and everything in between. I had a sizable amount saved.

Despite my mother’s health getting worse and the bills all over the roof. We did fairly well.

Then Jas my daughter got ill, and everything went to hell from there. Between caring for her, for my mum, and keeping the house afloat I was overwhelmed and eventually resigned from my job. I couldn’t keep up, I was making so many mistakes and barely sleeping.

By the time I had paid for her surgery (which was a major one without having to ask anyone for a dime for it), I was broke broke. Savings were gone, and we could barely survive. I was down and out. Rent was due and then the house got marked for demolition.

I could barely feed the house. There were a lot of days that the only people eating were Jas and my mum. I was buying 1k gas every few days. I was giving my daughter water and sugar to drink instead of Milo. And she would take it with grace, smile, and hug me. I had a godmother (Mama Edo) who was sending food to us 2-3 times a week. Sometimes Mummy would send soups in bowls, including Pap for my mum (That’s why I don’t joke with her in this season of my life).

And then we were about to be homeless.

I spent most nights wide awake, crying, I couldn’t even pray. I felt stuck and backed to the corner with no way out. Grateful for Pastor Austine Oviawe he would call over and over to make sure we were fine. He stood in the gap for me spiritually and financially when we needed to get another house. I will never forget such kindness.

At a point, I went to Arena Market to the women I used to supply goods to see how I could dropship for them. They knew me from when I used to supply them goods, so it was shocking for them to see me as a supplier now asking to dropship. Two of the ones close to me gave me clothes without a dime, and I’d take them to the offices of my past customers, sell them, get paid, and pay back the women who gave me the goods.

This was all while I was still trying to get a job but had no luck. I sold my iPhone and two of my work laptops and took back the Samsung I had previously bought for my sister.

But the house demolition was getting closer and closer and all I made went into feeding, Mum’s drugs and care, and Jas’ aftercare. Eventually, I had to come online here, yes here, on my page to ask for help to get us a house because I knew there was no other way to go about it. (Which is why I will never understand why someone needs help but won’t post on their own page, and keep getting upset that you asked them to post on their page and then share on yours).

Hundreds of friends here shared and sent in help, enough for us to get a house. Which we finally did. The day we moved in, we had no single food in the house and the last cash I had was used for the truck for moving. So, you get the drift.

I was actively trying to get another job internationally while also waking up every day to go out and get things done to put food on the table.

One night my only laptop left had packed up and I had taken it to Ikeja to fix the next morning. Took it to a paddy in the market I’ve known for over a decade because I didn’t have any money to fix it, while they were fixing my laptop, we got talking and he spoke about considering drop shipping for laptops. And that was where I started.

During drop shipping, I stumbled on a guy who imports laptops. I went to visit his store in Ikeja to see how I could drop ship for them. We agreed on modalities, and I started doing that mostly for them.

When I finally got my job and started earning in dollars, I knew I wanted to do the laptop business. So, I reached out to my supplier to show me how the laptop import works, we agreed on how much it would cost to teach me and I paid. He taught me everything I needed to know in 10 days. At the end of the training, I told him I’d like to start off as a partner with him. And I did that for about 5 months.

And eventually, after getting the hang of things and seeing how lucrative it was, I decided I’d go solo. Spoke with him about it and he helped a couple of times with my orders eventually I was able to handle things on my own, found other suppliers abroad, and the rest they say is history.

I was moving my salary 100% to the business and graduated from importing laptops to desktops, printers, photocopies, Starlink, and premium gadgets.

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I had a target for how long I wanted to work to divert the money to the business, even though it meant, going to Ikeja during the day and working while there, while also selling with my one staff at the beginning. Getting home at night to cook, clean, and work till about 3 am before heading to bed and waking up again at 5:30-6 am to get my child ready for school and to head out to the store.

The point is, that success doesn’t just happen, people make it happen. You can hate people because they refuse to continually give you handouts for all you want, it won’t change anything until you decide to break out of self-pity. A pity party is a useless gathering that amounts to absolutely nothing.

Yes, we will have down-times, I’ve had my share of it, in fact enough to write a book, but staying down there while wallowing in your pain and self-pity, must never be an option.

Like one of my life mantras says ‘I’d rather be tired than broke’. That’s me. I walk into the house dead tired every day, but I sleep like a baby knowing that there’s food on my child’s table, a roof over her head, and a premium life for her. I’m able to have one of the best hospitals in Lagos care for my Mum, and take care of her treatments and drugs. That’s a good life for me.

In 2025, get up, and get out there. If you want to get to your dream, you must get up. It’s your dream, your goals, your life. Clocks don’t stop, and time won’t wait for anyone!

May God open your eyes to opportunities around you, and may He connect you to the right people and help you to break out of self-doubt. I hope this year, that things truly click for you and God brings you to your place of rest.

You will do well!

The story above, though personal to the author, is not far from what we all have gone through or are still going through. However, how her story ended was very much up to how much of herself she was willing to take a look at and then decide to do something about her situation. The same goes for anyone in the same space, the power to do something about your situation is in your hands. The direction may differ for each of us but the destination will likely be the same – liberty from the things that hold us down.

So, as you enter into the second month of 2025, do what must be done within the timeframe that it must be done.

Don’t let your pain and rock-bottom experiences go to waste. Write a book, create a product, make a service out of your experiences and you will find that you can transform your reality positively.

Cheers to your upliftment.

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