Wisdom for Living

You slowly become what you consistently stand next to.

Culture and consistency is such a powerful reality.

When we were in school, we were taught the concept of Omosis. The transfer of or movement through a permeable membrane from a level of higher concentration to a level of lower concentration.

Personal culture will diminish in the face of community culture. This is why environments matter.

No matter how sweet smelling you are in the morning, if you spend time in a fish market, you will smell of fish even if you didn't touch any fish.

If you spend time where meat is being roast, you will smell of smoke.

If you hang around small minds you would soon begin to think small.

This is just the first step to the reality but there is a worse step.

The worse step and next step is that if you stay longer in that environment, it becomes normal to you. As a matter of fact you wouldn't realise that you smell of fish, you wouldn't realise that you smell of smoke and you wouldn't realise that you are beginning to think small. It all becomes normal to you.

 

[Abasi Ibas]

I think you should be ridiculously optimistic about this life and the things coming your way.
Because you have one life to become everything you have ever wanted, and that change could start today.

I think you should be delusional in your dreaming and optimistic when you overthink.
Do not listen to those who cut the feet of dreams.
They will steal your stardust and hope you shrink.

The dream is to be alive. It is that deeper feeling inside.
But somewhere along the way we learn to settle in this life.

I think you should dream bigger, reach for the moon and if you fall short, you will land amongst the stars.
I think to be scared is to be alive in this one wonderful life that is ours.

So do not listen to those who ask you to be realistic.
It is better to live a dream than a regret.
For they were once like you, but let their dreams get cut at the feet before they could take their first step.

- Dan Whitlam

 

[Paul Oga]

If you want to know where to buy the cheapest fuel in Nigeria or the filling station that has the best meters, find out where tricycle (Keke) riders are buying theirs.

I’ve confirmed this to be true.

If you see them lining up and you care about saving cost, go and join them.

Simple.

But if you care about quality, observe the quality of cars that drive into the fuel station long before you need to buy fuel.

You may or may not find both affordability and quality in the same place.

 

[Fatimo Azeez]

One of the hardest lessons many of us need to learn is this: You cannot sustainably help other people if you are barely surviving yourself.

There is a reason every airline gives the same instruction before takeoff. In the event of an emergency, put on your own oxygen mask first before attempting to help anyone else, even your child.

At first, that sounds selfish.

It isn’t.

If you pass out from lack of oxygen while trying to save someone else, both of you are now in trouble. The best way to save another person is to first make sure you are in a position to do so.

Life works the same way.

Some people are carrying so many people financially that they no longer have room to breathe. They are paying their own bills, paying another person’s rent, sponsoring someone else’s education, settling relatives every month, and constantly responding to emergencies.

Meanwhile, they have no savings, no investments, no financial cushion, and no clear path out of the struggle themselves.

That is not generosity. It is a dangerous way to live.

In Physics, there is a concept called escape velocity. It is the minimum speed an object must reach before it can break free from the Earth’s gravitational pull.

If it doesn’t reach that speed, gravity keeps pulling it back.

Many people never reach financial escape velocity because every time they begin to make progress, more weight is added to them. Before they can build capital, start investing, or grow a business, they are carrying the financial responsibilities of several able-bodied adults.

You cannot keep adding weight to a rocket and expect it to leave the ground.

Get yourself to a place of stability first.

Build your income. Build your savings. Build your business. Build your investments. Give yourself room to breathe.

Ironically, when you become financially stable, you become far more useful to the people you care about. You can help from a position of strength instead of constantly giving from a place of exhaustion.

There is nothing noble about drowning with everyone else.

The goal is to reach the shore first, then turn around and help others across.