Living in Lagos can be a toxic, unbearable and dangerous adventure, especially for the middle class and the poor who have to combat with many imbalances in society. Imbalances such as heavy traffic for those not living in wealthy areas of Lagos, poor infrastructure such as bad roads, epileptic power supply, unavailability of clean water, unstable network and internet services, the menace of street Hutchins and hooligans, high cost of living, insecurity and unruly behaviour of law enforcement agents, dirty environments, crazy landlords and neighbours to name but a few.
Despite all the numerous challenges, it behoves the affected citizens to develop and adopt a strategy to help them manage the herculean task of living in Lagos to attain a balanced life.
I strongly believe adopting a balanced and healthy lifestyle can be the solution to making the best of living in Lagos. I have highlighted a few of such lifestyles below;
Healthy relationships – Keeping bad relationships can compound the headaches of an individual living in Lagos. Relationships that promote bad habits such as strife, quarrelling, fighting, brutality, addiction, and time wastage need to be scrutinized and dealt with. Conversely, individuals need to foster and pursue relationships that add to one’s happiness and peace of mind.
Healthy food habits – because a typical Lagosian spends large amounts of his time on the roads, he must result to eating out and feed most times on ready-to-eat foods which are laden with unhealthy oils, chemicals and other constituents that can harm one’s health in the long run. Despite the busyness, one must intentionally select what he eats and avoid junk food as much as possible.
Exercise – the bustling life of a Lagosian gives little or no room for exercising. Similarly, there is no sufficient public infrastructure that can encourage such a habit and the cost of accessing private facilities such as gyms may not be affordable for the majority. One must deliberately carve out time weekly to exercise the body affordably like taking a walk, participating in sporting activities in the neighbourhood and using facilities available in public recreational centres and schools for it.
Rest and sleep – many often believe that adequate rest and sleep is a waste of time and should not be given sufficient attention it requires, rest and sleep can be therapeutic and offers us the opportunity to reset, re-energise, reflect, meditate, and take personal accounts of events in one’s life. If given its proper place, it can always set us up for a more productive life.
Doing what you love – in a bid to earn a living, many have sacrificed personal satisfaction and fulfilment for anything that can bring money. People switch careers, jobs and environments just to be able to make more money whereas life is not all about making money. There is a sense of pride one can experience doing what one loves, it also enables one to maximize his impact and position himself as a problem solver.
Having Fun – hanging around with loved ones during social gathering and functions, participation in group recreational activities such as picnic, religious trips and others can be good ways to unwind the Lagos stress and relish the moment. One should not take life too seriously and deprive himself of moments of fun.
To harness the healthy lifestyle that can make living in Lagos a pleasant and enjoyable experience and make one live long comes down to having the right values, intentionality, adequate planning, and execution. Although it may look like an arduous task, it is possible for us to attain it if our priorities are rightly placed.
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