It’s the 21st century, living in Nigeria continues to be no mean feat. In fact, it ranks among the lowest in Africa when it comes to life expectancy and an alarming number of its citizens are living in poverty. It is evident that a lot needs to be done if we are to improve our quality of life as a nation. As an expat, a citizen or someone who plans on staying here for long, staying sane is one challenge you will face more frequently than others.
Like most other things in life, staying sane takes more than just willpower; it takes patience, understanding, planning and outside support. However, there are ways you can stay sane even if your circumstances do not exactly lend themselves towards being sane right now. This article contains seven tips that actually work if you want to stay sane in a country like Nigeria.
A country as vast and diverse as Nigeria presents its own unique set of challenges, not just for the individual but the entire country. From cultural misinterpretations to economic issues, there seems to be no end to it. However, with a little bit of patience, awareness and foresight in planning, anything is possible.
Let’s get down to the solution in these five steps below:
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
This is a tricky one. Asides not being afraid to ask for help, you should know who to ask and when to ask. Let’s look at this scenario. You’re going for a job interview and you have never been to that location especially as someone lining in Nigeria, you should ask for help.
In this case, it would be best to ask a few people and compare their responses. Don’t follow every advice blindly else you might end up spending 5 times what you’d have spent on transportation if you knew where you were going and how to get there
A lot of times people make mistakes or suffer in silence because they didn’t think it was necessary to ask for help. Nigerians are always willing to help, the worst case scenario is getting a NO
Please note that there are a few bad eggs among Nigerians that might want to take advantage of you being in need. Stay woke!
Network, network, network
It doesn’t pay to be a lone ranger. Though, you should mind your business so you don’t get in trouble. Networking cannot be over emphasized and as Tim Sander put it, “Your network is your net worth”. As you meet people, you get to broaden your horizon and also position yourself for opportunities, living in Nigeria is not an excuse not to meet people. Don’t be caught slacking in this regard.
Try new things. Exercise your brain power!
The solution to breaking the cycle of the stress and frustration that comes with living in Nigeria is learning to take care of yourself and trying out new things that will excite you and keep your spirit up. Examples of such are Taking yoga classes, Going to the gym, signing up for a pottery class or any interesting DIY activity.
These activities don’t have to cost you a fortune, you can find inexpensive ways to do them.
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Find a mentor or a counselor
Experience is the best teacher, so they say but we beg to differ. It is true that we humans learn faster by experience but that doesn’t make it the best. While learning by experience is good, as someone living in Nigeria we don’t often talk about dealing with the consequences of your mistakes. You might learn from your experience but need years to recover from the consequence of that experience.
The best way to learn is from other people’s experiences. That will reduce your chances of making a costly mistake by 50% . You should think about where you see yourself in the nearest future and find out people who are there presently that you can learn from.
While it is very good to have a direct mentor, you can learn from these people from afar. Buy their books, follow their stories as they share. As you do all of these, remember that they are only human and they’re capable of making mistakes. So instead of placing them on a high pedestal and getting disappointed about their shortcomings, seek to learn from all their experiences, good and bad
Take care of your health
Regardless of your income status, good health should be a top priority for you. And as you know, prevention is better than cure. Practice healthy-eating habits, drink enough water to stay hydrated and make sure you don’t skip meals, breakfast especially.
Another smart thing to do is getting a health insurance plan. This will help you save on the cost of medical expenses. We don’t offer such service but we can recommend a reliable health insurance provider, if you’re not sure which of them would be best fit for you. Reach out to our certified experts for a free consultation on the best health insurance provider for you
To take these preventive measures a notch further, download the Signal by ERA app from the Google playstore or Appstore.
Conclusion
The Signal by ERA App is a free mobile application for both iOS and Android. It is a healthtech solution by Emergency Response Africa, created to make emergency help easily accessible to Nigerians
Day in, day out, we record cases of preventable deaths in Nigeria. For this to be curbed, we all need to stay ahead by being emergency-ready. With the Signal by ERA App, you can send in a request and get help in 10 minutes or less
If you read this far, you’re on your way to living a secure and worry-free life as a Nigerian.
Kudos!
