I learnt how to drive in Germany and got my driver's licence in 2002. It was a skill I promised myself I would get when I am in Europe because I heard my aunties accusing my mum of not learning how to drive while she was there. Having positive peer pressure was also an advantage, I and my friends kept encouraging one another to get it.
Anyway when I got to Nigeria in 2009 I couldn't drive. I had driven a car about 4 times from the time I got my licence until I got back to Nigeria.....by the way, even after getting the licence I was scared of driving. I remember when I was taking practical driving lessons in Germany, I would feel like kissing the floor once I got out of the driver's seat.....
So fast forward, I'm back home in Nigeria, with a European driver's licence and I can't drive...my husband just couldn't understand why. Oh and by the way, I even had issues walking in Lagos. I used to take long walks to and from work in the city of London for at least 40 minutes each way. I thought I could do the same in Lagos....well I could to a certain extent.....I had to brace myself.... everything na hussle for dis Lagos o..... you'd understand if you live and work in Lagos. Lagos is so fast paced.... everyone is in a hurry, pedestrians, motorbikes, tricycles, cars, buses.... everyone claims right of way... it's crazy. It's not long before there's an accident somewhere, even if it's a slight brush up..... Anyways.....I found it really difficult to walk not to talk of driving.
But at some point I had to ask myself if it was really just the hustle and bustle that made me scared of driving or something deeper. I mean, if my husband did not have time to drive me somewhere, I could be stuck. Not that I couldn't take public transport. Or imagine my husband travels, the car is nicely parked and I go out to take public transportation. This happened many times. It was worse when I had children and we would walk passed the car and go take a bus, then it rains and we're stuck. I pitied myself and my children in situations like that.
After a little reflection, I realised it had to do with my mind set as well. I am on the small side in terms of stature and my size really deceived me, it still does sometimes. But my thinking was , 'what is this small girl doing at the stirring wheel?" I think I saw a few smallish ladies like me driving and that was my reaction towards them, so automatically that was my reaction towards myself. So I had to change my mind set and begin to see that driving was not a luxury, status or stature thing but a necessity and I took control of the stirring wheel. Now I've been driving for close to 5 years.
Why am I writing this? I have seen some women who are where I used to be. Their husbands drive them to Church and if he has to stay for a meeting, they either wait for about 3 hours doing nothing or he takes them home earlier..... it's such a burden on both parties as well as the children. Since I started driving, I can go out with my children whenever we want to and my husband is happy to take a bus as long he doesn't need to go out when he is not ready. We have a driver now, but we're not stuck.....
So if you are there where I used to be, I want to encourage you to do some reflection.....ask yourself why something that cannot talk or move without you taking control should scare you. Overcome your our fears and take control of it. I tell you, driving gives you a sense of freedom and the more you do it, you get used to it. It's not like your fears will disappear immediately....I used to have diarrhoea for an hour before I'm set to go out, and I would almost give up going altogether....somewhere along the line it stopped. I even hit a car once but I wouldn't let it stop me. Oh and I drove into a gutter as well. But I kept going.
So you go girl....face your fears.... till next time
Ciao
The Life and Times of a Homemaker
Thursday 26 April 2018
Friday 27 January 2017
Perfectionism....do you suffer from this?
I always want to write something, there's so much going on in my head which seems good to share, but I'm always looking for a perfect time and place, a perfect mood also. And so I end up not writing at all. And I haven't written in over a year....wow!
Perfectionism is a big problem for me, how about you.
How many business ideas have you had that you haven't even spoken to anyone about because you feel you have got it all figured out? You keep procrastinating because the circumstances are not perfect. Look dear, the circumstances will never be perfect so stop looking for perfection.
It's time to get the job done! No more excuses! Take a step, fall, get bruised, then get up and try again. You can only do it better the next time round. But how do you know what could go wrong and what to avoid next time if you don't even try?
So dear reader if you've got something on your mind to do and you're scared because you think it won't come out perfect, find someone to talk to, someone who will encourage. If you don't have a chief encourager, be of good courage....do it afraid, just do it!..
Ciao for now
F
Perfectionism is a big problem for me, how about you.
How many business ideas have you had that you haven't even spoken to anyone about because you feel you have got it all figured out? You keep procrastinating because the circumstances are not perfect. Look dear, the circumstances will never be perfect so stop looking for perfection.
It's time to get the job done! No more excuses! Take a step, fall, get bruised, then get up and try again. You can only do it better the next time round. But how do you know what could go wrong and what to avoid next time if you don't even try?
So dear reader if you've got something on your mind to do and you're scared because you think it won't come out perfect, find someone to talk to, someone who will encourage. If you don't have a chief encourager, be of good courage....do it afraid, just do it!..
Ciao for now
F
Wednesday 21 January 2015
In Response to Taiwo Akinlami's Hard Choices pt 1
Taiwo Akinlami is a
Child Protection expert in Nigeria and he recently wrote post titled Hard
Choices (18/01/15). Now if you have ever
read his posts, he could be called a poet, I just love how he writes and even
speaks. To get the full gist of what he
wrote I refer you to his post https://taiwoakinlami.wordpress.com/2015/01/18/hard-choices
I am however going to go through each of
his points here so you can see the hard choices I have made, where I am
struggling and what I am learning along the way.
First choice: To have children or not to. As he puts it, “gone are those days when we
have children for any other reason than being ready to effectively protect and
raise them properly, knowing what to do per time, how and when to do it and the
fortitude to do it”.
My answer and my
choice: Unfortunately, I don’t think those days are gone at all. When I was much younger (under ten years old)
I thought I would have ten children because I love children (babies
really). When I was in my teens I
stopped at two, especially when I watched someone in labour on TV, at some
point I even thought I wouldn't put myself through the pain of labour, I would
rather adopt. In my early 20s I felt I
was a total mess and wouldn't make a good mother. Besides the world was just so cruel, why
would anyone want to bring forth children in such a world?
Now if I wasn’t going
to have children would there be any need to get married? Nah…Marriage wasn’t an option for me at all. I was going to be a career woman and not
bother some poor dude out there with who I was; I really was a mental and
emotional mess at the time. However we
grow and we develop and change and along the line I met my best friend and
husband and nothing was going to stop me from marrying him. Well with marriage comes the - should I call
it - natural instinct to want to have children.
Of course, the prayers that came my way then were for me to have lots children. My husband and I were living in different
continents early on in our marriage so having children was not on our
minds. I wasn’t going to raise children
as if I was a single parent when I wasn’t.
However family and friends alike were profusely praying for us and
asking if all was well.
However I continue to
advice couples not to have children immediately you get married. Take out sometime to enjoy and know each
other and in the process prepare the home for the new arrivals that will
eventually come. I cannot say that I
could totally be as articulate as TA states; I took it for granted that I should
be ready to protect and raise them. And
this is the mainstream attitude to having children; like me I see so many
people out there who just want to get married and have children because that is
the way of the world; that’s what society demands, after all the Bible says “be
fruitful and multiply”. Not too many
people are asking what to be fruitful in or what to multiply. This is just translated that you have many
children. It is the economic situation
around the world that is putting some sense to the amount of children people
have these days. So “almost” gone are
those days when couples had 6 – 10 children.
But are people sincerely
asking the fundamental questions TA states?
“What
is the purpose of multiplication, is it to achieve population or dominion, is
life a game of numbers or a game of dominion through values, etc?”
I’ll be honest; I did
not deeply think about that when I was going to have children. It was after I gave birth to my first child
that the task ahead really dawned on me.
There were aspects of my upbringing that I felt should have been done
better and I had to determine to do that for my children. When my 10 month old son picked up his plate
after eating and took it to the kitchen, it really dawned on me that he was
copying what he saw, then I had to start thinking of what I wanted him to
copy. Had I articulated my personal
values before I started having children?
Nope. It was when I was pregnant that
I got hold of some leadership books and I started reading. Application became the next step and I am
still developing. Luckily my children
are still very young, so as I develop I can model what I want them to copy from
me.
If you had the
patience to get to the end of this post, please do follow the continuation
where I will continue with the next Hard Choices by TA
Have a beautiful day
From the Homemaker....
Sunday 18 January 2015
Mrs Madonna Poulagha Porbeni (nee Afekafe)
The Porbeni Matriarch
said good night on January 8 2014. I didn't even get to say good bye apart from me calling her on New Year’s Day
promising to spend the weekend with her.
She was my grandmother, such a beautiful woman. A homemaker par excellence! In her honour, I present her as the homemaker
of the month of January.
The very first time I
met her I called her aunty. My
perception of grandmother meant that she had to be old. I met her when she was in her sixties but she
looked so young, there was no way she could be my grandma. So I kept going to my grand-dad’s first wife’s
room thinking she was my grandma. In a
way she was, wasn't she? In case you are
wondering what I am talking about, in my grandma’s time polygamy seemed to be
the order of the day, so my grandma was my grandpa’s third wife and she was by
his side till the end of his life. My
grandparents celebrated their 58th year anniversary in the year I
got married, that was in 2006. I have a
picture of them in my living room and I hold it up as a milestone to beat
should God give us grace to see beyond that time.
Oma, as she was fondly
called which is German for grandma, was a homemaker; it was the norm in her
days. She told me she had wanted to be a
nurse and she would have trained in the United Kingdom but my granddad could
not leave her because there was nowhere to leave his beautiful wife. Even in their old age my Opa did not like to
leave her to go out on her own (smile).
She was a trained seamstress and she upheld very high standards till her
old age. I did not really get to see her
work because by the time I met her she had stopped sewing due to her failing eye
sight. But the indications were there
that she was very good at what she did.
I remember her sending me to her tailor to sew something for her, she
had cut the material already to the length and style she wanted and given
specific instructions on what to do. Now
only someone who knew the trade well could do that. Then she was always looking out for new
styles and checking out what the younger generation was wearing and probably
seeing how she could adapt the styles to her age.
My Oma was fashionable
to the very end of her life. On Saturday
she would have picked out her outfit ready for church the next day; double
wrappers to match the head tie and a lovely blouse to go. Her jewellery as well as her shoes and bag
had to go well with what she wore.
As a person she was
really lovely, loving and caring. She
never forgot a birthday even my children’s birthdays and she always called me
on my wedding anniversary. I remember
when I had my first child, I had him on a Tuesday and she took a cab to my
house on Saturday to see me. She put me
on her lap and cuddled me before she saw the baby (my eyes are welling up with
tears as I write this).
How I miss you so, my
wonderful Oma. When I found out my
daughter had clubfoot, I couldn’t tell her because I knew she would be
worried. She eventually found out and
she really was worried. She was sorry
that I had to go through the whole stress of my daughter’s treatment. However, my daughter started walking in December
2013 and she was overjoyed to see her walk.
The last time I went to spend the weekend with her in December she was
seriously playing with my little children and it was such a heart-warming sight
to see. She had not long before gone for
a cataract removal so she could see them clearly.
My Oma, I miss you so
much and I love you dearly…..
Thursday 8 January 2015
To thyself be true....
I cannot overemphasize on the difficulty of being a stay at home homemaker. Imagine all your degree certificates gathering dust and you've probably lost confidence of getting a job.....As I said, staying home doesn't have to last forever it's all about time and seasons; a time to stay at home and take care of the family and a time to build a career. It does take some planning though.
So a few years ago, I am beginning to itch. I need to get out and do something and I do have something in my head about what I would like to do, only it's not going to raise any funds in the short term. Then while I am thinking about it I get a call for a job offer. Wow! Without applying anywhere someone out there thinks I am capable enough to do this job. It sounded exciting so why not give it a try? I go on trip to Abuja leaving my breastfeeding baby at home with my mum for a few days and I go for training to start the job.
I loved everything the organisation stood for and that should have been enough reason to do the job right? Well not quite. It just wasn't my thing to be honest. This was a kind of organisation I would support if had the money but the job was showing more of my weaknesses than my strengths. That wasn't a confidence builder at all.
To be honest, I did not feel I could do it from the outset, so why did I take the job in the first place? I was thinking of what people would think of me if I didn't take the job. "Lazy homemaker, she just doesn't want to do anything.. Can you imagine she got a job just by sitting at home while there are so many people who would die for the same opportunity". I remember speaking with my best friend who said just that. "You are just being lazy and whinny". I also thought of the much needed funds that would come to me. So why not take up the challenge I told myself.
I lasted only two and a half months doing the job. I didn't do it as I ought and I was not happy with myself. There is dignity in labor goes the saying. I had some nice cash but I wasn't proud of getting it because I did not think I had earned it.
So what is the the lesson to be learnt here. You will leave home in due course but don't rush at the first job that comes your way, it might not be yours and you'll be really unhappy at it. It's not all about money you know. You want to do something that you will enjoy doing and feel proud about doing as well. Never mind what people are going say or think. Either way, people will always talk and they are entitled to their opinions and you are entitled to your happiness.
My dear homemaker, be true to yourself and forget about the wagging tongues......
Until next time, stay blessed
Happy New Year from the Homemaker.....
Hello lovely readers,
Such an inconsistent 2014 it was
on my part by not writing to you as regularly as I hoped to. It’s now a New Year and like many of you I
have New Year resolutions, one being that I want to send out at least one blog
post a week. This is Thursday now so I am
still on track, but to really keep on track I got myself an accountability
partner, someone who has given me a gentle reminder on what I asked her to hold
me accountable for. So this
accountability partner thing is already paying off because I know she won’t
keep off my back. My advice to you dear
reader is that if you want to get things done this year, it might be wise to
speak to someone about it and let the person hold you accountable. Then there would be a higher possibility of
you surpassing your target than if you only said it to yourself.
As you can see, I have
inadvertently asked you to hold me accountable by telling you what my target is
and I am thanking you in advance for your support.
Lots going on this year in
Nigeria; we are expecting to go to elections in February so that will be really
exciting to see. My heart goes out to my
fellow homemakers up North, particularly in the Boko Haram troubled areas, who
homemaking is being made precarious for.
All in all I can only pray and
hope for the very best for my fellow citizens and my country as a whole. Here’s a promise to keep in touch this year
by God’s grace and with the help of my very special accountability partners.
God Bless
H
Wednesday 8 October 2014
"Housewives watch TV all day" says Consat
I came across this advert by Consat where the idea they are trying to push is that they have something interesting to show round the clock however it shows come kind of prejudice. The central role in the advert is the housewife who is seen at every point watching TV from 9.30am to 9.20pm. Let's do a bit of a breakdown here;
9.30am Mum has finished school-runs, probably has breakfast and then sits to watch TV.
1.30pm She is still watching TV while she receives her guest
4.00pm After school-runs she is watching TV with her children
7.00pm They have probably had dinner and they still are watching TV
9.20pm Dad is back and the whole family is watching TV
I don't have an issue with watching TV, and there are sometimes when I feel like it I follow some series but to show that a housewife has nothing better to do with her time than to watch TV all day is rather offensive.
I am sure there are some people who do that, not only women and that, in my opinion, is a sign of depression. If as a housewife you spend all your time watching TV you clearly don't have a vision for your life, please check yourself, time and tide wait for no housewife.
As for Consat, please change that advert. That is a very lazy portayal of your creativity.
9.30am Mum has finished school-runs, probably has breakfast and then sits to watch TV.
1.30pm She is still watching TV while she receives her guest
4.00pm After school-runs she is watching TV with her children
7.00pm They have probably had dinner and they still are watching TV
9.20pm Dad is back and the whole family is watching TV
I don't have an issue with watching TV, and there are sometimes when I feel like it I follow some series but to show that a housewife has nothing better to do with her time than to watch TV all day is rather offensive.
I am sure there are some people who do that, not only women and that, in my opinion, is a sign of depression. If as a housewife you spend all your time watching TV you clearly don't have a vision for your life, please check yourself, time and tide wait for no housewife.
As for Consat, please change that advert. That is a very lazy portayal of your creativity.
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