‘Little drops of water make a mighty ocean’. Despite an excessive want and desire to be financially free, we have still obeyed the laws, set new goals and kept afire our hope because surely amidst the storm, the tide would be calm. A rich man is not necessarily successful even though society identifies riches as the main ingredient to success. Mind you! Success is not the same as riches even though riches is a relative term. Telling us that ‘oppression is a choice contentment is a must’. The privileged may cook up criticism for want and our bloodthirsty desire to succeed. Need has been thrown out the window because it only makes us look blind and less imaginative. Some in the right direction, others to incarceration. But what we should care about is the struggle, perseverance and faith. We even cherish it more if it covers our basic needs. The smell of new clothes and the feel of new cars. The sound of swaddling cash and jostling coins. But you’re alive to tell it and revel in the positives of your struggle. We ask ourselves, ‘is it worth it, burning my soul every day?’ It probably isn’t. These circumstances poke constantly at our humanity giving us a rethink. It was your sick father calling for some money to pay the hospital bill. You spoke under your breath ‘Aye mi! Temi bami’. The humongous crowd you met put you in a room where people cut onions for party ‘Jollof’. You dashed out to the ATMs in your neighbourhood to withdraw transport fare to work. You remembered that you were cash-strapped. Of course, you’re a churchgoer but not a Christian.

You had a nightmare, the dreaded village masquerade chased you with a cane. In an isolated scenario, you had previously slept in the heat, hungry and tired. We face challenges in stern competition with personal ones. This creates societal class levels but also shows us the need to coexist in synergy to achieve common goals. A rich man making poor decisions would require a poorer man full of ideas. Life gives different meanings but teaches similar lessons. But we weathered the storm and washed up ashore. We hear stories similar to our predicament which all ended in agony, tears or death – echoes of hope forgone.

We conformed to each situation without warning or prior knowledge. And in other cases, lush green land with the sunshine at its peak. At some point, we thought of everything as a 1927 locomotive – dilapidated, dead. We said to ourselves, ‘I’ll calm my storm or die trying’ albeit individually. The steering wheels of bad circumstances may have been steered in our direction at some point, killing some, injuring others. We have been engineered to survive, hope and believe. This exposes the things that make us human. This is about form, mental energy and endurance.

This is not about dumbbells and gym classes.

You are stronger than you know