A Week Of Sorts

I am often reminded about how much can happen in a week that could be the making or breaking of people or even a nation.

In recent weeks, we have had the US tornadoes leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, then we had the New Zealand floods, mudslides and cyclone Gabrielle. Recently it was the Turkey-Syria earthquakes leaving much devastation and huge loss.

In just a week, families suddenly found themselves without their loved ones, homes or businesses. Hundreds of orphans were created, new life came out of the rubbles and many lives were lost under the rubbles while others got another chance at life as they were brought out of the rubbles.

The survivors were grateful for life and celebrated each life that was brought out; they remained thankful even when it was the lifeless body of a loved one who they could organise a befitting burial for. They still have the physical, financial, emotional and psychological consequences to deal with on the back of a week they didn’t see coming.

In the workplace, at home, when running your own company or business, a week is enough to negatively impact your wellbeing. A wrong decision or outcome, loss of a deal, a poorly executed contract, loss of face, or loss of a loved one can cause even the most together person to completely unravel.

It’s less than a week to the Nigerian elections and the nation has been through the ringer in the weeks leading up to this. Poorly timed currency change and petrol scarcity has hit the nation resulting in untold hardships on all the residents. Depending on who you talk to and believe, we should start to see a reversal of the hardships after the election but the question is, ‘what can happen in the short few weeks until the untold hardships ease?’

Nigerians have already been through all sorts of shenanigans in recent weeks with the country at a tipping or boiling point. We are seeing people’s frustrations result in destruction of banks, businesses and roads. In some extreme scenarios, we have heard of altercations resulting in loss of lives.

We have to consider what can still happen in a week or two. There are some crisis we don’t see coming and can’t prepare for like the Turkey-Syria earthquake but there are those we can see a mile away which give us a chance to be as prepared as we can be.

Unmanaged frustrations can lead to regrettable actions such as destruction of public facilities that will have a knock on impact on everyone. It can lead to loss of lives instantly making criminals of people who are usually about their businesses and it can lead to death for those unable to bear the stress.

So what can we do when we are having a week of sorts?

Assess the situation clearly

This might not be easy to do on your own so speak to people or organisations who can help you separate the chaff from the wheat. Sometimes we are unable to see clearly past the mess and challenges that life presents us with.

Ultimately there is always life after the storm clears and the mess will get cleared up over time. Assessing the situation clearly will stop us from taking premature, drastic and potentially destructive actions.

Manage your emotions

There are some situations we can’t change and the only thing to do is to divert our mental and emotional energy towards how to hang in there whilst we wait for what comes next.

For some of the victims of the earthquake, they must now focus on themselves and their surviving relatives that need to be nursed back to health or the baby that will grow up without a parent or siblings. They must hang on to their faith and believe things will get better with each new day that comes, and they must hope that one day, they will tell the story of how they overcame.

Until you can tell your story, get the support you need to first overcome the immediate challenges.

Plan for the future

Across the world, the devastating effects of the cyclones, hurricanes, earthquakes and mud slides will lessen. People must still see themselves living in those destroyed houses to tap into the desire and resilience to rebuild.

There will still be a future for everyone so we must think about and make plans for that future.

In Nigeria, the election will come and go, new notes will become more accessible, old notes will be swapped and the fuel shortage will less.

Frustrated Nigerians must still see themselves collecting cash from those ATMs and banks which helps us to see that destroying them today is akin to causing ourselves pain by cutting off our nose to spite our face.

Those roads that people want to destroy will be needed once immediate crisis is resolved and that person who we want to attack is a human being who deserves to live even if we are angry with them.

I hope you get through your ‘week of sorts’ in one piece; thanks for reading and sharing my post. Happy new week.