Funke was confused. She couldn’t leave the job after waiting so long to get it, but her mom and sisters kept telling her to quit. They were right, though; her health is at stake, and any sane person would say the same given what she experienced the month before as a result of stress.
The maddening Lekki traffic coming all the way from Ibeju-lekki to Lekki Phase 1 with public transport was no joke. It was one of the major sources of her stressors. And to think she made this hectic journey five days a week in the past eight months without having to complain is still a mystery. Her focus has been on the money she will earn at the end of every month. Then the demands of the job were also there. Her job description entailed looking for sponsors for her organisation's summit. Her bosses breath down her neck and scream threats. This would give anyone high blood pressure on a normal day. But Funke had cheated it all until that fateful day. Her elder sister, Bose had experienced first hand how stress could alter one's health and wellbeing.
Funke collapsed to the floor with seizures, her body jerking uncontrollably with eyes rolling back. Every member of her family was gripped with fear. They had never experienced anything like this before. Thankfully it happened at home on a Sunday, just as she was preparing for the early morning mass. She was quickly rushed to the hospital. As they carried her from the wheelchair onto the bed, she was too weak to speak. The frightened faces of her mom and sisters surrounding her bed made her mouth bitter and her heart sink.
Funke had left her husband behind in Akure and took her two daughters to Lagos in search of better opportunities. Things had been rough back in Akure, where she had lived with her husband and kids for almost ten years now. She and her husband had envisaged that moving to Lagos could help her get the opportunity she needed to support her husband and family. It would be easier for her as her mom and sisters own a home in Lagos. Her husband would later join her when she got settled. It seemed like a perfect plan.
Now Funke pondered her options: continue and risk the seizure happening again and maybe in an inconvenient place like in the office or worse still, on the road. Or leave the job and do what? She knew she couldn’t go back to Akure, that was not an option. She had mouths to feed and school fees to pay. Getting the job was not easy in the first place; the struggle and the pleading just to be able to scrape the barrel. But she had to consider her health and wonder what all of it would be for if she died. Who would care for her kids? She knew she just had to trust God.
She mustered the courage to let go of the job after giving it thought for about two weeks. In fact, what gave her the courage to do so was something she read somewhere that "sometimes you have to let go to bring in the new, you have to let go for new things to find you or for you to see what is right in front of you". The thought of disappointment on her uncle’s face, who had called in favours to get her the job, made her cringe.
With fresh ideas spinning in her head, Funke took a new approach to hustle for a better life. She took stock of her strengths and weaknesses. She uncovered the many skills she had garnered over the years. She enrolled in online courses to upgrade herself, and in a few months, she was a certified customer relationship manager. She started using what she had learnt immediately, offering business advice to her uncle, whom she had disappointed earlier. Thank God he was understanding. With her newfound confidence and skills, she was also able to market herself to other companies and handle the responsibilities from home. In a short time, Funke was able to settle properly and her husband came to join her.
By letting go and taking a step back, she was able to see herself and what was right in front of her and use it all to her advantage.