VALUABLE FEEDBACK ON HOW TO HANDLE DOWN TIMES

I recently wrote a viral article on why down times are good and all the people who read it have given me feedback about how it came in at the time when they needed it the most and it was one of the most fulfilling things for me ever. That I heed the call at that particular point in time to be a calming voice to people’s tormented minds. However, I got responses from my readers that I find useful and you can all learn from.

“I’m taking a course about lifestyle medicine now and one of the things they emphasize that people need to manage apart from diet and physical activity is stress.

I remember someone who was a lecturer here but she was also in tech and she kept coming for different symptoms and the kept treating her but she kept coming and she had real symptoms. We were talking and I began to enquire about her work and personal life and she told me how she works continuously, she works till late in school and goes home to continue on her laptop. Most of the friends she had were work-related. So I told her no more treatment. I told her to go and play. Watch movies, visit your relations, the ones who have children, run around and play with them. Don’t do any extra work for 1 week.

She told me later that when she left, she was wondering what kind of doctor this guy is. But she tried it and her symptoms disappeared and she didn’t need to keep coming every months or 2 weeks. There’s something that keeps driving young people in urban areas to keep going and going. Spend in a way that they can’t have enough money to rest. So they’re always on the edge and there’s always a need to catch up with something. Even sometimes, the activities that ought to be relaxing in Lagos will still give stress. Either traffic to and fro or the cost of the activity will make the person work harder later.”

Dr. Opeyemi Emoruwa

I think that the above response is valuable because even medically, you need rest and you have to be intentional about taking it, it might be the cure for that quietly stroke developing.

“I think it helps to have personal projects.”

When Hajarat said this, I remember when I was on a compulsory leave from work. Initially, I thought this would be a great time to make some more money but I quickly took the money making pressure off and focused on the personal projects that I had pending and I was able to move them forward, some I even concluded.

Hajarat Alli — Writer

“The thought of bills hanging over an average person might be responsible for d anxiety to get something doing every now and then. But thank you for reminding us to hush and live life.”

Martins Omonayin — Lecturer

The thing with bills is that whether you think about them or not, they’ll happen and you have to pay them, however, if you are not working, what good does worrying do?

“It’s often a long streak for the freelancer. That’s true and for some writers when the gig comes writer’s block sets in. But rightly said… It’s ok to lay back and enjoy every moment of your downtime…”

Henry Ereyomi — Writer

Hmmm… good ol’ writing. There are different ways to tackle writer’s block. Relaxing is still a good way to tackle any kind of creative block. Leave it for a while, experience something different and you’ll find inspiration in unexpected places.