HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2021 IS HERE! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ODI

 Hello hi,

It’s 2021, yay! Happy new year to us all. I’m so grateful to be here. As we all know, 2020 had lots of unprecedented events but by God’s grace, we are here now in 2021. I'd like to thank you all for your support this year - thanks for joining my IG live sessions, watching my Youtube videos and reading my blog and stories. I'm really grateful.

As usual today is my younger sister, Odi’s birthday; so this post is dedicated to her. I would have written a poem or story but I’m half asleep so I’ll say a short prayer. I pray for God to continue to guide her every step, direct her path, make a way for her where ever she goes, and guard and protect her. May the Good Lord grant her favour, peace, and success all the days of her life. Amen.

And to us all, I pray that 2021 brings us great tidings, growth, and great health by God’s grace. Amen. Have a blessed year, Cheers!

PS - Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel (Vivio Gogo) and follow me on Instagram @ugochiukah and @lavivisblog, and on twitter @vivio_gogo 

 

COMPLIMENTS OF THE SEASON 2020! MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND HAPPY BOXING DAY

Hello hi, compliments of the season! I hope you are having a wonderful season and taking some time to rest and celebrate with family. Today is Boxing day; my father told me that it is called so because traditionally you ‘un-box’ your Christmas presents the day after Christmas. I believe it’s to avoid the feeling of the presents taking over the ‘actual meaning’ of Christmas (just my opinion 😊). Anyway, I’m sure everyone who got presents has already unwrapped them since yesterday, ha ha. If you did not get any presents, just remember that being here today, especially in the climate of 2020, is the greatest gift from God!

So do you have any Christmas traditions? Typically, my family would go to the village for Christmas and we would all eat rice and chicken, while wearing our Christmas clothes. However, nobody travelled this year and I neither ate rice nor chicken, although I ate some delicious groundnut soup with poundo yam that a friend made for me :P. I was speaking to one of my brothers and he said I did not celebrate Christmas, no rice, no Christmas, lol. But I wore Christmas attire and he did not; so for me, he was the one that did not celebrate Christmas. Ha ha.

Sometimes, I think we get carried away with all the festivities and forget that Christmas is about the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We celebrate this day because without the birth of Christ, there would have been no death, and without the death of Jesus Christ, we Christians believe that we would not have been saved. So, this is a time to be grateful and to show love and care to others. Try to be generous – you can share your food, your time, your voice, your energy etc. with others. Remember that many people are alone during this period and while you may not be able to visit them because of COVID-19, you can give them a call or leave a nice note or chocolates at their door. Don’t forget to say a prayer for your loved ones and for those who are ill, lonely, or suffering. And no matter what may have happened this year, do not give up hope. By God’s grace, everything will be well.

Take good care and have a happy holiday season. Xoxo - UVU

PS - Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel (Vivio Gogo) and follow me on Instagram @ugochiukah and @lavivisblog, and on twitter @vivio_gogo 

 

 

HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!

 Hello hi,

It's thanksgiving today in Canada. So that means a public holiday and lots of turkey for many families - and of course being grateful, which is the most important part. I'm about to munch on my delicious fried rice and chicken :) so this is going to be a super short post (See pictures below). I even fried chicken, which I don't remember the last time I did because I've been grilling since I started living by myself.; I did not make turkey but that's fine, next year.

Funny thing is that I have never actually "celebrated" thanksgiving in Canada because of work (I know it's a holiday but there's always a deadline around the corner) and my family does not live around me. However, this is going to be my last year of not celebrating large and with a family, by God's grace. With everything that has happened this year, I cannot help but be super grateful to God for keeping me and my family till this day and for all His provisions. I'm also thankful for all the free food I get, hee hee, and for laughter, good health, friends, love, and so much more that I cannot begin to count. How about you? What are you thankful for?

Happy thanksgiving and God bless,

XOXO

UVU

PS - Feel free to follow me on Instagram @ugochiukah and @lavivisblog and on twitter @vivio_gogo 

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO NIGERIA

 Hello hi,

Just writing a short note to wishing Nigeria a happy 60th independence day. We gained our independence from Great Britain on the 1st of October 1960. My prayer for Nigeria is:

May she grow taller and wiser

Greener and more fruitful

Get rid of evil and corruption

Develop a good discerning spirit

Join the league of other countries

With basics amenities of life such as

Free water, health care, constant electricity

Good educational system and gender equality shall be hers

May She know peace and progress

And forget insecurity and division

At the end, May She know God and truly become the giant of Africa. Amen.

Happy 60th birthday Nigeria!

xoxo. UVU

You should not date them!

WhatsApp group etiquette (part 1)

Phone number etiquette

GHOSTS OF ALMOST BOYFRIENDS

 Hello hi,

Welcome back to my blog. I hope you have been doing great and keeping safe. Today, I wrote a 'short' story. I hope you like it!

GHOSTS OF ALMOST BOYFRIENDS

You know what they say “nearly cannot kill a bird” but Nkechi could almost swear that these guys were nearly her boyfriends. The first one was Emeka (typical name for an “Igbo angel” right?).

It was 2004; Nkechi was a fresh woman at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She was excited to experience life and love, having just graduated from an only girls’ boarding secondary school. Nkechi and her friend, Kemi had been standing on the balcony of their hostel one evening, completely bored. Suddenly, Kemi had an idea.

“Enkay, let’s fool around a bit.”

‘What do you mean?” Nkechi asked suspiciously. Kemi always had something mischievous up her sleeves.

“You know I’m currently using the phone that my brother dashed me and he did not remove his contacts before giving it to me.”

‘So?” Nkechi raised her right eyebrow.

“How about we flash different guy’s numbers and see who would call us back.”

“Erm, I’d rather not…what would we say if they called us back?”

‘Nothing serious. We would just flirt with them.” Kemi giggled; she was already excited, a feeling that Nkechi did not share at the moment.

“It’s just for fun, don’t be so uptight. C’mon!” Kemi pulled Nkechi.

“What if somebody calls the police? I don’t want to get into any trouble”

“Which police? Are they not guys? Once they hear a fine female voice, they’ll cave in. You can use this to practice your flirting. Trust me, you’ll thank me later’

And that was how Nkechi met Emeka. Emeka was a third year student at Nnamdi Azikwe University, not too far away from her University. He was the first guy to call back and they spent the rest of the night talking, thanks to free MTN midnight calls then. She was surprised at how pleasant their conversation was and before the end of their first phone call, both of them declared “like” for each other. Ofcourse she updated Kemi, who had also found herself a talking partner. That night had been fruitful for sure!

Nkechi and Emeka became hooked with each other really quickly, especially for people who had never met. They spoke every night such that it pissed off Nkechi’s roommate and she had to always move to the balcony and forfeit half of her sleep. Naturally, they became eager to meet each other and Emeka decided to make their dream come true. He was finally going to be visiting the next weekend, after a month and half of daily phone calls and text messages. Nkechi and all her friends were excited. They made her up for the dinner and for the first time in her life, she wore contact lenses out of peer-pressure. Nonetheless, she looked great and even Emeka could not stop staring when he met her.

“You’re even more beautiful than I imagined” he said, taking her hands into his. He was also a good looking guy, not drop dead gorgeous, but good enough. By the end of the dinner, he took her back to the front of her hostel; it was past visiting hours so he could not come in. He hugged her tightly, gave her a kiss on the forehead and whispered that he would come back another time for a proper kiss. “Soon, I promise” those were his words. It had been the most romantic night Nkechi had ever had.

The next day, Emeka did not call. She knew he was travelling back to his school so she sent him a message but he did not respond. She called at night, again no response. Maybe he was asleep, she shrugged. Two days, three days, one week…still no phone calls, no replies to her message, nothing! Was his phone stolen? Nkechi began to wonder. But if it were, why were her calls going through? Typically, thieves discarded the phone line or turned off the stolen phones. Did he have a car accident on his way back? Nkechi was beginning to get worried. She begged Kemi to ask her brother if Emeka was okay; Kemi had been reluctant because she did not want her brother to find out about their games. Eventually, Kemi came back with news – Emeka was well and alive! So why was he ignoring her? What happened? Nkechi began to replay the night of their meeting in her head but could not figure out what could have gone wrong. His sudden disappearance was a mystery to her. She felt sad and missed their conversations. It took her some months to get over him and maybe even longer to forget his phone number, which she had mastered.

It was 2010. Nkechi had finished her undergraduate studies and was applying for a graduate program while doing her NYSC. She went to a nearby cybercafé to scan a document to a prospective school and while the café guy was scanning, she decided to check her Facebook for updates. She saw a friend request from somebody named “Emy Diogu”; his face looked familiar so she accepted the request even though she could not place where she knew him from. Her new Facebook friend started chatting with her immediately:

“Hey long time babe! How have you been?

“I’m okay thanks. I’m sorry but I don’t remember you exactly” Nkechi replied.

He seemed surprised and almost upset that she did not remember him. He then reminded her of who he was, - the very same Emeka from 5 years ago! It was then that Nkechi realized that she never knew his surname and she must have repressed her memory so much to forget about him. She was not sure of how to react so she barely typed anything. Emeka proceeded to ask her how she had been, where she was, and asked if they could meet. They fixed a date and Nkechi went to meet him. She was curious to know what had happened before he disappeared. She hoped that he would offer some explanation but he did not. He just chatted as if they had been chatting throughout the five years. Nkechi could not understand his attitude; it was either that he had suffered a five year amnesia or he thought she was stupid. She could not hold it in anymore and asked why he had disappeared.

“Oh!”, he started off as if it was nothing, “My girlfriend back then found out about us and got really jealous so I had to cut off.”

Nkechi was so startled that she was speechless for a few minutes.

“Your girlfriend? You had a girlfriend and you never told me?”

“You never asked me.” Emeka replied calmly.

Nkechi was furious. It was true that she never asked him but she did not think she needed to; how could someone with a girlfriend speak to her all night, every night for over a month and not even mention it? If her memory wasn’t failing her, she believed he had even told her he was falling in love with her. She tried to refrain from yelling at him whilst he gave his rebuttal. He claimed that he was having relationship issues then and was truly falling in love with her and became scared to break off his relationship. Nothing he said made sense to her. Eventually, Nkechi had had enough and was ready to leave.

“Wait, but now I’m single. How about we give us another chance?” Emeka asked.

Nkechi glared at him; “You must be a joker!” she said and with that she never spoke to him again. This time around, she decided not to even think about the situation anymore; he was just one weirdo.

That was her thought until something similar happened to her again. This time around, it was Uche. He even said he was going to marry her and was going to come visit her the following week from England. His flight never arrived. The next year she bumped into him, the story was almost the same as Emeka’s. Argh, a second weird guy, she shook her head.

And then it happened a third time. Was she possessed? She wondered. How could these guys be coming and disappearing? She spoke to a friend about it and that was when she found out that it was more common than she thought. A few years later, she found out that it was called “ghosting”; literally like someone disappearing. The phenomenon never made sense to her but at least she was better prepared if it ever happened to her again, and surely it did. Countless guys - Nnamdi, Ifeanyi, Chukwudi, Wale, Peter, Mike; by these times, she did not even bother to call the guys once she did not hear from them. Whenever they came back with some meaningless explanations, she would sit, smile and say nothing. After a while, and she had gathered more than enough information about the pattern. Three things were common:

1) There was always someone else,

2) They claimed they had fallen in love so fast that they were scared of their feelings,

3) They always tried to blame her for something.

Although there was no way she could really avoid being ghosted in the future, she vowed henceforth not to ever waste any more emotions or time on a ‘ghoster’. Therefore, she decided to stop giving them an audience on their return; after all, they had never really been her boyfriends.

Thank you very much for reading my post. Please comment and let me know if you have been ghosted before or know anyone who has been, or if you have ghosted anyone before - I’d like to know J Also, please check out my YouTube video here on how to deal with "ghosters' and don't forget to share this post. Don’t forget to keep visiting my blog and follow my Instagram page @lavivsblog and twitter @vivio_gogo for more updates (my main Instagram page is @ugochiukah). Also, please SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel here. Until next time, please try to stay coronavirus free and have a great week. 

God bless. Xoxo.

HAPPY NEW MONTH/CANADA DAY - A FRUITY PEER-PRESSURE

Hello hi,

Happy new month to every one! Happy Canada day to Canadians and happy moving day to Quebecers. I hope everyone is doing well and keeping safe. I see a lot of people are out these days but unfortunately, the COVID19 pandemic is not yet over, although thankfully we are still here. So let us continue to keep safe measures such as socially distancing ourselves, staying 6 feet apart from each other, and avoiding crowds.

Today I am writing about something different and special to me which I have titled:

A FRUITY PEER-PRESSURE

Me wearing red and white in honour of Canada day (Fun facts - I took these photos by myself)  

My classic smoothie

Often times when we hear the term ‘peer-pressure’, we think of it as something negative, for example joining a cult/bad gang, picking up bad habits such as smoking or doing drugs, etc. However, that does not always have to be the case; peer-pressure could just be for something fun or even something positive. For me, if the pressure is not going to cause me any harm, physically/ health-wise, I might give it a try. Personally, I am not one easily influenced by others because I have a strong will of my own. Nonetheless, the few times that I have been ‘pressured’, either by peers or by myself because I saw peers doing something, have led to very good experiences for me. For example, I do not like hiking - I call it unnecessary ‘suffer-head’ (going through stress for nothing) but I have hiked several times including up the Lion’s Head Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. Now this mountain is almost 700 metres above sea-level and I am also scared of heights but I did it because my colleagues were doing it during one of our conference trips and I did not want to feel left out.  You may ask – what was the benefit? Well, for one I did a heck of an exercise (it took over an hour for me to get close to the top) and two, the view was gorgeous even though I kept imagining myself falling into the river. LOL.

I have had other good experiences from peer-pressure including trying out winter sports e.g. skating and skiing, and ballroom dancing (which I now love), but there is one ‘pressure’ in particular that has stuck with me for a long time. If you ever watch my Instagram live videos or any of my social media stories, you will almost always see me drinking something and more often than not, I would be drinking a smoothie. Yes, I started this from peer-pressure and now I make and drink smoothies every week. So how did this happen? This started some years ago during one of my studies; I had a colleague who always drank smoothies on Tuesdays. We (all our colleagues) would sit together during lunch in the office kitchen and I would watch him with admiration as he sipped his drink and ate his yoghurt, while I sipped on soda or some Frappuccino.

“You always eat some healthily, I wish I could be like you” I would say to him.

He usually smiled and responded with thanks but week after week, I would say the same thing to him until one day he replied:

“But what is stopping you from making smoothies?”  

That was actually the first time I ever thought of the fact that I could easily make smoothies by myself and that I did not have a real barrier. However, I did not want to come across as being lazy, so I responded by saying that I did not have a blender. I was not lying although this was not a very good reason and I suspected that his follow-up question would be “Why don’t you have one?”

But instead of criticizing me, this colleague started telling me about how a shop was having great sales at that moment, including blenders being sold at less than half-price. Voila! I did not have an excuse anymore and so I purchased a blender that same week online. FYI – I had been wanting to buy a blender anyway so it was not just about the smoothie but rather this presented an extra incentive for me to buy it.

So within a week or so, my blender arrived but did I start making smoothies immediately? No. It took me a while to ‘open’ the blender, then test it out with other food ingredients and somehow making a smoothie got to the bottom of the list. It was only when that same colleague asked me whether I had not yet received my blender and if so, why had he not seen me with smoothies? That was when I decided to make my first smoothie for the next day. So after work, I went to the grocery store, got myself some fruits, and made some smoothie. The next morning, I strutted into the office kitchen showing that colleague, and every other colleague that cared to look, my new smoothie. I was so proud of myself that I talked a lot and before I could stop myself, I made a proclamation that I would make and drink smoothies EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Those words quickly turned into a bet between me and my colleague – any week I missed having a smoothie, I would buy him a hot chocolate drink but for every time I drank smoothies 4 weeks in a row, he would buy me a drink. And that was how my smoothie craze began. Of course, I lost the bet a few times because it takes a while to pick up a good habit but after a few months, I got there and ever since than I have kept my side of the bargain even though I no longer live or work/study there.

So my dear friends, this is an example of good peer-pressure. My smoothies usually consist of fat-free yoghurt and fruits- watermelon, pineapple, banana, vine grapes, and any other fruits in season e.g. berries and cherries; I also add beetroots and then ginger to give it a spunky taste. Once in a while, I also add kale. So if you were wondering how this was a good pressure, I’m sure we all know the benefits of fruits and vegetables – vitamins and minerals, to boost our immune system.

Thus, smoothies became my thing from peer-pressure and determination to keep my word. As you could tell from the story, buying a blender was not enough to develop this habit; it was only a process. Just like many things in life, if you want to achieve something, first you have to desire it (just like I did every week that I had admired my colleague), say it (just like I told my colleague), go through challenges or hard work (e.g. me buying a blender and fruits) and act upon it (me actually making the smoothie). But apart from all of these, one thing that I think is very important is, surrounding yourself with people you admire and can potentially learn from. That way, you will be more likely to pick up good habits than bad habits, and then hopefully you can also get a ‘fruity peer-pressure’. J     

Thank you for reading my post; please share some of your experiences with peer-pressure, both positive and negative - I’d like to know J Also, please share this post if you liked it. Don’t forget to keep visiting my blog and follow my Instagram page @lavivsblog and twitter @vivio_gogo for more updates (my main Instagram page is @ugochiukah). Until next time, please try to stay coronavirus free. Have a great week and may this day that marks the beginning of the second part of the year bring us more joy and testimonies. Amen.

God bless. Xoxo.

BIRTHDAY PARTY DURING A PANDEMIC - 24/04/2020

Hello hi,

I hope everyone is doing okay and holding up strong during this time. It was my birthday a few days ago, actually on Friday, April 24^th and I turned 32 years old! Whoop whoop! At first, I was not sure of how I was going to celebrate the day as I could not have my usual recent birthday traditions– pre-birthday photoshoot out somewhere, dress up, more photos and dinner with friends on my actual birthday, and of course ice-cream cake with my name spelt on it! So when a friend of mine asked me a few weeks before about how I intended to celebrate my birthday, my response was “no idea”. I already knew that it would be impossible to order an ice-cream cake for delivery as it would melt before getting to my place. I did not know of any nice cake factory either, until a colleague of mine recommended one to another colleague during our weekly calls and then I took note. With the whole Zoom party craze going on since the COVID19 situation, it crossed my mind to have my own party but I pushed it aside. I did not want to have an evening party, as a matter of fact, I wanted to go to bed early as I knew I would be up early on my birthday receiving phone calls. So I thought to myself - on my birthday, order a cake, dress up, and take selfies; fullstop.

However as the day approached, I started having a feeling of not wanting to be left out. I began to want more – more than just selfies or stuffing my face with cake. So yes, a few days earlier, I did order a cake but I also called a neighbour and asked if she could help me take pre-birthday photos of me in a socially-distant manner. What did that even mean? Well, I put my cell phone, a camera, and a hand sanitizer in a bag and hung it by her door. She wore a mask, we went downstairs just in front of my building and she took photos of me quickly. Throughout the photoshoot, she was more than 6ft apart from me and when she finished, she dropped the bag with my photo apparel by the door. I used another hand sanitizer to wipe down everything, and then wash my hands. I was impressed with our delivery and showed my younger sister, Odi the nice photos. But those were pre-birthday photos and I knew I still wanted more for my actual birthday. So my sister urged me to try taking photos of myself using my phone timer. I did not have a tripod so I set the phone at different angles by my window seal on my balcony while Odi directed me as to where the ‘good light’ was and the appropriate distance. After a while, I decided to make use of some old boxes, layering them and resting the phone on them until I got the photos right. I was happy with the practice and ready for my birthday in a few day’s time.

My tripod, hee hee.

A close friend of mine had just had a mini-zoom party for her husband which went well and so almost last minute, I finally decided to have something similar. I created a zoom account, invited my family and a few friends to watch me cut my cake and send their well-wishes. Since it was a free zoom account, the call was scheduled to last for 40 minutes maximum. The invitation was for noon and dress code was yellow, although I did not tell everyone because most of those I had already told said they did not have anything yellow to wear. Because I invited people from different time zones, I knew some would still be working or just finishing from work so I planned not to stay too long on the Zoom call. My only concern was that people might log in late (as per African time). My cake had arrived the day before, looking much bigger than l had expected.

My birthday came; as usual, I had phone calls, did my usual morning activities, wore some makeup and started my zoom call about 10 minutes earlier. To my surprise, some of my family members were already calling it and as a matter of fact, most of the invitees were right on time with some even wearing yellow! I was pleasantly surprised. My elder sister and her whole family wore yellow too, even though I had not even told her the dress code – I was thrilled #yellowgang. A cousin of mine wore a full on Igbo attire with the red cap, lol. Everyone was on point! They sang happy birthday to me, multiple times actually as I made the latecomers sing each time they logged in, ha ha. Then I cut my cake on the spell of JESUS and everyone gave their well wishes, which was really sweet. A few people had to leave to go back to work or other duties but most people hung around. I ate some of my cake, played some music and danced, and all of them danced as well J The call lasted for 2 hours because somehow Zoom decided to extend my free time, it was amazing!

After my Zoom party call, I had a few work group calls and everyone sang happy birthday to me. In between the calls, I went to my balcony, set up my new “tripod stand” and took these lovely photos that you see. In the evening, I cut some slices of cakes for my neighbours, called them on the phone, and left them at their door. It was indeed a perfect day and my best birthday in a long time. One of my good friends described it in the screenshot below:

So at the end of the day, I had everything I wanted and more – I had my amazing family and friends (over 20 people) from different time zones and locations, all at the same time on my screen. If not for the current Coronavirus situation and technology (Zoom), this would not have happened. Lest I forget to mention, I also have my zoom call recording. So I am thankful for the opportunity I had and the love bestowed upon me by these wonderful people who sacrificed their time and joined Zoom, in no particular order– Ada and her family, Odi, Aunty Linda, Nonso, Alex, Ezinne, Ngonne, Chidin(m)ma (x2), Marilyn, Sylvia (x2), Menglan, Janie, Reem, Jennifer (x2), Bobby, Nnamdi, Stephanie, Ugo and Chika (my birthday mate); and of course to those who wanted to but could not make it – my mum, Nkem, Prince, and Ngo, whose delivery was ALMOST timed perfectly by the way, ha ha. Special thanks to the rest of my family and friends, and to my colleagues and everyone who sent me birthday wishes through phone calls, emails, and social media.

Cheers to my new age and I look forward to many more celebrations! To God be the glory for ever, Amen.

Thank you for reading my post and please share. Don’t forget to keep visiting my blog and follow my Instagram page @lavivsblog and twitter @vivio_gogo for more updates (my main Instagram page is @ugochiukah). Until next time, please try to stay coronavirus free. Have a great week and God bless. Xoxo.

EASTER 2020 (LENTEN GOALS AND RICE WATER REVIEW)

Hello hi,

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is doing well during these times. As you know, we have to stay safe, hopeful and prayerful.

Today officially marks the end of lent, which means we can now shout Hallelujah (Alleluia), Christ is risen indeed. As we start the Easter season of the church calendar, I have decided to review my lent goals which I outlined here. Before I start my lent review, I also did a review of using rice water for hair in this video below so check it out J

LENTEN GOALS REVIEW

I wrote about 3 main things that I wanted to do during lent, so I want to take a look back to see how far I came:

1. Abstinence from meat: I did not eat any meat, that is, beef, chicken, goat, pork etc. except for fish throughout the lent period. This means that I did not have meat for 43 days, wow! (besides one time when I had lentil soup in a restaurant before the pandemic and I realised afterwards that there may have been meat in the soup).  And the funniest part is that I did not even miss meat during the period or feel tempted to eat. Maybe it was because I was mostly confined to my house (self-isolation due to the corona virus pandemic) and so I was able to make different delicious fish and other protein-rich dishes, whereas if I had gone to restaurants during the weekends (as often used to be the case), I may have had limited choices.

2. Attending stations of the cross: I went for the first two weeks and by the third week, we were on lockdown. I tried to follow the way of the cross via Youtube as much as possible, although I think I missed it once or twice and I fell asleep a few times. But at least I tried :)

3. Friday kissing: Well, given the current situation, I did not even have to try hard to abstain from kissing anyone, so my lips are pure, lol. I did not even kiss the Veneration cross on Good Friday. I have to add though that there were still a handful of people asking me out on dates during this period, which was shocking to me. But of course, I stayed indoors except when necessary (taking walks by myself and grocery shopping).

So what about you? Were you able to keep your Lenten promises or goals? Let me know in the comment section.

Thank you for reading my post and please share. Don’t forget to keep visiting my blog and follow my Instagram page @lavivsblog and twitter @vivio_gogo for more updates (my main Instagram page is @ugochiukah). Until next time, please try to stay coronavirus free. Have a great week and God bless. Xoxo.

TEN THINGS I HAVE (RE)LEARNT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Hello hi,

It’s been just over 2 weeks since my last blog post here and the word has changed enormously between then and now. I remember making a joke about the priests potentially greeting the congregation members using fist-bumps by the next Sunday. Sadly, large gatherings including church services were cancelled so I have not been able to go to church since then. Additionally, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus (COVID19) a pandemic, therefore I hope that everyone is being alert and do their best to stay safe. While things seem to be getting better with the virus issue in some countries such as South Korea and even China, the situation is horrific in countries like Italy and Spain. I have been trying to keep up with the numerous emails and news of the virus situation, as I am sure many of you are.

Presently, I am self-isolating and practising social distancing, therefore I have not been able to go into the office, so I am forced to work from home (or at least try to work). Social distancing means not having visitors including neighbours, staying away from crowds (currently more than 1 person), staying 6 feet or 2 meters away from the next person, and also avoiding dates (yes, you read correctly). In my last video, I talked about dating during this period; if you have not watched it, you can watch them on my Instagram (@UgochiUkah) here: part 1 and part 2, or the full video is on my Youtube channel here , if the video below does not play.

During this period of self-isolation, I have made several observations about myself and others, and I have learnt some things that I did not know of, or did not realise how impactful they were. Of course, I already knew certain things such as how working at home is annoying (for me at least), but this period made me realise how unproductive it can really be, unless I take drastic measures. However, there were a few other things I had not really paid attention to or realised. Therefore, in this post I will be sharing 10 things I have learnt so far or been reminded of, during the coronavirus pandemic.

10 THINGS I HAVE (RE)LEARNT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

1. I have always been a hermit: Okay, maybe not literally but for almost all of my adulthood I have lived by myself, away from my family and friends. This has been due to my academic background, having me move from one country to another, even before I turned 18 years old. I also attribute this solitary behaviour to my preference of staying at home except when necessary. Don’t get me wrong, I still know how to “turn up” or socialize if I have to but if I don’t, you’d find me indoors probably on a phone call with my family or close friends. Therefore, when we were asked to self-isolate ourselves, nothing felt different for me (except the working at home part). As a matter of fact, I almost found it funny how people seemed so worried about being at home. Hello? Welcome to my life!

2. Some professions are invaluable: It’s no surprise that medical doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are very important people in the society. Kudos to them and all the healthcare workers that have been put in the frontline to attend to patients during this period. Apart from these professions, I’m happy to see other professions that have been in the dark (or appear so) being recognised now e.g. farmers, grocery workers, airline staff, postage and delivery guys, IT folks, scientists and researchers, including epidemiologists and public health fellows. I can’t tell you how all of a sudden people have started asking me questions about health and the coronavirus J While I would like to help you, I can’t do so unfortunately, because my area is not in infectious diseases. However, you can stay well-informed about the virus through WHO or your national health ministry websites.

3. Good people truly exist: In a world where we sometimes experience disappointment from people including ‘friends’, we often find ourselves doubting whether good people exist. However, I have heard so many wonderful stories during this period, including young people helping to do grocery shopping for the elderly, stores creating specific shopping times for the elderly too, people volunteering to stop the spread of the virus including some healthcare workers coming out of retirement, and several donations have been made to feed people and combat this pandemic. I am really inspired by all of these and grateful for the efforts put in place. We too can be good people by checking up on our family, friends, colleagues, and older people using technology. Another way that we can be good is by not getting in the way of these workers, therefore please stay at home unless necessary (I’ll tell you when necessary later in this post).

4. A lot of people have misplaced priorities: It’s surprising and annoying how some people are not taking this pandemic serious despite the current global news. Some people are still partying, going for award shows, and even tweeting fake or irrelevant information about the virus. Suddenly, people are making disease burden comparisons with regular influenza (flu), malaria, or HIV. While these other sicknesses are important, they are not global pandemics at the moment and comparing crude numbers of death (rather than incident mortality rate per infected person) is not helpful in encouraging people to take precautions. What is even more annoying is that many of these people are not real advocates for anything; a lot of them have never advocated for the prevention of malaria or HIV before now, so why distract or discourage people from being alert about the coronavirus? If you don’t have anything useful to say, just stay at home quietly, Please!

5. Anything can be politicised: Speaking of priorities, it is quite a shame to watch how some politicians have used the endemic as a selfish weapon. While some leaders are fighting hard to keep their people safe, others are more interested in the economy, stock markets, waiting for their children to return from abroad before they shut down the borders etc. I hope this would serve as a lesson for all to vote “right” in future elections.

6. Travelling is a privilege: When my department first imposed a travel ban, I was upset because I had lots of exciting trips and conferences that I was looking forward to. So you can imagine my grudge when I had to cancel reserved and unreserved trips (5 and counting), when all I had in mind this year was to travel around the world. I grumbled bitterly until my mother had to remind me that life and health were more important. And yes, I also probably had my priorities wrong (just like those people hoarding toilet paper, lol) but at the time when this first happened, the virus was still at the beginning phase (except for China) and not yet a pandemic – so don’t judge me. Nonetheless, I have had to re-evaluate my needs and wants during this period and now, I am more aware of how privileged and blessed I have been. I am really thankful for all the times I got to travel and hopefully for my travels in the future.

7. I have movie commitment issues: Having access to Netflix, you would think that I would have finished watching all the movies online. However, this is not the case for me, because I find myself starting to watch a movie and stopping halfway. They are either too long, too boring, too serious, or too predictable/cliché for me, or sometimes I don’t even remember that I started watching a movie until Netflix reminds me. This probably explains why I only go to the movie theatre on average once a year and usually end up watching movies on the plane.

8. I really like the church: I’m a regular Sunday church goer; the only time I don’t go to church is when I travel and/or I can’t find a church in the new place. However, I don’t think that I really paid attention to how much it had become a part of my life and that I enjoy it, until these past 2 weeks where we have had to stay at home. I still try to follow the service online for now, hoping that thing will get better.

9. Connection and communication are key: In this period, it is important to stay in touch with loved ones and communicate remotely. This is essential for good mental health and can also serve as a motivation for other things such as exercising and staying fit. I have regular check-in buddies for exercise, work plan, spiritual check-in etc. Sometimes with isolation, you can either find your passion or fall into depression. So make sure that you have a way to stay in touch, not only with the news but also with others.

10. Finally, family is everything: If you don’t know that by now, you better give your family members a call and check up on them.

So those are my 10 lessons so far from this pandemic. Before I sign off, I would like you to place your hand on your chest and say these words:

“I will stay at home unless I have to:

·       Visit the doctor or

·       Buy groceries or food to eat (and not to hoard) or

·       Take a walk* for physical activity purposes (not to smoke). If I take a walk, I will walk alone - just me, myself, and I, except for with household members.^±

So help me God. Amen.”

*Please check with your place of residence if you are allowed to take walks.

^±Please note that ‘household members’ means people living in the same house/apartment with you, and not neighbours or people living in your apartment building.

Thank you for reading my post and please share. Don’t forget to keep visiting my blog and follow my Instagram page @lavivsblog and twitter @vivio_gogo for more updates (my main Instagram page is @ugochiukah). Until next time, please stay safe and stay indoors. Have a great week and God bless. Xoxo.