THE COURAGE TO SLOW DOWN

 

I was thinking this morning… With over 50 weeks of 2025 behind us, I finally took my leave to reconnect with family and reclaim some warmth beyond work. At Port Harcourt International Airport, I ran into a colleague also headed to Lagos. Like many end-of-year conversations, ours revolved around how relentless the year had been and why slowing down must now be intentional, not accidental.

Too often, our passion for delivery makes us deaf to the signals our bodies send. The mild headaches. The persistent fatigue. The body aches. We acknowledge them briefly, then silence them with analgesics and what I jokingly call “gbogbo-loshe”—that familiar mix of garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper, lemon, and turmeric. The body whispers, slow down and rest. Our ambition shouts back, not now—there is rest after death.

As I shared how stressed I had been lately, my colleague said something that stayed with me. Since turning 50, she had consciously decided to take life easier. She reminded me of four colleagues who had suffered minor strokes in recent years. Thankfully, all recovered. Her personal rule now is simple: never push beyond what her body can handle.

The lesson deepened when we landed in Lagos. Another colleague on the same flight told me he was heading to see yet another of our peers, someone who had collapsed twice from blood clots (DVT) and narrowly escaped death. Today, he is alive, recovering, and intentionally taking life slower.

As the year winds down, many of us are making one last push to hit targets that seem just out of reach. Ambition is good. Discipline is admirable. But burning yourself out is not a badge of honour. This season offers us something valuable: space to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. The goal should be to count our blessings and not obsess over what didn’t go as planned.

As my friend and sister, Joyce Daniels (The Queen of Talk), recently reminded us: be kind to yourself as the year closes. There is still so much ahead and you will need your health to enjoy it. Productivity is meaningless without wellbeing. Cheers to a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. 2nd Timothy 3:7 is instructive.

Stay hopeful. God's got our back.

Happy Sunday!

......Just the thoughts of a certain Wey Mey