In my early years (childhood days) we lived in an apartment of one room - one parlour, there were six tenants in same building, or should I say six families?



We shared 1 kitchen, 2 slippery bathrooms and 2 small toilets. Plus my parents, we were six in our apartment; same for our direct neighbors, the least apartment in the house had three people.

Can you just imagine the struggle of 30 people fighting for 2 bathrooms, on a Monday morning?

At that stage, things where hard in our home; the struggle for food was real (there were times we ate only once a day, at other times, same meal all week long)

As a young boy, this made the pain of seeing others enjoy sumptuous meal very hard, I once was forced to go into the neighbors house. I don't know maybe if was long-throat or mere coincidence that took me to the neighbors house that evening, I was offered food and could have said "no!" but damn, I was hungry, and to think that the food had great aroma, fresh and different form the usual. How could I have resisted?

I forgot the stern instructions my parent gave us never to eat outside and whenever things were given we should bring it home for approval (in most cases disapproval) #chuckles

I had devoured the food, washed it down with cold water, just then I came back to my senses. Feeling guilty, I quickly cleaned my mouth with my cloth, foolishly thinking there would be no sign since it was late.

I did my best to pose innocent so I won't get caught, but then, my dear African mother knew and the countless beating that followed went down in my Guinness Book of record.



Friends, you see, contentment cannot be over priced nor belittled in our world. Seeing those you started out with together in school doing great financially or having colleagues at work on the same payroll driving dream cars and live in pricey houses, there's a feeling down your spine seeing that you are not even close in anyways.


I could list a thousand and one things that would cause you to loose sight on the precious, seemingly small things you have. So of what good is that?

Reminding yourself of how you were once looked up to only to see that lot of your peers are doing better than you are is of no good; when you take your eyes away from things you have, you automatically start causing yourself pain, you invite strife and jealousy.

Comparison is a killer of joy and the genesis of depression, we can't have it all at once; like this wise man said "Contentment is natural wealth, luxury is artificial poverty." - Socrates


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Areogun bolaji is a serial entrepreneur, story teller, personal development enthusiast, your guide on how to leave your daily life. A Bsc holder, sales analyst, photographer with a eye for beauty, fashion entrepreneur