There’s a quiet kind of math happening these days, and it isn’t the one your bank app is tracking. Food prices go up, transport fares go up, the naira does whatever the naira wants to do, and somewhere in the middle of trying to keep up, sleep becomes the one bill people quietly stop paying.
You hear it almost every week at Lasena Steam Bath. Someone walks in and says, “My friend told me to come.” Or, “My sister’s been coming here, so I had to see what the fuss was about.” Just recently, a woman came in with her mother, her sister had recommended the place, and the next day, the older sister was already planning her own visit. One person tries it, and before long, the whole family is filing in.
There’s a quiet myth going around Lagos that recovery is a luxury. That resting your body, easing sore muscles, or simply switching off your devices for an hour is something reserved for people with deep pockets and even deeper free time.
A friend of mine cancelled a spa day last month, spending the whole saturday sleeping instead, not leaving her bed until almost noon. Later when she told me about it, she didn’t call it self-care; She said, “I just needed to recover.” It stuck with me, mostly because it was the third or fourth time I’d recently heard someone use that word. (Nenye)
You know that moment right before you fall asleep, phone still in your hand, thumb mid-scroll, and you catch yourself thinking “just one more”? That’s not you being weak.
There’s a version of “high-performing” that looks impressive from the outside and feels like quiet exhaustion on the inside. You know the person first to arrive, last to leave, always available on WhatsApp, replies to emails promptly, the best at his or her job and never quite switching off.
There’s a version of “high-performing” that looks impressive from the outside and feels like quiet exhaustion on the inside. You know the person first to arrive, last to leave, always available on WhatsApp, replies to emails promptly, the best at his or her job and never quite switching off.
There is a moment most of us know intimately: stiff shoulders with a dull pain somewhere around your upper back, that headache that pulls at you just above one eye – or that loud exclamation when you finally get to sit down after a long day.
There is a different kind of feeling a home-cooked meal gives. The fact that you chose fresh vegetables over a quick snack or water over a cup of coffee packed with so much caffeine. We often think of wellness as a long list of routines, to-dos, and rituals when in all honesty, it starts from our home; on our plates.
The Year begins with two kinds of people, different goals, different approach to life and different ways they want to live their lives.
The first set we would consider to be; **The Calm Ones**
They’re quietly living life and taking things as they come. This set of people know what works and what doesn’t. They do not worry so much about life because it looks steady for them.
