IT'S YOU TIME!

Its highly unlikely that we would want to harm ourselves on purpose, but it just happens that way most times. The state of our body is hardly a thought we harbour, or love to harbour. We are busy with family, work, friends and stuff. (which are all ingredients of a healthy life by the way).

The absence of physical pain, to many, means all is well. Going for a check up in Naija is done only when we get referred by a hospital. I often wonder why, maybe we dread searching and finding out things we are not sure we want to deal with, things we are currently too busy to deal with.

You can either be forced to take care of your health or you choose to take care of your health.

For you to be useful to those you love, you need that time off to rest and occasionally, take a trip to the doctor's for a checkup. To better handle the task at work with better precision, and be a better spouse, parent or friend with a better outlook towards life in general.

Healthy living is closely tied to healthy eating. Make sure that you make a healthy choice at each point in time, make a change one day at time.

What I do daily is, when i'm thirsty i do water not a cup of coffee,I take lemon and honey in warm water, rather than eating out and I cook my meals in the healthiest way I possibly can....and many other not so major changes I have made to my diet. And although I have not seen any major changes yet, but my general feeling of well-being has improved greatly.

Good health is a way of life, a process and not a destination or a reward.

 Take time off and take care of You!


Do share ways you take care of yourself, routines you engage in.

AN ATTEMPT AT A LESS MATERIALISTIC LIFE

Well my colleague at work told me i was tending towards being materialistic, I rolled my eyes, saying in pidgin English  'on-top how much salary'. When someone describes a person as materialistic, it is believed that such a person must be spending big bucks on designer clothes and all kinds of fancy things.
 I then went digging, out of curiousity, and i came up with some interesting findings.

  Ok....so what really is Materialism?

In lay man's terms, its spending money you don't have on crap you don't need.

 I saw a definition of materialism that i liked on lifehacker.com

It's best defined as an insatiable desire to own things and the belief that when 

those desires are fulfilled we'll achieve happiness. Basically, materialism suggest 

a yardstick for success: the more you own, the better your life will be. 

Let’s say it as it is, Materialism urges us to buy the coolest gadgets, designer clothes, hair and so on. Bigger is always better to the materialistic, even though Smaller would be just enough. we need to show off to some people that we are big and life is goooodd. 

It is cliche that purchases don’t buy us happiness. and as a quote i saw somewhere, 

‘by and large, money buys happiness but only for those who lack basic need’

Let's face it,  materialism doesn’t buy us happiness, real long-term happiness.....

Materialism is closely tied to shopping, so you I tried to avoid it by adopting some tricks;

•  spend more on experiences rather than objects, the buzz of a new object wears off after you use it repeatedly, but a fun experience lasts a longtime if not a lifetime.

• When buying expensive things I research the item, to make sure i am getting the right item for the right price at the right time.

• Also I try to equate the number of hours I had to put in at work, with the value of the item I am buying, and I can immediately know if its worth it.

• I tried to limit my exposure to the media to a specific period of the day and stick to it. Well, I feel like I’m a traitor here, shout out to my fellow communicators.

• Gave up magazines for books, it’s even a better use of my time.

• I did some house-cleaning and realized how useless shopping for extra things can be, since i had so much unused/ under-used stuff. I definitely thought twice before buying anything.

• I spent quality time with family and Friends.

• Spirituality gives meaning and purpose to my life.

No need to go home and break the i-Pad, kick down the 500 inch screen flat-screen or give out your designer wears, in fact its far from that. We just need to know and understand the difference between what we actually need and what we merely want.

The 1980 Mercedes Benz 350 series was 'The car' to own when i was much younger,fast forward to today, it was an historical monument of some sorts for my kids whom i showed with pride the cars i grew up seeing.

I admit  there are those that derive immense pleasure from shopping, however there will always be a newer model or improved technology of  your dream car, i-phone and whatever it is you want.Then you keep wanting to go bigger and better, and the cycle continues.

I doubt the War against Materialism can be won, but it definitely helps if we consciously make better spending decisions. 

THE TAKE OFF...

Life is crazy in itself. Life in Nigeria, especially Lagos, (that’s where I live) it’s crazier. I set up this blog to give ‘smart tips’ that could make life easier . So! this is my plan about how things will most likely unfold; LiveSmartNG should answer the following questions as regards topics being discussed,

1. Do I want to achieve this?

2. How to do this in the simplest way possible?

Various aspects will be covered;

SmartLife: General issues and choices that affect our lives and how we live. 

SmartHealth: Making conscious choices about your health as you go about your daily activity.

SmartMoney: Involves choices on being debt free and building savings. I’ll share what works for me and you can share what works for you.

SmartHome: Clearing the clutter and home devices that I know will help.

SmartFashion: A nice, budget-conscious wardrobe is achievable.

SmartConnections: Connecting with family, friends, colleagues. despite the crazy routine we go through. 

SmartBusiness: Businesses in Nigeria become over-emotionally charged, I can share time tested tips on how to gain loyalty and increase your chances of success. If nothing, we’ll discover how to out-behave the competition, it would go a long way in Nigeria. 

Please expect to be inspired, educated and entertained but also expect to be challenged with tough questions too. Your participation, through questions, comments, feedback and recommendations will be appreciated.

Thank You for reading!!!