"How I survived difficult moment"

I looked up, left and right. Then I looked back, there was no way out. I cried out, everywhere was quiet.

"Where will I start to get out of this debt? How did I get here?" I asked myself.

Let's revisit that moment in 2024...

Share with us a difficult moment you faced in your life

It was Saturday morning, and I was having a nice time with my siblings when my I got a message in my phone. I picked and checked, it was a reminder that my loan will be due by tomorrow.

Immediately my happy face slightly change to worry. I composed myself so my siblings wouldn't noticed.

After a while, I left them to go check it well. I checked the amount owed, it was 24,455 naira. I was shocked, recollecting what I've used the money for. My chest felt heavy, couldn't help but grief.

I panicked because I didn't even have money for the first installment. For months now, the electricals work I used to go with my friend wasn't coming in. So I stayed home, hoping work would come before the due date for repayment, but it didn't. I was stranded and I couldn't talk to anyone about it 😢

One day overdue turned into one month. I managed to pay it down to 10,000 naira. Three months later, my overdue balance with interest was 13,785 naira. I needed to talk to someone. The silence was killing me.

How did you survive that moment? Tell us what you did or did not do

What I did:
I broke the silence by telling my two close friends about my challenge. Hiding wasn't making it better, instead the amount only got bigger because of the interest rate on overdue payments.

They couldn't help immediately because they had their own challenge to deal with. So that pushed me to face my fear instead of waiting for someone to rescue me.

What I didn't do:
I didn't borrow from another loan app, that's would have made it harder on me.
Instead, I started a small side hustle that brings in small amounts, at least the 1,000 struggle was something. Every payment reduced the pressure, and it really worked until I cleared my debts.

What your advice for any one going through a difficult time right now?

• First, don't hide from the difficult moments you face. Remember problems doesn't stop if you ignore them. Hiding and isolating yourself make things got worse. Accepting you have a problem, is the first step to solving your it.

• Second, ask for help from others. Not all problems needs financial help but it helps lighten the burden if shared instead of hiding, which make things worse.

• Thirdly, each step we take towards our problem helps reduce it. So take one step at a time. Some problems can't be solved instantly.

With time I cleared my debts. It wouldn't have been easy if I didn't take a step by sharing with others and finding alternatives. I hope you can do same when you have problems than hiding and isolating.

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I place my invite to: @meraindia, @dequeen and @sana-khan01

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All photos in this post are taken by me

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Cc: @ruthjoe

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