Life Hack Stories & Experiences

My friend came up to me at school some days ago, looking a bit worried. She asked if I could help her set up a Cash App. She was almost pleading. “I really need it for some transactions, to explain how desperate she was, she was willing to pay any amount to get it done.

At first, I hesitated. I knew Cash App wasn’t officially available in Nigeria, and I knew all about how complicated it might be. But she was pleading too much as if i was her last hope.
She spoke on how she had met soecialist in the field but none arrived at anything useful.
After all the back and forth, I decided to at least see what I could do, so I reached out to a couple of my friends who might know more about it.

After contacting three of them, it became clear that they all found it an impossible task. They lamented about the processes involved in setting up a functional Cash App for someone in Nigeria and if at all it would work after all the stress.
I almost backed out after hearing from my friends, but then I thought, “What could be so tough about it after all?”

I spent the next two hours straight working on it. I read up on the requirements, downloaded all the necessary apps, and configured them one by one. The process felt overwhelming at times, but I was focused.

After a lot of trial and error and mixing all sort of delibrated possibilities and trying to match the recommended settings, I was finally making progress.

After those two hours of intense work, I realized I was about 60% done. I had set up the basic structures for a working Cash App, complete with an active dollar card.
I had to call it a day cos hunger was pressing on my neck.

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.

Meet Mary, a young woman who lost her job due to company cuts. Devastated, she felt lost.

But instead of giving up, Mary used the setback as an opportunity. She started a small business, pursued her passion for baking, and now runs a successful bakery.

Mary's story teaches us: adversity is not defeat. It's a chance to rediscover, reinvent, and rise stronger.

Today's exams was the best I've ever faced in the university, I didn't expect it to be so easy, right from the beginning of the semester, but it surprised me. The course title is Engineering Mathematics III, and as easy as it was to me, many came out lamented about how tough it was for them.

From the beginning of the semester, the lecturer that is taking the course doesn't allow anybody to enter the lecture hall again after he has started lecturing. He gives assignment every week, to be typed and printed, and submitted in the next class, anybody that doesn't make it to the lecture hall on time won't submit, as the door would have been shut.

The course had a practical aspect where an application called MATLAB is used to calculate the Engineering Mathematics. The practical was held twice in a facility outside the school, not too far from school, and it was already fixed by 4 pm, you're sure to be tired by this time of the day after stressing yourself from the beginning of the day. The practical was our C.A.

In all this, I was very active and participated in all, I never missed a lecture, did all the assignments and never went late to the lecture. The lecture was always by 8 am every Tuesday, and I was quite very afraid of the course, so I took it as a priority. I would leave my house by 6:45 am, just to make sure I'm there on time, and believe me, the attendance was very poor, only 20 students will show up in a department of 85 students. I personally did my assignments, studied in excess, I was fully involved.

The reason why the exam was very easy for me, and why it's difficult for others is very clear now. We all prayed concerning the course, it is the toughest of all, but only few could smile after the exams. God would only help those who help themselves. I told my coursemates as we walked back home, that there's no secret or shortcut to success, even God won't do anything in cases such as this. Study and God will help you understand and retain it, otherwise, you're on your own.

Last night, before I slept, I was deep worried about how stressful today was going to be.
I was worried about the always disturbing schedules by my school.

We were supposed to have a long lecture this morning which is supposed to start by 8 AM and end at 4 PM. That is a long time to sit, isn't it? But this school keeps treating us as if we were robots.

I thought about how I was to get breakfast this morning as there were no shops usually open at 8 AM to buy food from.

This morning, at 7 AM, my phone rang. I checked my phone and saw a message that our class was cancelled.
I was so happy that I jumped up and down in Celebration.

Around 9 AM, I got up to get some tea from a nearby shop and that was the last stressful thing that I remembered doing today, after that, I spent the day in bed. I did nothing and just rested.

Whenever I was on my phone whild laying on the bed, I knew that was stretching my charging cord. I guess I didn’t realize how much I was pulling on it. One moment, it was working fine, and the next, it just stopped.
I needed to get a new one, I had been wanting a chance to replace the old one that just got spout because it was slow in charging. So I resolved to use my last 500 Naira for that.

To me, 500 Naira wasn’t a small amount, but I convinced myself I could remove it from my daily budget. After all, it was as of I spoilt the charging cable intentionally.

When I got there, I approached the counter and asked for a charging cord. Immediately, they started talking in foreing languages and calling prices that left me baffled.
Because how can wire be sold for 2,000 Naira, 3,000 Naira, and even up to 4,000 Naira! I couldn’t believe it.

I explained that I only needed a charging cord to plug into my charger, but they didn’t seem to understand the difference that I was making from whatever expensive appliance that they were stating those costly pricesfor.
After a lot of back and forth, I reluctantly decided to buy a cord for 2,500 Naira.

Till now, I am shocked.
Ordinary charging cord?
Even this one that I got for 2500 isn't that original.

There was a time when I hadn’t yet secured a place to stay, so I ended up squatting with a friend in her hostel. I reasoned it would be temporary, but just two weeks after moving in, I noticed my hair had become infested with lice. It was shocking and frustrating, and after trying different things, the only real solution was to cut it all off.

This was my long, cherished hair that I had been growing for three years. Losing it because of the dirty environment around me felt so unfair, but I knew it had to be done. Even though it hurt to let go of my hair, my health came first, so I made the tough decision and cut it all off.

A week later, things got worse. The environment around the hostel became so unsafe that I was forced to pack my things and leave. It wasn’t just about the lice anymore, my safety was at risk, and staying there any longer was not an option.
Sometimes, the girls will complain of seeing a man at night walking around the girls' hostel and so many other disturbing things. Omo, thank goodness I survived.

This morning, I woke up really late, just a few minutes to 11am, even though I went to bed around 3am. Right from when I opened my eyes, I could already feel it was going to be one of those lazy days. I wasn’t in a hurry to do anything, but I knew I had to get a few things done.

The first thing I did was wash my clothes. I didn’t want to wait too long before the neighbors started their weekend washing. I finished washing and spread the clothes out to dry, thinking I’ll go out later to get some fresh air.

By the time I was done with the pile of clothes, I was already feeling drained. It was more work than I expected. I decided to take a quick bath to refresh myself, but that quick bath turned into a long nap. I was so tired that I crashed and slept for about five hours.

When I woke up later, I had something to eat and, feeling even more relaxed, went right back to sleep. It was honestly one of the most peaceful, lazy Saturdays I’ve had in a long time. No calls, no need to go anywhere, just pure rest.

A'ght.. people always mistake my personality and identity to something untraceable or rather unpredictable. I'm not proud about that, but well...

Let's take a ride back to my first year in the university.
Oh how friendly the guy was. But I am an introvert, so how possible was I so friendly?
Perhaps it was the excitement of being in the Uni?
Or maybe I had turned an extrovert after being admitted?
Who knows?, I don't myself.

Well let's get to the best part, I had very personal and intentional relationship with everyone in the department, and with time I took the post of the departmental DOI (director of Information) expanding my little influence afar from just the department.

The university and it's beauty had no ends, talk about all the pretty faces, the complexions, unimaginative elegance and the unique personalities of the lot that I encounter daily.

Pheeew!
Usually before I write a story, I pick a plot, but not this time, so let's get on with it.
My position as the DOI got my DM filled up with texts and messages from students who are either texting for fun or to make inquiries, and I enjoyed it.
I never turned off my data, and if I'm gone by a minute, then I must have kept a hundred unread messages waiting (exaggerating).

Life was certainly beautiful in first year until the Nationwide academic strike struck.
Skip to later, after the strike, I lost my touch with people as the strength was subdued. All this time away from school, focusing on earning extra income and all other things had clouded a part of me, and in some way the influx of messages and all the uneccessary questioning became tiring.

I should continue this story but I've got to rest a bit.

I was in SS2, it was a third term, a time where the school management will choose prefects from SS2. I never pictured myself becoming a perfect, because I was extremely shy and I didn't want to take on so many responsibilities and tasks, so I made up my mind to decline any offer of prefectship, should it be pointed to me.

I was in class with my classmates during break time, when the compound master walked in and pointed out some of my classmates, including me, and took us to the principal's office. They wanted to make me the Senior Prefect, but I declined as planned and even recommended my classmate to them, to be appointed the Senior Prefect.

The principal wanted to know why I rejected the position, so I told him about my shyness, and he told me that we learn to do new things by doing them. After school was over, the compound master met me and told me that I have been appointed as the Senior Prefect, and that I should prepare a speech to be rendered after our inauguration the next day. I was terribly scared, I had never held any position before.

I got home and began to compose my speech, in as much as I was afraid, I didn't want to look confused when I'm called out to say something. The next day came, we were inaugurated and I had to address the whole school, both teachers and students, something I had never done in my life, I tried as much as possible to comport myself while I was addressing the school. I felt a sweet sensation when everybody clapped for me at the end of my speech, wasn't so difficult.

As time went on, the shyness couldn't just stay anymore, because I used to address the school twice a day, including meetings with principals and teachers, I was used to it already. Handling tasks and responsibilities helped improve me as an individual, I didn't abuse my power as the Senior Prefect, teachers and students loved me, because I always stood for the right thing. I'm happy to have been in that position, I learnt a lot, which includes how to handle tasks and responsibilities, how to manage people, boldness and decision making. It stays in me, I'm happy for that foundation.

I have always emphasized the need to treat people nicely and avoid saying terrible things to people, it hurts so much and might leave an emotional trauma. My lady, although a very young lady at 23, did something that made me cry. Our toilet chambers had issues, so the tenants contributed money so that it can be repaired, and this happened during the repay of the chambers.

We were told that nobody will use the toilet till the repair is complete and is set to be used, we had no choice than to comply so that it can be fixed. The plumber came late in the afternoon and worked on the chambers, couldn't finish that day and had to come back the next day to complete the work. And after the work was done the following day, he told us that the toilet will be ready for use the next day which is the third day.

I met the landlady and told her that somebody like me doesn't have any relative or friend around, where I can go and use their toilet, and that it is not possible to tell people to stay for straight three days without using the toilet. She had friends and relatives around, and so she wasn't bothered because she had where to use a toilet. I was sure not to sound harsh or insulting, but I was shocked by her reaction, I didn't expect that from her.

She insulted, abused and cursed me, telling me I'm useless, stupid, senseless, uneducated and many more, telling me that it's not her business as to how I'll ease myself till the third day. I kept quiet, went inside and cried bitterly, no one has ever called me 'useless'. And now I just discovered that the final year project term paper that I have been spending sleepless nights, data and time to compile, belongs to my landlady, what a small world. She asked somebody to help her do it, and they person gave it to me to help do it, now her fate lays in the hands of the person she termed 'useless'. My landlady got to know that I'm the one doing her project, I don't know if she is ashamed of herself, because she has been avoiding eye contact with me, she hasn't said anything yet, I'm still waiting.

They told us Chrome was the major browser for operating an account efficiently, and then, I nodded, already planning how I'd make the switch.

Three days ago, I logged out of my usual lite browser and made the change to Chrome. The interface was a little different because it was long since I used the browser .

It was time to log in to my account, and I went through the process by entering my email, password, and confirming my settings.
The whole process was as if I was stepping onto a new stage where all the action, maybe a new earning feature would unfold, who knows.

After I logged in they mentioned an automated wait time of 24 hours before I could take action on my account again. That didn’t seem too bad initially, just a little patience, right?
But as each interval ticked down and I kept checking back, hoping to begin my usual tasks but I found myself locked out again. And I still had to wait an extra 24 hours.

Day after day, I went through this maddening cycle. I’d log in, only to find out that i was logged out, I was starting to feel frustrated at first, tussling through the chrome settings like I was a developer.

Then yesterday, something changed. Àfter I logged in directly from Google, it stuck, and here i am.

See ehhn, I never knew nursing would be such a demanding course to study.
While I was yet to resume as a nursing student, I had always perceived nursing as a smooth going course, friendly, having to wear our white sparkly gowns and just address people's problems in peace.

It wasn't until I got to spend just a week in the school did I notice how tasking it was.
Me that was known to be chubby before, now I can't tell because today I'm chubby and the next day, i am one skinny girl.

It's my fault that whenever I heard people complained that the tertiary institutions was not an easy experience, I always saw them as lazy and carelessly speaking.
Recalculating my experience in this nursing school, I think there's no word good enough to define how stressful it really is especially for serious students.

Where should I start?
From the expenditures?
Should I talk about the long hours of teaching?
Should I talk about our steady relocations for an outreach, or the fact that I don't currently have a thousand naira as savings?

Whenever it is said that the school is a center for learning, you people shouldn't just focus on the surface meaning.
As for me, I have learnt to be hungry, I've learnt to spend the money that I don't have, I have learnt to speak up, to explore any opportunity I catch and many other things.
My people, school no easy and I congratulate everyone of you in school. And if you are not in school, work hard on yourself and dont ever feel inferior because as they say: what Ada doesn't have, Obi will have.

During my time in secondary school, I was pretty attached to wired earpieces and headphones. I always preferred reliability of the ones with wires and I can’t quite explain why, but there was something comforting about it, nobody should call me a cave man.
For me, it was never about the price; I just fancied earphones and headphones more than the wireless.

When I entered university, I noticed many of my friends using wireless AirPods.
I never took it at heart and have never talked less on how everyone on the street was using air pods, but after one day, they ridiculed my earpiece, I had to get a pair, but I initially saw them as just another gadget and nothing special. So I just put it away in my box while I rocked my earpiece.

It wasn't until about a week ago when a friend of mine got AirPods and let me try them on again after months of not using mine. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the experience this time around. The convenience of being wireless, the way they fit in my ears, and the ease of use all came rushing back to me.
After I got home, I threw the contents of my box apart and searched through for my long preserved Airpods.

I had this important event at school that I was told I absolutely had to attend. But, at the same time, I was waiting for a client of mine to give me the final go-ahead to start his work. It was a confusing situation because I didn’t want to miss out on the event, but I also didn’t want to delay the client’s project.

After weighing my options for a while, I made up my mind to head back to school. The trip itself took about five hours, and I was much tired by the time I arrived. I decided to take some time to rest and prepare for the next day, thinking everything would go as planned.

Later that night, I got the frustrating news that the school event had been canceled. That alone was disappointing enough. But to make matters worse, my client finally reached out, right after the event was called off and gave me the signal to start working on his project.

At that point, I was beyond frustrated. I had already made the long trip to school, which now felt like a total waste, and I realized I’d have to make the stressful journey back just to get started on the work. The timing of everything was worse.

It’s hard not to feel a bit annoyed by the whole situation. If I had just known about the event cancellation a little earlier, I could have avoided all this unnecessary stress and stayed where I was, ready to begin the client’s work as soon as he called.

started having a really bad cold, What we call catarrh.

At first, I was just sniffling a bit, but then as hours passed, it got worse, and soon I couldn't even breathe.

Miraculously, i dont know why but I couldn't stop crying because my nose was so runny. It felt like I had been beaten up.
My face got puffy too, and I realized this was not like the usual small cold I usually had before, where I would just sniffle a little for one day and forget about it. This time, it didn’t go away, it was like it booked a long session because it stuck around for three whole days.

I’ve been taking some medicine called Flu-J with some vitamin C, ans so today, I feel a bit better, even though my voice sounds funny and hoarse. I’m thankful to God for the gift of life by the way.

Yesterday our neighborhood experienced a power outage, like everywhere was in darkness, leaving us without light or electricity.
My devices were almost dead before 2am today.

I struggled to find out about the class this morning, only me and God fit talk how far i went just to get to know the class that we were to have this morning and its venue.

During the class, I reached out to a friend to borrow a power bank, but she wasn't available.

I found it difficult to focus in class because I needed to charge my phone, there were just many things that I felt I was missing out on without my phone.

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, my friend who I had contacted earlier surprised me by showing up with the power bank. The joy no be here as I collected the life saver.

When the class ended and i wanted to gove it back, she insisted that I keep it for my use at home. That kind gesture truly made my day, it meant a lot.

The past few days have been very tough, I have an exam that is coming up in a week's time, and I've spent almost all my time preparing very hard to make sure the exam doesn't humiliate me. I started making the study very intensive to the extent that I will even forget to eat and rest, only one agenda on my list, and that is to read without ceasing.

I started feeling sick and always weak, my eyes almost red in colour, started losing focus anytime I try to study, sleep always showing up in a very funny way. Still, I force myself to study and get to sleep very late in the night, which will result in headache and some sickness symptoms when I wake up in the morning. I made myself restless, day and night, I wasn't comfortable anymore.

It can't be malaria, I took malaria medicine about one month ago, so I decided to try something new. I made a new schedule for when to eat, sleep, play, and study. I tried as much as possible to make sure I don't exit limits. Wake in the morning, clean up, bath, eat, relax a bit, study for some time, rest, bath eat, read again in the night and sleep. I suspected I had forced myself too much to focus on studying alone, ignoring food, play and rest, I had to correct it.

In just few days, I was fine, no more sickness symptoms, and I was able to concentrate more whenever it was time to study. Studying is good and expected of a student, but I discovered you can't ignore sleep, food and some leisure time, all are very important, or else it will take a toll on you and you might end up breaking down. The body can't take so much stress, sitting in one place throughout the day and night made me look like an HIV patient, but the moment I stopped neglecting sleep, food and leisure time, I was fine and studying became even more effective.

Having to deal with greedy colleagues in place of work is a very hard thing to do, I know it now because I have faced such situation. I remember working in a boutique where clothes, shoes and other accessories are being sold, and the kind of problem I faced while working with the workers in that boutique. Our boss was a lady, she was very nice and caring, she goes as far as providing lunch for us and giving us the sum of 500 naira everyday for our transport fare.

Costly stuffs were being sold there, it was a really very nice place, but things were fast to change. My job was to make accounts of everything that was sold at the end of each day, coupled with other minor activities. The first day was something I can't really explain, I made an account and discovered that everything didn't match, but the sales girl altered the calculation and calculated what I couldn't understand. At the end, she told me to write any figure, that it's not as if our boss will go through it.

Same thing happened the second day, and I understand that she syphoned some of the money, and that is why the record wasn't accurate and didn't match the products sold. She met me and tried to convince me into covering up the accounts, in exchange for a percentage of the stolen money. The boutique sells up to millions naira worth of goods, and so no one would notice a little amount missing, but I declined. Our boss was nice, lunch and transport fare is provided everyday, and so it will be very bad and terrible to repay her in such a way.

I soon became the most hated worker by my colleagues, I didn't agree to their terms, and they knew I will implicate them if the account should have anymore fault. After a month, our boss met me and told me that it is the first time in her boutique that accounts made gets to be accurate. We thought she doesn't go through the record, but she does, and said she didn't say anything about it because all the people she has employed to do the accounts never gave an accurate account, and so she gave up and refused to let herself be bothered over the little they steal.

I was the exception, the woman made me her friend, increased my salary and transport fare, and I was entitled to a lunch and a take-home food. I was put in charge of everything that had to do with money and trust, imagine getting close to such a big woman because of being honest, it's a great honor. The woman will always think of me first whenever a person of honesty and integrity was needed. The feeling is good, I've gotten a lot of benefits from the woman, my simple act of being sincere had earned me that.

Today felt like a year long as we sat in attendance to a long lecture that ended around 5 PM.
Wnen the class finally ended, i returned home with my course mate, who lived next door to my room.

On our way back, we talked about how tired we were and hope to go together to the nearest restaurant to grab some food as soon as we have taken a little rest.

Our plans changed when the skies opened up, and it started raining heavily. The rain came down without warning for over three hours, and by 9 PM, I couldn't wait any longer, my stomach growled in tiredness.

When my instincts told me that the rain wasn't going to stop any soon, I took my umbrella and dashed out into the downpour, making my way to my course mate’s room.

I knocked on her door, and when she answered, the look on her face was showing frustration. She admitted that she couldn't wait any longer either, and without hesitating, we decided to venture out together, under the rain.

Today was one quiet Saturday morning. The sun was already out, but everything still felt slow, like the city wasn’t fully awake yet. I sat outside on the veranda, sipping garri and just looking around. I checked the clock again, 10 a.m. on the dot. Weekends used to be something I looked forward to, but lately, they just felt long and empty. I wasn’t even sure what to do with myself most of the time.

I could hear some kids playing football across the street, shouting and arguing over whether someone fouled or not. It reminded me of when I was a kid back in Delta. Every day after school, we would play football until our mothers shouted at us to come home. I smiled at the memory. Life was different now, though. At 23, everything just seemed harder and more complicated. Those carefree days felt like they belonged to someone else.

These days, I’m working as an installation agent for a many clients. It’s not exactly what I imagined for myself, but it’s what pays the bills, at least some of them. The way things are going in the country, it feels like my earnings disappears before the month is even halfway done. Right now, I’m down to my last cash, just enough for bread and maybe some Indomie to last me till Monday. It’s rough, but I’ve gotten used to it.

Just as I was lost in thought, my phone buzzed. A WhatsApp message from Jekwu. "Guy, wetin dey happen this weekend? Make we catch small cruise na!" I laughed a little when I saw the message. Jekwu was always up to something, always looking for where the fun was. But I wasn’t feeling it today. I quickly replied, "Baba, nothing dey o. Just chilling for house." I hit send and continued resting in my chair.

As if planned, the power went out. "NEPA!" I heard someone shout from down the road. I shook my head and laughed quietly to myself. This power issue had become part of life, so normal that nobody even complained anymore. I wondered if things would ever get better, maybe a better job, more money, or even a relationship that felt safe.

Later in the afternoon, I decided to stretch my legs and take a walk around the neighborhood. As I passed by the akara seller, even though I wished to buy, I only waved and kept going. For now, this quiet afternoon was enough for me.

I’ve always been the kind of person who prioritizes my time. As a serious student (not too serious oo), I try channel most of my energy into my academics and online learnings.
I'm still on a beginning journey in Coding, specifically Python and web development, I also do study the stock market statistics (I know it's a lot but theres no time).
After I realised that university was actually a place of learning (not basically the things we learn in classrooms), but informations we gather from other calibers of people and the environment at large.

I am aware that in this current era, majority invest their time and focus on airdrops and cryptocurrency, I’ve remained distantly detached from this field. The constant conversation about making quick gains, currency gambles, and jumping into the latest trends has never really appealed to me. I’ve always preferred to invest my time in things that build a solid foundation for my future (no brags 🥲)

However, just yesterday, a close friend of mine triggered a little change in my perspective.
He shared some motivational insights in crypto, stating that no matter how little time we think we have, we can always create time for activities that can be beneficial. This speech got to me because I knew that no matter how busy I usually am, there's always a little space/rest which I could utilize and do some airdrops.

I realized that while I often feel out of time, there are periods when I could take a break from my studies and over seriousness. Those moments don’t have to be wasted; I could explore crypto mining or dive into airdrops.

To cut the long story short, I began my airdrop journey yesterday after a long time away from anything related to crypto. As they say: no knowledge is a waste, and everything counts no matter how little.