air-clinic weekly contest: stress, the quest to make ends meet.

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I blinked my eyes open one Saturday afternoon and immediately realized that I was lying on the floor outside of a Mall, where I had just finished shopping. My last memory was paying the bill and heading outside to board a taxi, because I suddenly wasn't feeling well and desperately wanted to get home. My next realization was that @air-clinic ambulance was there. I couldn’t move my body, so my eyes blinked sporadically back and forth to understand the situation and my surroundings. My blood pressure was so low that the ambulance crew had to wait until I was stable enough to physically move me to a stretcher.
I had fainted face flat at the top of a short set of stairs. The impact broke the bone around my nose region. I suffered through 6 months of painful and expensive reconstructive surgeries and procedures. Countless tests were performed to find out the reason why I had fainted that day. Medications were prescribed to address the dizzy spells and chest pains that sporadically followed.

Till this point, I was one lucky young man. I moved to Lagos after graduating university with my sights set on building a career. Over the years I have built the kind of life I wanted for myself. I was proud of my accomplishments but pushed further for a particular dream.

Here’s the thing, I’m not that different from anyone trying to be successful anywhere until my doctor told me that my latest trauma was as a result of over working myself. He said almost every health related issue could inevitably be drawn to stress. I had absorbed many responsibilities after the massive layoff at my work place. I thought about work incessantly. I couldn’t turn off, I checked my mails constantly. I even dreamed of work, sometimes confusing what was real and what had manifested in my slumber.
I have learnt to manage stress now, I close at work early and go for medical checkups regularly. success still means a lot to me but what is success worth if I'm not alive to enjoy it.

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