It was just another morning in Lagos. I was on my way to work. The traffic was serious as usual, and the air was a bit foggy—this was partly from the actual fog and mostly from the fumes happily escaping the exhausts of Danfo buses and other old vehicles moving slowly around me.
I was not able to travel home to Abuja during the 2019 Christmas break, so to catch up, I planned a vacation in June. I could picture the amazing trip with two of friends as well as y sibling. We were going to tour Abuja and as the saying goes, paint the city red.
The designer in me planned a list of things I would do. I had planned to; make a short cinematic video of the whole trip, take a proper picture of Zuma rock for Shutterstock, spend time at the Pool in Transcorp Hilton, take some portraits at millennium park and get a long exposure photograph of the Karu waterfall (making a mental note for the maybe 8th time in 3 months to set a reminder to get my tripod). Not bad for a 5-day trip.
Suddenly, in mid-February, the news of the pandemic started to spread like wildfire. I was in a car with my colleague whom I hitched a ride to work with, then the conversation ensued.
“This corona thing is getting serious; most countries are starting to close their borders and restrict travels,” he said to me.
“Yea it is. I wonder why ours is still open. I hope they close it before a case is recorded here,” I responded before my mind wandered away again.
Who would have thought that by April, travelling would be out of the question and I would be stuck indoors? The pandemic hit us on many levels. It was clear going outside wasn’t an option; in fact, as someone who prefers to prevent rather than cure, I didn’t step out of my crib for about three months in a row. I’d done some panic shopping.
Aside from the blurred lines of office vs home hours, as well as the demands on the internet that made network slow, I realise that my biggest problem was cooking. Yes, food. For breakfast, I’d rotate around different cereals and sandwiches, but lunch and dinner were a nightmare. I have never really liked cooking (for someone that loves food a lot) even though I know how to make a few really easy meals.
I knew I had to do something fast if I was to survive and not completely disappear from weightless. Thankfully, some of my colleagues came through with recipes; then there was also YouTube. I literally became a YouTube chef. Hmm, let’s just say there’s nothing we humans are not wired to adapt to, and technology has made adaptation easier. (Sadly, once stores opened up, I defaulted back to ordering food. #Sigh)
The pandemic is still here, unfortunately, but life is slowly returning to normal. We are all finding new ways to adapt—for some of us more easily than others. Who knows what 2021 will bring? All I know is that humans are born explorers, and we have the capacity to survive what life throws our way. Even in the New Year, we will continue to win.
