HOSEI WOMEN - ENJOY YOUR LIFE

I witnessed today, a woman that worked with her husband for over twenty years to build his business (before he threw her out of his house), start her own business, and my eyes welled up with tears of sorrow, pride and joy. Tears of sorrow because she has been cheated from enjoying the fruits of the labour of love she invested on her husband and his business. Tears of sorrow because I'm sure she didn't know when she was labouring over her husband's business that he would one day throw her out of his house and business, without a dime to her name.

Tears of sorrow because she had been paid evil for the good she did. According to her, she never received a salary for the twenty years she worked with the husband. She was in charge of the shop where the daily sales ran into hundreds of thousands of Naira, and she never took his money. She felt the money was for the family (the husband, children and herself), and since the husband was performing his responsibilities at home and to the children, he was taking care of her needs too, so there was no reason to take money for herself, ask for a salary or anything like that.

But twenty years down the line, she was stripped naked and left with nothing. All her investment and labour went down the drain. All she has now (and she is most grateful for them) are her beautiful children that are yet to find their feet so as to be able to take care of her.

Tears of sorrow for the pain, disappointment, regrets and depression she must have had to deal with as a woman that has been baptised with the fire of betrayal. Then I compared the woman standing before me with the one that came to me in tears three months ago, and my tears of sorrow turned into tears of pride.

Tears of pride for her strength, courage, faith, perseverance, and determination to still make a success of her life despite the horrors she has been through. Tears of pride because  instead of wasting her time and life on self-pity, pity-parties, begging to return to an abusive marriage that gives no joy, she took her life into her hands and God's. Trusting God and believing in herself to make a success of her life. Tears of pride because she made up her mind to protect and fight for her human rights, no matter what it takes, and she didn't weaken in her resolve. Tears of pride because she is standing against societal prejudices, criticism and condemnation with confidence and behaves as if they do not exist. 

Then tears of joy because her strength, courage and perseverance have finally paid off. She lives in a comfortable apartment and is the CEO of her own business. She is at peace looking beautiful and radiant. The joy and happiness in her eyes are priceless!

I reflected on life, its challenges and how people get different results as I drove away from her shop. The same thing that happened to this woman has happened and is happening to other women, and some of them are in mental institutions. Some have died, while some have turned into living dead people. The difference in outcome is due to the different attitudes towards life's challenge(s).

Here is this shero, enjoying a new lease of life because she believes that life is to be enjoyed and not to be endured. She trusted in her God and believed in herself enough to stay true to what she wants. She decided to start afresh rather than compromise and continue living a life of abuse and sorrow in luxury. May we all have the courage to enjoy and not endure life.

Life is to be enjoyed and not to be endured!