Many at times, we find ourselves in a situation rather unpleasant and inconvenient, with the choices to leave or stay fully left to us to decide, but then we choose to remain in that situation till we can no longer bear it anymore.
Just like a frog placed in a pot full of water, and then the pot is placed on fire. At first, the frog enjoys the comfort of the water and decides to stay there. As time goes on, the water gets hot gradually, and as well it gets uncomfortable gradually. But instead for the frog to jump out while it still has it’s strength, it try’s to adjust it’s body temperature to that of the water’s until it can no longer bear the pain anymore. At this point, it try’s to jump out but has gotten too weak because of the temperature of the water till it dies in the water.
This is a brief story on how I kept enduring the pain of my formal lodge until I could no longer bear the inconvenience.
Some years ago, while I resumed my 200Level, I searched for, and found a lodge which is now my formal lodge. This lodge looked attractive from the start, it was fenced and well painted. Although the self contained rooms were very small but I decided to secure a room there due to the fact that the price was good for the room at the moment. Fifty five thousand Naira which converts to USD at roughly $110 a year.
I enjoyed this lodge for a couple of week until I started to experience all the hidden flaws of the lodge. Firstly, the interior was badly finished. When ever rain falls, even though my windows are closed, water from the rain finds its way in through the window frames and gets everything at it’s surroundings soaked.
Secondly, the doorframes and some corners of the room had opened spots that enabled cockroaches and crickets to live and reproduce inside. When night falls, they start to walk around on the walls of the room. Some times I kill up to ten cockroaches per night before sleeping.
Lastly, some times the borehole machine stops working, leaving us without water for days. Sometimes I had to go as far as the fourth house to fetch water.
I complained to the landlady, but she completely ignored. After experiencing an unpleasant stay for a year in the room and my rent got expired, what did I do? I paid for another year even with the fact that the price for the lodge increased. Thinking of the stress I would be going through looking for another lodge, and the stress of moving my belongings for one place to another made me decide to bear the inconvenience for another year, hoping that my complaints would be attended to.
I complained about the lodge again, but like before she ignored me again. After my rent got expired for the second time, I paid again for another year even with another increase in price. Yet I complained again, but was ignored again.
Due to the water entering my room when it rains, some of my property got spoiled, so I decided to find another lodge and move when my rent expires.
Towards the end of last year, I got a notice from my landlady, informing me that the house rent would be increased again, this time the price was more than two times the price I paid in my first year of leaving in the lodge. From $110 initial, I was told to pay $240, this pushed me to start looking for another lodge.
Luckily for me, I found a better lodge, bigger, well finished, closer to school, it has a security post, and at the same time, less expensive than what I was told to pay in my formal lodge. $210 converted to USD.
Yesterday was my first night in my new lodge, away from all the cockroaches that gave me countless nightmares for three years. Last night I enjoyed every bit of my sleep. If the price of my formal lodge wasn’t alleviated, I probably would have remained there, living a very inconvenient life till now.
Conclusively
I would encourage everyone that, when ever we are faced with an unpleasant situation, instead of trying to adjust to it, we should try to find our way out as soon as possible, before it gets rather unbearable.