Author: jacquelineobyikocha

A wordsmith with a vivid imagination, an eager mind and a burning desire to carve out tales. As I journey with my muse to that land of all possibilities and self discovery, I hope my personal evolution will serve as a beacon of inspiration for anyone who chooses to stop by.
Blogging

Mini pause…

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I haven’t been posting as much for various reasons. I needed to take a mini pause. Sometimes, you pause in life to recount your plot and your steps. You pause to trace and ensure that you are still walking in alignment with your aspirations and goals. Sometimes, we stop running on auto and pause to take a deep breath, to review things with a clearer mind and regain or retain our vision.

The challenge with running on autopilot is that it begins to feel like someone else is driving, and not us. Our brains tend to develop an unconscious decision-making system so we can take care of routine tasks. It prevents us from overloading, yet at the same time it creates a monotony that can become predictably boring.

I realized that my days had quietly slid into autopilot, and I almost didn’t know how to backtrack and switch off. Here are some of the things I noticed about my autopilot mode:

My routine became highly predictable and filled with repetitive activities that were no longer so satisfying.

It seemed as if I was always on the go even when I wasn’t moving. I was not pausing long enough to reflect on how I was feeling or what I was doing. I was either busy, distracted, or both.

It felt as if I never had enough time to accomplish much and I was left feeling guilty, with the need to meet so many expectations.

A lingering sense of dissatisfaction and that need to meet up with unnamed expectations.

I have to keep consciously reminding myself that the autopilot mode of lifestyle is not the only form of living, but slow, intentional and conscious lifestyle helps me stay focused on my purpose and goals. Am I meeting them? Are they satisfying? If not, why not?

For me, a pause is more than slowing down. It means creating space to start paying attention, it means not letting my routine dictate my life and become like a noose. It means bringing more mindfulness to my daily life.

Humans

What Kind Of Humans Have We Become…

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Every time I scroll the streets of social media, one’s eyes and ears are flooded with gut-wrenching and horrifying news that befuddles the mind. Whether news from Nigeria, UK, South Africa, US etc. There’s always some gory story of man’s inhumanity to man, but in these cases, it’s mostly women that are the target and victims of predatory men.  Empathy is almost ziltch.
Self-serving Immediate gratification on all time high.

Bad, ugly behaviour abounds.
When seasoned old doctors, teachers, nurses, etc are gone what happens
Really, what kind of humans are we raising?
The girls are losing their items of clothing a few more inches each day.

Our lives can only be richer when we are at peace not only with ourselves but with our fellow man. This is simply common sense, yet it’s amazing at the amount of virulent diatribe that emanates from people these days. Social media sometimes turns into war zones and I wonder where and how people get so much energy for such negativity.

It really takes a whole lot more energy to hate than to love. Love is a natural expression which emanates from the abundance within and when it’s there, it’s just there.

…and it’s sometimes perplexing to think of how exhausted a mind that spends all its time being fueled on misery and negativity must be.

Guide To Better Living · Health

How to Maximize Muscle Recovery: 3 Key Ways

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If you want to build strength, improve your overall fitness, and prevent injuries, then you should focus on muscle recovery. It can be tempting to overtrain at times, in the hope of fast-tracking growth. 

But rest is absolutely necessary, allowing muscles to repair the microscopic tears that are caused by exercise, and this will result in stronger, more resilient muscles. Knowing how to recover your muscles the best way can provide the best results, so this post is here to help.

In this post, you will learn of the three key methods to maximize muscle growth; all of which are tailored to those who enjoy physical activity.

Incorporate Active Recovery

Although some people will think letting their bodies recover requires complete rest, which is known as passive recovery, this is not the case. In fact, removing movement from your workout routine with the aim of recovering can lead to muscle stiffness and other issues. This is why active recovery is preferred by many, as it can prevent injuries and reduce muscle soreness.

However, ensuring you incorporate active recovery correctly is important. It can be tempting to push your body further at times, but this must be avoided. Instead, active recovery will see you engage in low-intensity physical activity, like walking or swimming, to help your muscles mend more effectively. 

One way to do this is through Zone 2 training. Zone 2 training should involve exercising at a low-to-moderate intensity, roughly 60%-70% of your maximum heart rate. This can be incorporated into rest days to increase blood flow and oxygen delivery to muscles, and this is crucial to remove metabolic waste and facilitate muscle repair. The benefits of Zone 2 training don’t end there, though, as it can also enhance athletic performance and improve endurance capacity.

Fuel Your Muscles

The right food is important in many aspects of life, and muscle recovery is no different. It is vital to fuel your muscles, especially after exercise. With proper nutrition, your body receives the building blocks and energy needed to reduce inflammation, repair muscle damage, and replenish glycogen stores. All of this can lead to faster recovery.

There are key nutrients that are required for effective muscle recovery – carbs, healthy fats, and protein. Carbs, or carbohydrates, are needed to refill glycogen stores and assist protein absorption. Healthy fats, like fatty fish and nuts, help to reduce inflammation and can contribute to overall recovery. Protein is crucial to repairing muscle tissue, and it is advised to consume 20g-30g of protein in a post-workout meal.

Prioritize Sleep

As you sleep, your body works to repair itself. This means your body is rebuilding muscle tissue, releasing growth hormones, and restoring energy. If you do not get enough sleep, then these processes can be hindered, which could impact muscle growth and overall recovery. To ensure your muscles, and the rest of your body, recovers well, you must get enough sleep.

Making high-quality sleep a priority for your health includes aiming for seven to nine hours of sleep per night. This can be achieved by establishing a consistent sleep schedule and optimizing your sleep environment. Doing this will help you achieve restful and uninterrupted sleep.

To conclude, there are multiple ways to maximize muscle recovery, with this post listing three of the key methods. These steps are essential to complete to ensure your body remains healthy and capable of regular exercise.

Life · Musings

No lazy mornings for me…

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The school year is almost done over here, and I am left with so much mixed feelings. I am thankful for the fact that I will get some downtime to relax and rejuvenate as well as pursue my personal interests and passion. I most definitely won’t miss the early morning rush, though I still plan to wake up early and start my day with early morning walks and some work on personal projects. So, instead of lazy mornings during the holidays, I will fit in power naps and binge-watching movies during the day.

Some of my mixed feelings come from existential crisis of asking myself ‘is this it?’ ‘Are there other things that I should be doing instead of being confined within the margins of just getting by?’ ‘What next?’

Over the years, I have dabbled into so many things, my career trajectory has changed over and over again and except for the years before getting married and having children, I realize that most of my choices thus far have bordered on having a job and living in a survival mode of work, pay bills, repeat again and again, and to say the least, I am disenfranchised with living in such manner. My life is meant to be lived beyond mere existence and having near and dear one’s battle to save their lives from terminal illness has only highlighted this quandary for me.

I am praying that these forthcoming days of vacation will not only be tranquil, but they will also allow me time for deep reflection to gain more clarity. I may not know the direction of the future that lies before me, but I know that God knows and as He keeps my heart with Him, He will grant me uncommon understanding and vision.

Uncategorized

If only the world is run by women…

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No, it is not a biased view because I am a woman, but because by virtue we are more empathetic, considerate, peaceful, and it does seem that we have more commonsense right now. Hear me out and after, you can argue with your keyboard.

I am tired of waking up each morning to one ugly news or bombing and goodness knows what; all perpetrated by narcissistic men with inflated egos, trying to show whose balls are bigger – meanwhile, some balls are shriveled, and some are non-existent.

I went to sleep with heavy concern about the bombing in Doha, after having to leave the mall where I was running some errands a little earlier than expected as the air was tense with whispers and they closed earlier than usual. It’s not so easy to cozy up under your duvet when trouble seems to be brewing all around the world and you are left wondering where all these shenanigans would lead.

Now back to my main thoughts, if women ruled the world there wouldn’t be any wars except maybe cold, silent wars with blocking each other here and there. We would have countries jealous of each other and trying to outdo themselves in the contest of ‘my country is the most beautiful country in the world.’

As women in leadership, we won’t start any needless skirmish that would require sending our sons to fight in another man’s land – maybe our exes if need be 😉

Our offspring will have no need to migrate to another woman’s home because we will do our darned best to see that they are fed and cared for in our beautiful country so that they won’t have to go to live in our jealous neighbour’s country to disgrace us.

We will definitely have disagreements that result into juicy gossips, long silences, countries unfollowing each other, blocking on all social media platforms, international shading and side-eyes, fighting through coded photos on Instagram, WhatsApp groups, Twitter, text messages et al.

If women ran the helm of affairs, we would be so focused on working hard at creating beautiful, clean and stylish cities, improving our health systems, educational systems, public infrastructures, homes for all, and raising decent men and women… so much so that the world would generally progress even if a lot of the progress is as a result of envy and jealousy borne out of the zeal to outdo each other.

If women ruled the world… a fantasy that might seem so far-fetched right now, but who knows what the future holds. At present, Finland is a case in point and whilst destructive missiles are floating over our heads in destructive mode, let me make my thoughts happy with my imaginations.

Though this is written in humour, deep inside I do know that the world would be way safer and happier with women running it.

Over to you.

Musings

Not on the books…

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Yeah, I have been sitting for a while, waiting for this thunderbolt of passion to hit me; waiting for a groundbreaking sense of urgency to drive my fingers to zeal and relentless pursuit.

But, ding-dong, it’s never going to happen. Months and years have passed by and that thunderbolt is still somewhere doing bench press and is probably worn out from too many reps.

I laugh at you without mirth. Dahling, no passion, no zeal, no zest, no thunderbolt of any sort is heading your way if you don’t find the latent passion that lies within.

This is my little voice calling me to order. I am tired of listening to you say things like, when this happens and when that happens and if only things weren’t so and so, then I would have been doing all those wonderful things that I want to do.

In full tirade, my little voice got louder and sterner. It just never works that way. It’s not in the books and never has been. Life doesn’t happen in a linear fashion and the ducks are never simply ever going to all be in a row. One of the ducks must want to fluff their wings and cluck away. Something will always go not as planned, so, the question my lady is… how long are you going to wait for passion to kindle itself? Why don’t you start with the embers within? Who knows, you might start a raging burn.

Personal story · This Is My Life

Unapologetic…

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When I was much younger, I was never too comfortable in my own skin. At some point, I felt too tall and lanky and at other points, too busty and whatever not.

Gradually, I learned to do things with false bravado and doing them scared. I worked hard at trying to fit in by shrinking myself just to be liked by others.

My naivety was painful and I ended up being used or abused.

Life is a real teacher and I have long realised that shrinking myself from who I am to who I am not has never been about me, but about those who I struggled to fit into the box they wanted me to be in.

I have long learned that life created you to create a life for yourself and oftentimes, it means relearning how to live and be yourself authentically.

It means taking up space unapologetically without pushing anyone down to do so.

It means that I am enough and not too much. Anyone who thinks that I am too much doesn’t matter and should not belong to those I call my tribe.

My shift in mindset stems from the need to live fully. It emanates from a desire to prioritize self-authenticity and self-respect.

I know that standing my ground, could potentially discomfort others, but I have also come to understand that the right people will accept and celebrate all of me, will not be afraid of my living out loud nor seek to cut me down to manageable size.

The decision to no longer shrink, to take up space came after so many years of self-sabotage. I refuse to be a “background player” in my own life struggling to fit into strictures designed by others.

“A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and herself only.” Maya Angelou

food · Good Ideas · Guide To Better Living · life skills

Three Common Cooking Hazards and How to Prevent Them.

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Cooking in the kitchen can be an enjoyable experience for many people. For some, it is an opportunity to destress after a long day at work, while it can be the reason behind their stress for others. Not only that, but your cooking experience will also depend on how prepared you are.

The best way to be prepared and safe is to follow a certain criterion to ensure the meals made are high-quality. This will include understanding the most common cooking hazards that can occur in the kitchen. Luckily, this post lists three of them below as well as how to prevent them from happening.

Knife Injuries

One of the most common injuries to occur in the kitchen is related to knives. In fact, according to Beaumont Emergency Hospital, roughly 350,000 Americans are injured by kitchen knives annually. Although people might imagine that many of these will relate to slips or other accidents, knife injuries can actually happen a lot easier. 

Blunt knives are often more dangerous than sharp knives. This is because they require lots more pressure to cut through meats and vegetables, and this pressure can lead to accidents where the individual injures themselves or someone close by. A sharp kitchen knife will cut through foods and ingredients with ease, making the cooking experience much more convenient and enjoyable.

To avoid knife injuries from happening in your kitchen, you should ensure knives are cleaned and stored appropriately to prevent damage. It is also wise to invest in a knife sharpener to maintain your kitchen knives properly and keep their edges honed.

Cross-Contamination

Another common cooking hazard that can come from the kitchen is cross-contamination. Cross-contamination is the spread of harmful bacteria from raw food to other foods, equipment, and surfaces, which can lead to food poisoning. Raw foods, such as meat, poultry, and seafood, can carry bacteria like E. coli and Salmonella. These bacteria can be transferred and cause illness if they come into contact with ready-to-eat foods, surfaces, and utensils.

Practicing good hygiene is necessary to prevent this. The sources of cross-contamination, such as chopping boards, knives, and hands, should be cleaned properly after handling raw food. It is also important to separate raw and cooked foods throughout the kitchen, including in the refrigerator, and wipe down all surfaces thoroughly. Not doing this could increase the risk of food poisoning, and this can range from mild to severe sickness. It is thought that roughly 9.9 million Americans get sick from a foodborne illness each year.

Grease Buildup

The third and final cooking hazard on this list is grease buildup. This might sound like a small issue, but grease can be highly flammable and can ignite at relatively low temperatures. Grease can accumulate in exhaust hoods, ventilation systems, and other kitchen areas, and this could ignite and cause a fire at some point. 

There are other hazards associated with grease buildup in the kitchen. Due to the smell, grease buildup can attract rodents and other pests. Following the scent, these pests view the buildup as a direct food source. This is a serious health risk, too, due to the diseases rodents carry, like hantavirus and leptospirosis. To conclude, there are multiple hazards that can occur when cooking, and the three listed above are some of the most common. Cooking can be a dangerous experience, so it is essential to maintain a clean kitchen.

Guide To Better Living

This is why you feel let down…

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More times than we can count, we feel let down, disappointed and even hurt when our expectations are not met by others. It is so normal to have expectations from people around us. If you work, you expect to be paid by your employer. If you are in a relationship, you expect to be treated right by your partner and the list goes on. 

However, over the years, I have learnt to curb my expectations from others and thereby minimize the level of disappointments that I experience. Just as we can’t expect our jobs to meet all our needs – financially, socially, emotionally, etc., especially when the take-home from certain jobs barely gets you to the bus-stop, we can’t look to others – like our partners – to fix all our problems as individuals.

That is too much responsibility to place on someone’s shoulders and a major set up for a letdown. Of course, this is not an attempt to let people off from being accountable and responsible. Naturally, there’s a minimum expectancy that comes with whatever role someone plays in your life without wanting them to assume a God role for you, because as humans, that is IMPOSSIBLE. 

Just so you know, those gaps in us that can’t be filled by anyone can only be filled by The Divine. Once you understand this, you will stop beating yourself and others up, for falling short of certain expectations. Understanding this ensures that your demands are realistic and balanced. Above all else, you protect your mental health.

 

 

Writing

Inspiration is habit based.

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Writer’s block occurs when we lose the habit of writing waiting on inspiration to hit us so that we can come up with a blockbuster and an unputdownable creative piece. I have come to understand that it is simply not so. Writing is like every other skill and craft that requires practice. The more you do it, the better you become at it. Waiting on your writing muse to visit you with creative thoughts might mean waiting forever and the longer it takes to work on your skills, the further away you are from your writer’s dreams.

Just as we need to make time for those things that are important to us, we equally need to make time for our crafts, if we have any aspiration of it/them becoming a worthwhile venture. My biggest struggle has always been creating substantial time to get to work on my various writing and art projects ‘cos working fulltime and balancing other aspects of my life especially the creative part is most definitely not as easy as one would expect.

By the end of the day, I am mentally exhausted that the thought of putting thoughts on paper or computer seems almost herculean. Being a morning person, my first waking up hours are spent trying to get in some snatches of exercise, prayer and hurrying off to work, then my break time/lunch time is used up tried to quickly curate a video or two for my social media platforms. Sometimes, I wonder if I am ever going to find that wonderful chunk of time on a daily basis that would help me to cultivate a stable writing routine.

This post is an attempt to put my thoughts into words.

On the other hand, with the plethora of AI apps popping up every single day and with people resorting to AI to generate eBooks, this and that, what do you think the future looks like for writing professionals?