UTILIZING THE BEST OPTIONS

Let me begin by being honest, I don't like taking loans, especially because of the interest rates. If you normally read my posts you would have come across the time I shared my family's story and how much damage taking loans has done to my dad. This made me promise my mother never to follow that part, but then again, being a man isn't a day Job, in fact it is never easy especially in a country like Nigeria whose economy is suffering daily from inflation. I've been forced to break the promise I made to my mother because I needed to find a way to survive and at a point taking out a loan was the only way out. This is the reason I pull off all my Arsenals to hustle daily, so I don't get into a position where I have to take out a loan again.

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Some might say it's about discipline which to a point I might agree with, but then how do you expect a grown man whose salary is barely enough to carry him half way through the month and even side hustles are not coming as they should to survive for the next two weeks. It's true what they say, “Never say Never”. A lot of people who would tell you they detested loans have always had people to run to when they are in need or have always been able to manage the little they have because they only have themselves to look out for. I always tell them that I pray they never reach the point where people will depend on the little they have to survive with and when they look back, there is no support from anywhere. Truth is you never know how hot the fire is until it burns you. For me I used to think I would never take loans in my life until when I needed to write my final year project.

I would see a lot of my course mates calling their parents day to day and some even telling me what their parents were saying concerning the funds for their projects. A lot of those times I would literally want to cry because I had no one to call and would even have to share the little 10,000 naira monthly salary I was earning with my parents. I had two options, drop out of school, or borrow money from a loan app (which was my only source then after asking friends to lend me money). I looked at the funds I needed, looked at the current worth of my hive account, knowing that the deadline was fast approaching, if I should power down I wouldn't meet up, so I opted for the loan then powered down later on to pay back. This made me work harder than I ever did and find a way to fill up those hive leaving my account weekly. It's been over a year now, and I can say that if I had not made that decision, and stood by the promise I made to my mother, I would have become a school drop out.

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I wouldn't have found the opportunities I found to make more money, and I might have even been still broke to date because I also got a new phone with part of money I got from the loan. The fact that I had a loan to pay back was motivation for me to work harder than I thought I could. The job I am doing now came shortly after I got my phone and was able to handle a gig a friend gave me. Now imagine if I never got the loan, I wouldn't get a new phone, making me find another excuse not to do that job I got from my friend and thus killing the chance I had to secure a job. Who would have truly given me the money, today I look back and I'm grateful for where I'm coming from knowing it wasn't easy at all. My sister needed a support system for a business, something she too never had a year ago but does now all because I was able to make the hard choice of taking a loan.

Now this is not me saying taking a loan is good, in fact I wouldn't advise it. It wasn't easy paying back the loan, in fact at one point I had to take another loan to pay the loan I incurred because the power down money wasn't enough to cover the expenses at the time I needed it. There are things I would never do while taking loans, and they include; taking above my capability, taking loans to start up a business (I would rather not start that business at all) and lastly taking loans with no clue of how to pay back. For the last one, I earnestly pray I never encounter a situation that requires money I might never be able to get on my own, because solving the issue with a loan is a decision I pray I wouldn't have to make.

THIS IS MY RESPONSE TO HIVE LEARNER'S PROMPT FOR WEEK 136 EPISODE 3