The Tellrhodes Blog

FACTS ABOUT LIFE  "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes: James 4:14 " Recently, I was privileged to learn what life is really all about. What is life? Why are we living? Are we living just because we find ourselves alive or because we really don't have a choice? Or is it because we have a purpose? Here are some facts about life I learnt: 1.Life is a gift. It was freely given to us and hence must be lived to the pleasure of the giver. 2. Life is a privilege. It must never be taken for granted. Nobody wakes up with a plan to do so. We are opportuned to see each new day, hence life must be lived in and with appreciation. 3. Life is a seed. How you live today determines where you will be tomorrow. You reap what you sow therefore, sow wisely. 4. Life is a game. In a game you either win or lose. Live to win and not to lose. 5. Life is a vapour. Live on the edge; Live with a sense...

EMPTY LOSS (PART 1) Dozis returned back from work and found his 2 months old daughter wailing loudly in the hands of the house help who looked distraught and helpless. "Take her to her mother', he ordered. "Madam has refused to tend to her, she didn't even answer me when I left the baby with her earlier", the maid replied. Dozie stormed angrily into the bedroom and found his wife, Lola on the bed in the same position he saw her when he left for the office in the morning. "Can't you hear the baby crying? what is wrong with you? Why are you behaving like this? " Lola didn't even seem to hear him. It was like she was lost in her own world. Something snapped in Dozie which made him to shake her violently. "I am talking to you woman", he said. Lola turned to look at him as if he just suddenly appeared. "I am sorry, what did you say? " she asked. "Go and attend to your baby", he said. "Oh, okay", but she mad...

THROWBACK THURSDAY: THE AWKWARD MARRIAGE PROPOSAL OF THAT YEAR Hey fam, let's take a break from all the pandemic wahala and take a trip down memory lane to my awkward marriage proposal. Yeah you read that right, someone actually proposed to me, small girl like me 😆😆. So it was in my final year, two weeks to final exams and you know how fly someone can be feeling at a time like that. Especially during the FYB week (final year brethren week),social media suffered from my pictures. Unknown to me brother Tee saw this pictures o. And bros is way older, like 10 years or so older, I actually looked up to him as an older brother. That fateful day he saw my pictures on facebook and remembered that I exist. That's how he called me and after asking about my well being he started giving me advice on how I should not go back to study medicine (I wanted badly to study medicine but since I wasn't given at first, I had the intention to go back after my 1st degree to study medicine),...

COVID-19 WAHALA!!! In the face of the recent events, i.e. the covid-19 pandemic, Nigerians are literally staying safe ooo.... Come and see people with different types of face masks and hand gloves!!! You will see one fine slay mama, makeup on fleet with face mask and hand gloves. The fear of covid-19 is the beginning of safety!!! Basically all discussions have been centered on the coronavirus. Trust Nigerians to turn everything to a business opportunity. Some people have even started hand sanitizers factory in their houses. Even ordinary disposable face masks have become gold.  That is how one sister with gloves who was sharing tracts tried to give me one, I just told her "sister,  I would have collected this from you o, but because of your gloves I won't ". I know we are all trying to stay safe and all but please stay safe and protect others too. Don't wear gloves for the whole part of the day, then try to give someone with that same hands still in gloves. We...

COVID 19 SAFETY/HYGIENE TIPS Hey people!  Welcome to yet another edition of "Inside Life with Gbemi ". As we know, the  world is battling Covid 19 pandemic and I  know most of us have been sensitized about the virus, how to prevent its spread and safety tips to observe. However, it's still surprising to see some people coughing and sneezing with their mouths wide open. We know you might not be infected still, the right thing to do when you cough or sneeze is to use a tissue or handkerchief or handtowel. Anyway, here is a quick reminder of safety tips we need to observe (if you are reading this and you've not stated doing any of this, please start today). Wash your hands regularly with soap and water. Regularly should not be just twice a day but anytime you come across water and soap. Instances where water and soap isn't available please get an alcohol-based hand sanitizer and use regularly. Avoid touching of eyes,  nose and mouth with dirty hands. This might...

ACCEPT THE "CALL" On my way to work this morning, the preacher in the bus said something that struck my heart. He was urging those who have the "call" to ministry to accept. He said "if pastors like Oyedepo,  Kumuyi, Adeboye, etc. refused to heed the "call" of God, many souls would have perished and meant will still be perishing". Hmm, how true this is. Imagine if Oyedepo refused to heed God's call... Most people are refusing to heed their "call". It might not be a call to go into ministry or start a church, it might be a call to become a teacher or a medical practitioner or a singer or a fashion designer or a hair stylist or even a nanny. It's funny right but seriously imagine if Rhoda hadn't heed the "call" to become a blogger (I wouldn't have thought of putting my writing skills to the test ). You might be thinking "what it's my call? what am I meant to do in life?". Your call is actually ...

NAMES! NAMES!! NAMES!!! When you meet a person for the first time and you want to get to know that person, the first thing to do is to get the person's name. In this thing called life, name is actually very important. In fact, your name is your identity. Some tribes in Nigeria, particularly the Yoruba tribe are very meticulous about names. This is why they sometimes tend to give their children names according to the circumstances surrounding their birth e.g. names like "Abidemi" are given to children whose fathers were not around when they were born, or "Babtunde" or they give very long names (names that the space given on waec answer sheet could not contain😁 e.g "Jesuwapelumititilai"😂). I remember then in 2015 when parents were all giving their kids Goodluck because of the former president of Nigeria. Any 5 year old child bearing Goodluck was born during Goodluck Evele Jonathan's time as president. I once met a little boy called "Overt...

Cervical Cancer Sensitization Cervical cancer, commonly known as cancer of the cervix is a malignant tumour of the cervix. The cervix is the lowermost part of the uterus otherwise known as the "mouth of the womb". The cervical cancer has been reported by WHO to be the fourth most recent case of cancer in women. Though women over 30 years are at risk of cervical cancer, recently younger women especially those sexually active are also at risk. The major cause of cancer of the cervix is the Human papillomavirus (HPV), which can be transmitted sexually. As a result, some men have been discovered to be a dormant carrier of the HPV infection. However, not ask with the HPV infection develop cervical cancer. Risk factors of cancer of the cervix include being sexually active at a very young age, having multiple sexual partners or your partner having multiple sexual partners, smoking, weak immune system, birth control pills. Also, people with a family history of cancer are at risk...

WHAT MAKES THE LEFT HAND DIFFERENT FROM THE RIGHT HAND? Growing up as a Yoruba girl, I was taught to never use my left hand to accept or give anything to an elderly person and of course you can imagine how extra Yoruba parents/elders are. I am sure most of us were taught the same thing. That left hand should be used only in the toilet and never to eat or write or accept and give things. I recently absentmindedly gave a friend in church a pen with my left hand because he was  seated at my left hand side and the next thing he told me was "why are you using your left hand to give me the pen, what's wrong with your right hand?" I was like, "what's wrong with using my left hand? hand na hand abeg". The poor guy tried to tell me it was wrong, but he never said what was actually wrong with using the left hand. Well almost everyone in Nigeria agrees that using your left hand to give or accept things is wrong but this got me thinking about the south-paws (left-...

VALENTINE SPECIAL- LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF I can perceive love in the air!!! One thing that never seems to amaze me is how a word this simple have a very strong meaning. It's one of the most freely used words ever.  "Love your neighbour as yourself" was given as a command in the Bible but as simple as it seems, most times we actually overlook it. Saying "I love you" to someone is not enough when your attitude towards that person tells a different thing entirely. Learn to express and show love even to strangers. I know it might be difficult because in this age and time, everyone is suspicious of anyone they come in contact with but no matter how difficult it is, let's put effort to show love. Everyday should be a love special day. A smile, a liitle help, a call or text message counts. However, one of the things I've learnt in life is that your can't love your neighbour if you don't love yourself first. I mean the commandment says ...

MY SKIN CARE JOURNEY Are you one of those who do the whole fresh girl/boy, fresh skin without putting any efforts. Like, you are just fresh, you can't help it. No acne, pimples, spots or any skin problems. As in "fine girl/boy no pimples" kinda person. Well up until recently I was like that. You know, no skin issues, just fresh and fine like that, all natural with shiny skin (you know those kind of skin that people always admire and compliment), I mean I don't have time to stress myself following one strict skin care regime. The whole story changed o when I started seeing one pimple, two pimples rashes and all on my face. Seriously I was devastated because well I'm a girl na and of course I want to hear, "wow, your skin looks beautiful, what cream do you use? and not, Gbemi, what's wrong with your face? 😌. All these unnecessary attention on my face, abeg I don't want it. This made me to quickly give myself brain and know that I had to do somethin...

HAPPINESS 101: BE GRATEFUL ALWAYS Remember the hymn that says:"count your blessings name then one by one , count your blessings see what the lord has done, count your blessings name then one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done".  The song is all about being grateful. In our day-to-day hustle of to-do lists and meeting deadlines, most times it is way easy to block out details of our days and we end up forgetting that each day has its own important gifts to be thankful for. You want to live a happy and fulfilled life? Then be grateful for everything you have. Dwell on what you have and be thankful for them. No need to worry over what you don't have. Worry never gives solutions to problems.  Zig Ziglar once said, “gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely that you will have even more to express gratitude for.” Gratitude is one attitude we need to imbibe this new year. From...