Necessity Supersedes Preference -By Rabiu Oladele

When I woke up on this very good morning, I had to dress up for the day activities. I took my bath then go to my wardrobe to get the best outfit I wish to wear for the today, then I started thinking of what is the best for me to put on because I just feel like I should dress very good like it’s my birthday. Fortunately for me, the first jean I saw happens to be what I really love, in fact, it’s the first choice from all my jeans, then I kept searching for the top that best fits which I eventually got one. The next is to get to my shoe rack, I chose to wear a white converse that I like most, I also did all other necessary things just for me to get on the road, I finally set out for the day activity. As the normal Lagos boy that I am, I decided to join a Tata bus going from Ikorodu to Oshodi, I had to struggle to get a place to seat because there is always a lot of people that like to get that same bus because of its fare, very cheap compare to other transportation bus in that same route. Not more than 5 minutes that the driver started driving, the weather changed and it started raining, then the story changes. The bus was so bad that water started dropping from some portion of the roof, everyone had to start looking for the better place that the roof is still manageable. The rain continued till I got to my bus stop then I just had to come down anyways, that’s when I remembered that I have raincoat in my room, I also remembered that there was an umbrella that was gifted to me by Hally when I celebrated my last birthday which I ought to had go along with. I started blaming myself but what can I do but to get down from the bus and seek for shelter somewhere till the rain stops, the first step I took out of the bus was so disappointing because I stepped into a very dirty water, then I had to look for a way to get out of there quickly, I had no option than to just put the second leg in it and ran out of the water. I finally got shelter, then had to see through my outfit to see what I can do to clean up a little, it was still manageable till I got to see my footwear, that’s when I realized that it’s a white footwear but has changed to off-white due to the water I stepped into. That’s when I realized that I ought to have consider so many things before I chose the kind of outfit I should have worn, I should have known that it’s raining season and it can rain anytime and can affect my smooth journey

This happens to a lot of people so many times in so many different situation, we look more into what we prefer than what’s necessary for us. We like to see football match at the expense of doing things that will be of life benefit to us. Some likes to see movies for the whole day just because they are free, some even wants to be in front of their laptop computer from now till tomorrow just because they want to have fun. Doing all these is not too bad, in fact, they are very good in some circumstances, that’s when you are always putting consideration in it before doing them. Is it necessary for me to see a football match? Is it necessary for me to see that movie? Is it necessary for me to surf the internet at this hour? These simple questions about necessity and preference will definitely go a long way in helping us to prepare ourselves for what’s about to happen in future and avoid what’s avoidable.

I ended up not happy with myself that very day because I just had to go back home and get something good to wear because I was so dirty and couldn’t continue with my journey. From that day, I started putting necessity into consideration before preference in all I do, even at work, I consider what’s necessary to achieve my task before preference

You can also adopt this into everything you do and see how it changes you positively.