Two Years Ago I Had an Epiphany
Two years ago I woke up into an Epiphany, one that changed my life. I remember that day vividly but even more, the day before. A friend came into town and was declaring free drinks for all. Enugu is known for the abundance of its ever vibrant bars, lounges and beer parlours; all flowing with the milk and honey of alcoholic beverages. From green to brown to clear transparent bottles. I arrived the agreed venue, spotted our favourite table and the table was packed with all sorts of drinks. Sitting beside each bottle was a plate of Nkwobi, plates of pepper soup and extra spicy Abacha; this is the life I was born to live.
It was noon the next day, the day of my epiphany. I woke up in a strange bed, one I would later discover was one of my friends’.
“Where am I? What am I doing here?”
My head was pounding, skull throbbing… I could feel pins behind my eyes at every blink… Wait, wait, waiiit, I’m nauseous and sick and right there and then, at that very spot, I mouthed an honest whisper “I’m never drinking again”.
I picked up my phone and tried to find quick hangover remedies and found a chat from one my fitness and health freak friends, I replied his message and told him the situation I was in. He from a high horse told me how I was being irresponsible with my body and making choices that would harm me and my future.
"Quit Alcohol, Quit smoking, Quit Soda and all related fizzy drinks…", from down there I looked up to him, he clothed in a shinning white robe, holding tight to his high horse and dispensing these impossible orders. I closed my eyes to wrap my head around his ramblings and woke up into an epiphany: “I’m never drinking again”. It was 7:32pm.
I went home the next day and began to live the gospel. It was joke to everyone, a joke to me.
“How do you mean you’re never drinking again, even coke? Lol Joker”
I made water my best friend, started working out and started noticing the fruit stalls that I had never noticed before then.
It’s been over two years and I haven’t for once broken my pledge. I didn’t continue working out, I have gone back to taking coffee every once in a while (for my own sanity) but as for Alcohol, Fizzy drinks, Narcotics and everything related, they have become to me a thought from my past life, a life buried on the bed where I laid the day I woke up into this epiphany.
One Igbo Proverb says “The thing wey dey sweet pass, na ihn dey kill pass”. Choosing a healthy life hasn’t been “sweet” literally and metaphorically but I imagine it has been a great idea; I save more money now, water will forever be cheaper than Alcohol. Sadly fruits are expensive and are hardly as filling as Soda but hey, this is life. I may not be the best lover of fruits but I have found the ones I love and I’m eating the hell out of them. Apples, bananas, mangos, cucumbers, golden melons and watermelons don’t escape my weekly food menu. I would never care about Milk and Yoghurt, but both are finding their way into my weekly food mix. Water has stopped meaning a compulsory food flush but has become a fun beverage.
Two years plus gone, my friends fought me in the beginning, a couple are joining me on this path, yes not as strict or extreme as I but most are making healthier eating (and drinking) choices. Someday I might get knocked down by a truck, electrocuted by wild electrical connections, drowned by a flood or crushed by a falling building. Of all the thousand ways to die on earth, I’m sure beyond all reasonable doubt that I have a lower risk of dying while driving under the influence or of Liver Cirrhosis, Lung Cancer and Diabetes, and even if eventually I do die of these, I would die with a smile on my face knowing that I died trying.
