Except you’ve been living under a rock; you already know that the latest thing to have taken over the world is Pokemon Go! Incase you don’t already know, Pokemon Go is a location based reality mobile game that requires you to have an internet compatible iOS or Andriod device which you then use via GPS or Camera to capture, train & battle with virtual creatures ~ Pokemon. One more mobile/internet distraction but hey! People are OBSESSED and I’m sure the creators are so happily smiling to bank… Ka-ching!!!
All seems like clean easy fun and shouldn’t be a big deal right? Yes! Except there have been several reports of people getting shot & killed especially in trigger-happy America when they enter other people’s property in search of virtual pokemons and the home owners mistake them for trespassers/burglars. But there are also the people who have nothing but great things to say about this game; like the mum of an autistic boy who is suddenly interacting with people and seems to be making a lot of developmental progress on the premise of enjoying Pokemon Go. There are also the group of people who infer that anyone who is into the game is childish & jobless [because you should be busy chasing that paper and making bank, not literally chasing some virtual devil creatures] Lol.
What a time to be alive!
However, as expected, there has been a lot of criticisms of this new game and while reading the arguments for/against on twitter the other day, someone tweeted this…….
“LET PEOPLE ENJOY THINGS”
Such a simple statement yet it has stayed with me since the first day I read it. Since then, there hasn’t been a day I don’t tweet it or say it out loud to myself. Words so simple yet so succinct! Words so simple yet so meaningful and impactful. Words so simple yet so far reaching in consequence &implication. Clearly that advice transcended the pokemon debate for me and suddenly held a far more important implication for me – let people enjoy things. In other words, live and let live! Basically, tolerate the opinions and behaviour of others so that they too will in turn similarly tolerate your own. It could all be this simple…..
LET PEOPLE ENJOY THINGS!
For example, I personally love to eat soggy cereal but so many people will barf at this [until they finally see the light] lol. When I make cereal, I sometimes pop it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to get the milk warm and soak the crunch. I’ve been called disgusting for this and I usually just laugh it off because this cereal is going into my mouth not yours; so why so anal? However, on the flip side, there have been many times I judged people for some of the food choices they enjoy too. Hypocrite much! Let people enjoy things…..
What about our church shenanigans? We dole out severe side eyes to anybody who is dancing too hard or shouting too much or just being hyperactive in general [normal day in a typical Nigerian church] while we are sat in our corner being all poised and chic. Of course, there is always that one brother or sister who always takes things too far [we call it “doing the most”] and roll our eyes at them every chance. No problem! Except, you don’t know their story and even if you did, how exactly is their loudness/hyperactivity affecting you personally? Let people enjoy things….
Don’t we all have that one person/account we love to hate on social media? We scrutinize everything they do or say, we help them count their money, we call them materialistic, we suggest that their lives aren’t nearly as flashy as they try to paint it, we love to moan & bitch about them all the time yet…. We never actually unfollow them. Why? Glutton for punishment? We argue with them about what constitutes their reality and fail to realize that our Sunday best is some people’s meh. See these fingers…. Let People Enjoy Things.
There was a time I could go out EVERY SINGLE DAY and club at least once a week. These days though, the mention of going to a club gives me instant headache and I just can’t anymore. I don’t know what changed, but something did and that’s all well & good. However, I see people who hang up the boots and suddenly start making weirdly condescending comments towards folks who still enjoy that hard core night life. Contrary to popular Nigerian opinion, going hard with the night life scene doesn’t mean the person is jobless or unserious about their life’s priorities. These days I enjoy lounges & chill music better than smoke filled rooms with boom speakers but that’s just me; if someone enjoys the latter, that’s their prerogative…. Let People Enjoy Things.
Say about gay people and their rights, you don’t have to agree with their choices but you also don’t have to actively seek them out and be hateful towards them. What they do in their personal life shouldn’t matter as long as it doesn’t personally affect yours.… it’s so simple. Let People Enjoy Things.
Obviously, some of these are just mundane everyday examples but we carry this behavior into even bigger life issues and it affects our quality of life at work, school, relationships, marriages, etc. where any opinion expressed that is in any way different from ours is deemed stupid/silly or where if anyone shows an interest in something we don’t particularly like or enjoy, we attempt to rubbish. Piss poor!
Imagine a world where we all purposefully lived in this truth – to not try and doctor or police people’s choices about things that have no direct impact on our personal lives – however different those things are to the things we like/enjoy.
Personally speaking, this is not an easy thing for me to do because I can be so set in my opinions and truly hate anything that disrupts my normal BUT I am challenging myself going forward to let people enjoy things; whatever those things are and however far removed they are from my reality. I will……
….…. Let People Enjoy Things.
Will you join me?
What do you promise to let people enjoy? Chime-in in the comments section below.
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PS: How have I been? I’ve been fantastic! Thank you guys for the check-ins, I appreciate them truly.

Still a beautiful baby girl 😀
I’ve been trying my hands at silhouette photography and below are some of my trials that turned out so well that I think I want to stop playing and truly learn this thing for real. What you say?

This is my fave!
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Have a lovely day xx
S.