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Re-define your downtime

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There is a saying that goes “the days that break us are the days that make us”; this saying found expression in me these past few days.

On the 11th of March, 2023; at about 10:30pm, my friend reached out to me on WhatsApp and said “Honour, your site is down”. I was already in bed trying to sleep and in my usual act, I was trying to respond to few messages before I marry the goddess of sleep.

On seeing that my site was inaccessible, I first of all asked him being a tech guy “what was wrong”? After so much checking, he asked me to go and sleep and that he will work on it. I woke up to his message early hours on Sunday morning which was the next day that my blog was back.

I was happy and tried checking through my phone and discovered it was redirecting to another site. Wow, what is this? I said to myself; I reached out to him and notified him; he said there is a high possibility that my blog has been hacked.

Hearing this, water clustered in my eyes and I was really scared to see what I have built for 2years crash in a day. I fought back the tears and went to church. I reminded God about his covenant for my blog and I danced before him.

Much later, I reached out to my boss and explained the issue to him, he also said there is a high possibility that the blog was hacked but I should reach out to someone who is a tech guy and good with blogs.

I reached out to him, after days of battling to know what was wrong? Why the blog was not going on the phone and the system? He also confirmed that it was hacked and also it had another technical issue; making two things we needed to fight.

Personally, I am problem solving oriented person. Being one, I asked him if these problem can be solved; he affirmed they can be solved. Meanwhile, all through these periods, I was almost entering depression from various thoughts.

Eventually, the blog was fixed and here we are. However, during these days, I learnt some lessons which I will share below:

  1. Know your source (God): God is the giver of ideas and he knows the end from the beginning. The author behind the idea that birth my blog is God and I didn’t waste time to run back to him.Is God the source of your business? It is very easy to forget God because we do not see him; we are used to running to men first for help. It is important to cultivate the habit of running to God first when things are going well and when they are not too. It sets our heart on peace.
  1. Build quality relationships: during the days that my blog was down, I sent out a BC to my readers that my blog was down and I won’t be making any post till further notice. Some of my friends reached out to encourage me, some kept checking my blog to keep tabs. They kept reaching out to check up on me. Quality is key over quantity when it comes to building relationships. There is a saying that goes thus “friends brighten our days during dark moments”. As you journey through life, build quality relationships; friends that are intentional about you. Also, in your field or sphere of influence, build relationships especially with people that know more than you and understands your journey. I was able to place calls to one or two people as regards my blog for help.
  1. Find opportunity in every bad situation: it is very easy to throw oneself into despair when there is an unpleasant situation. The mind is an extraordinary garden that needs to be cultivated to think positively during unpleasant times. During my blog downtime, I engaged in asking questions about technical issues relating to my blog. I saw it as an avenue to grow my tech knowledge, I didn’t just fold my hands and sit back while they work on the site. I followed through with them on every process. Anytime I was asked to click something, I will ask first “what is this? Why do you want to install it? What is the plugin function? These helped me to expand my knowledge.
  1. Having more than one skill is an advantage: during these periods of my blog downtime, at first it felt like my whole life was crumbled. I love my blog so much; I love the fact that I am a blogger. Blogging is one of my many skills. Another of my many skills is writing; during these periods, I did not fold my hands, I continued working as the writer that I am. I engaged in different academic writing gigs and I engaged myself. Also, I diverted my attention to educative videos on creating some means of income. During this period too, I was selected as a speaker for an online program. It is very important to have streams of skills so as to position yourself better in the opportunity world. Build skills that you are good at and can leverage on.

These are my learned lessons during the downtime of my blog. Challenges will come, how do you intend to handle it? Build capacity within before you build capacity without!!

 

 

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