I moved to a new location about a year ago, somewhere around central Lagos. My movement was simply because I was fed up with the lengthy hours I spent in Lagos traffic so I opted to stay in an area much closer to my place of work.

Securing an apartment in such a central location eased up my life as I was able to get more quality time to sleep and for other personal matters. But as they say, new realities come with new challenges. One of the major challenges I faced in my new apartment was the continuous invasion of what biologists will call Rattus Rattus aka rats. Damn! It was as if the whole rats in the neighborhood heard that there was a new guy around and they came to welcome me in their numbers.

I had to do a serious renovation of the apartment before moving in fully but somehow, there were a few holes in the room that were uncovered and this gave these “bandits” the avenue to majestically stroll in and out unhindered. At first, I wasn’t really bothered about closing up the holes as I was sure that there were no snakes in that particular area. After all, rats are less of a threat I said to myself but I was wrong. In fact, I paid dearly for my sheer negligence.

My house is like Bethlehem (meaning the place of bread) because food is one aspect I don’t joke with. I spend good money on food every month as I usually buy in bulk. To make things worse, I am usually not always at home except late at night till the next morning and on weekends. So this made my house a perfect arena where rats had their house parties. Damn! My beverages that used to be inside a cartoon were not spared in their daily treats.

I would usually get to the house exhausted every evening only to see at least 4 sachets of milo and 3 sachets of milk turned open by these “notorious invaders”. Painful but without a choice, I will quickly clean up the mess and dispose of those sachets in the trash can. Not only that, I will then change the location of where I put the beverages but to my greatest surprise, these rats would always find a way to the new location no matter how secured or highly placed I think they are. This cost me a lot of loss almost daily.
So one day, while I was thinking of ways to completely eliminate these “notorious bandits”, it strangely occurred to me that there were some life lessons I could learn from these unrelenting rats. Funny? Yes indeed! Here are some of the lessons I was able to learn.

First, rats are never afraid of exploring new places. Sometimes, we do not make significant progress in life because we are afraid of leaving our comfort zone whereas there are other ventures that can be more rewarding. Rats are never satisfied, they are always exploring new areas no matter the abundance around them. They are always ready to explore the unknown.

Second, rats are always hungry. They will never leave your food alone at any time they have the opportunity. This is another great lesson I learnt from these creatures. In life, never seize to make use of the opportunities that come your way. Hunger is needed for success. No man achieves something worthwhile in life without hunger. So stay hungry like these rats. Hunger inspires creativity.

Third, rats always find a way. This is probably the greatest lesson I have learned from these notorious creatures. Take for example, there was a time I got so concerned about the way these rats were messing up my beverages so I decided to keep them inside a locker in my desk. To me, I was sure without a doubt that it was the safest place in my room to keep such but I was wrong again. Unknown to me, there were some tiny spaces at the back of the desk. They were holes per se, it was just the way the desk was designed. So one day, I opened the locker because I wanted to make tea. Damn again! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the mess in there courtesy of these irritants.

Rats will always find a way because they are always searching. How often do you search for opportunities? Are you the type that easily gives up after a few attempts? Treasures are most times in hidden places, it takes continuous searching to hit them.

Lastly, rats eat anything for survival. They survive regardless. I had thought these rats would leave my room alone the day I finally got a place to hide my beverages but hell no. The moment they discovered that they could no longer access my beverages, they immediately switched to the bag of rice in my kitchen. The lesson here is that you should always be ready to embrace the next alternative as you might sometimes not get what you really desire in life. A lot of people are jobless today because they are looking for the most perfect opportunity so they choose to live on an empty stomach. Isn't that funny? Rats are not like that. Your first instinct in life should not be success but survival and in your trying to survive, you have to just take the options before you. I have seen pictures of iron pots eaten by rats before. You can search for that on Google if you don’t believe me. Rats will always survive no matter the situation.

Today's article is a very funny one but think of it, these life lessons that I elaborated above are worthy of note. I once told myself that, “rats can not be flourishing in my tiny room while I remain hopeless in a big world”. I will continue to fearlessly explore the unknown, stay hungry as I search for my treasures, and in any situation, I must find a way to survive.

Written by Ifedayo Oyewumi

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Rats motivational quotes