We hear of fire outbreaks in Lagos Island every now and then but none has ever hurt as much as the recent one. This fire didn’t stop at swallowing shops, goods, and livelihoods, it also burned through dreams, aspirations, memories and sense of security as it claimed the lives of people.
And for traders, business owners, colleagues, relatives and even onlookers (including those of us online) who watched helplessly the fire added a new weight on the mind.
For many, it also stirred up fear, anxiety, restlessness, and the grief and trauma doesn’t stop when the fire is put out.
Healing, both financial and emotional, is now just as important as rebuilding walls, shops and resuming the hustle.
If you’re one of those whose sleep is different now, whose coffee doesn’t taste the same, or whose heart races when the generator hums too close, then this is for you.
Here are solid ways to recover, heal, and protect your mental peace without expensive therapy (though that helps too)
Talk It Out
You might not agree but speaking about what you saw, lost, or felt matters.
Find someone you trust — whether it’s a friend or family member, neighbour, religious leader or prayer group, fellow trader or colleague and share your story, don’t bottle it up.
Sometimes, speaking the fear aloud reduces its power.
We Nigerians are communal by nature; carrying the load together makes it lighter.
Limit the News
Yes, you want updates, but constant replays of the trauma on social media will only reopen wounds.
Give yourself permission to step away from the news sometimes.
Ground Yourself With Small Acts of Control
You know what they say about small acts of control and relief. So when everything feels uncertain, do tiny things you can control like:
Clean up/rearrange a corner of your house or work desk. Restock your shop with small affordable items.
Make a to-do list with three easy tasks. These small wins help remind your brain: “I’m still in charge of some things.”
Breathe, Move, Rest
After disruption, routines anchor us. Wake up, eat, rest, work, sleep around the same times.
Take deep breathing exercises: inhale for count of 4, hold 2, exhale for 6. A few minutes of these can calm a racing heart.
Stretch/Walk around your room. Do some light exercises. The body remembers trauma — movement helps unfreeze that memory.
Create a small comfort routine: a quiet cup of tea, lighting a candle, putting on music you love before bed.
Sleep hygiene is real — Lights off, phone down, short calming prayers/music before bed. Your body heals your mind.
Humour and Faith Are Medicine Too
We Nigerians are famous for laughter in the storm.
Humour, memes, jokes, playful banter doesn’t minimize pain; it gives you breathing space. And faith, prayers, spiritual songs, church or mosque routines, many find that deeply calming.
So use humour and faith. Laugh where you can, pray when you need to. Both release tension and restore hope.
Mind Your Food & Drinks
When stressed, it’s easy to depend on energy drinks, beer, or endless coffee but these only increase anxiety.
Eat balanced meals — even if it’s just rice and beans with vegetables. Your body needs fuel to fight stress.
RELATED: 7 Nigerian Foods & Spices That Heal from Within
Manage Financial Stress Step by Step
You can do this by breaking down your business recovery into small goals (e.g., restock ₦20k goods first before thinking of ₦2m capital).
You could also join cooperative societies/microfinance groups for support and stay on the lookout for relief funds or government recovery programs if announced.
Remember: you don’t have to bounce back all at once.
Use Your Support Network
Don’t isolate yourself. Isolation makes stress worse; connection heals.
Stay connected with people. Call, text, visit someone or let them visit you. Share a laugh, a memory, a cry.
Community matters. That sense of belonging can pull you out of that dark hole.
Express It
Finding other ways to express what you feel are easy ways to get release. If you don’t want to talk about it, journal, pray, create.
Write down your thoughts, sketch what you felt, paint, dance, sing — expression helps. Even if it’s just to scribble in a notebook or make voice notes you may never share.
Getting the trauma out helps.
Seek Professional Help if It Persists
If the anxiety, sadness, or nightmares persist for weeks or months, please seek professional help.
Therapy is not weakness; it’s wisdom. Psychologists, counsellors, or mental health clinics can support you.
The fire may have scarred lives, buildings and pockets, but it doesn’t have to scar your mind permanently.
Healing takes time, but every step from breathing deeply, laughing with friends, praying in community, to rebuilding with small wins matters.
Be patient with yourself, remember: you survived. That itself is victory.
The goal now isn’t to “move on” overnight, but to move forward, one small, hopeful step at a time. Because true strength isn’t just built by what you survive — it’s built by how you live after.
If you found this article helpful, share it with a loved one, colleague or neighbour. You never know, you might be saving a life.
818 Responses
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks
I was reading through some of your content on this internet site and I believe this web site is very informative ! Continue posting .
Follow Me – This is exactly what I needed today. Appreciate the insight!
I like your quality that you put into your writing . Please do continue with more like this.
Make $150 per day learning Yoga on Instagram ! Make your body light and your pockets heavy each week, by helping a Yoga teacher to post content on Instagram. She has 1.5 million followers on her Instagram and has to post daily to maintain the reach of her posts. If you know how to post content on Instagram, then be a candidate for this position. See the complete details here: http://social-media-jobs.advertising4you.co.uk
I haven¦t checked in here for some time since I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are good quality so I guess I¦ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
A colleague in the field told me to check out your website.
Howdy I wanted to write a new remark on this page for you to be able to tell you just how much i actually Enjoyed reading this read. I have to run off to work but want to leave ya a simple comment. I saved you So will be returning following work in order to go through more of yer quality posts. Keep up the good work.
Nice Post. It’s really a very good article. I noticed all your important points. Thanks.
Surprisingly good post. I really found your primary webpage and additionally wanted to suggest that have essentially enjoyed searching your website blog posts. Whatever the case I’ll always be subscribing to your entire supply and I hope you jot down ever again soon!
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It in fact used to be a entertainment account it. Look complex to more delivered agreeable from you! By the way, how can we keep up a correspondence?
Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing some research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile Thus let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch! “Never let inexperience get in the way of ambition.” by Terry Josephson.
I’ll immediately snatch your rss as I can not find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or newsletter service. Do you have any? Please allow me understand in order that I may just subscribe. Thanks.
Everyone loves what you guys are usually up too. This type of clever work and exposure! Keep up the great works guys I’ve incorporated you guys to my personal blogroll.
I’ve recently started a website, the information you provide on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
I’m impressed, I need to say. Really rarely do I encounter a blog that’s both educational and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head.
Hi, I just hopped over to your web-site through StumbleUpon. Not somthing I might typically browse, but I liked your views none the less. Thanks for making something worthy of reading through.
i enjoy reading this great article, i have shared it many times on my website and started following you, Do you post more often ?? i am the owner of https://webdesignagenturbayreuth.de/ a webdesign agency in bayreuth Germany, webdesign agentur bayreuth, you can link up if you are interested. Thank you
Saw your material, and hope you publish more soon.
Nice read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing some research on that. And he just bought me lunch since I found it for him smile Therefore let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch!
Ahaa, its good conversation concerning this post at this place at this webpage, I have read all that, so now me also commenting at this place.
Lovely just what I was looking for.Thanks to the author for taking his clock time on this one.
Great post. Just a heads up – I am running Ubuntu with the beta of Firefox and the navigation of your blog is kind of broken for me.
Well done! Keep up this quality!
I love what you’ve created here, this is definitely one of my favorite sites to visit.
What i don’t realize is actually how you’re now not really a lot more neatly-liked than you might be now. You’re so intelligent. You recognize therefore considerably on the subject of this matter, produced me individually imagine it from a lot of various angles. Its like men and women aren’t involved until it is one thing to do with Lady gaga! Your personal stuffs great. Always deal with it up!
Respect to author, some superb entropy.
I real thankful to find this internet site on bing, just what I was looking for : D as well bookmarked.
Excellent post but I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject?
I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further.
Cheers!
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an incredibly
long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up.
Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say fantastic blog!
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be really something which I
think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and very broad for me.
I’m looking forward for your next post, I will try to
get the hang of it!
I like this website because so much utile material on here : D.
Good write-up. I certainly appreciate this site.
Keep writing!
Hi! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I genuinely enjoy reading through your articles. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects? Thanks a lot!
Hello to all, it’s really a fastidious for me to visit
this website, it contains useful Information.
Saved as a favorite, I really like your blog!
I got what you intend,saved to favorites, very decent internet site.
Ahaa, its good conversation regarding this piece of writing here at this web site, I have read all that, so at this time me also commenting here.
I discovered your blog website on google and check a few of your early posts. Proceed to keep up the very good operate. I just additional up your RSS feed to my MSN Information Reader. In search of ahead to studying extra from you later on!…
Undeniably consider that that you said. Your favourite reason seemed to be at the net the simplest factor to bear in mind of. I say to you, I certainly get irked whilst other folks think about worries that they just do not understand about. You managed to hit the nail upon the highest and defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , other folks can take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thank you
Our communities really need to deal with this.
Definitely consider that which you said. Your favourite justification appeared to be on the net the simplest factor to understand of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed at the same time as other folks consider worries that they just do not recognise about. You controlled to hit the nail upon the top and defined out the whole thing with no need side effect , other folks can take a signal. Will likely be again to get more. Thank you
You are my aspiration, I have few web logs and rarely run out from to brand.
I wanted to thank you for this good read!! I definitely enjoyed every little bit of it.
I’ve got you bookmarked to look at new things you post…
Those are yours alright! . We at least need to get these people stealing images to start blogging! They probably just did a image search and grabbed them. They look good though!
Thank you for some other informative website. The place else may I get that type of information written in such an ideal means? I have a challenge that I am simply now operating on, and I have been on the look out for such information.
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks
It’s hard to find knowledgeable people on this topic, but you sound like you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
Great article! I really appreciate the way you explained everything so clearly – it feels like you put a lot of effort into making it useful for readers. I’ve been exploring different tools and resources myself, It’s been a game changer for me, and reading your post actually gave me even more ideas on how to apply it. Thanks for sharing such valuable insights!
obviously like your web-site however you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts.
Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I in finding it very troublesome to inform the truth nevertheless
I’ll surely come back again.