Over a week ago I started the “75 hard challenge”. For those who don’t know what it is, it’s a program designed by Andy Frisella where you have to complete 5 specific tasks everyday, for 75 days in a row.

You can learn more about it on the podcast.

Yeah, I fell off shortly after I started, that's why I'm on day 4 after about 2 weeks.

One of the daily tasks is doing two 45 minute workouts, of which one must be outdoors. So, I take a 45min walk every morning.

This morning I took a walk as well. But on my way back, I ran. No I didn’t take off like I’d gone crazy, it was more like jogging. And I didn’t stop till I got home. To you, that might be nothing. But to me, it’s a big deal.

One thing I’ve come to know about myself over the years is that I tire easily, especially when doing strenuous activities. I start to feel tired and a pain in my stomach. If I don’t sit to catch a breath, I begin to feel light-headed and eventually, I might black out.

Because of that I tend to avoid things that will make me exert a lot of energy for long amounts of time. But today was different.

Just before the halfway point to home, I saw two teenagers I’d passed on the way going. They were running back. That voice in my head went "let’s run a little". I tried to come up with excuses as to why I couldn’t, but it kept nudging and I said "fuck it, let’s go".

Last night I took a little lap around the compound, pacing myself, watching my breath and keeping my heart rate low. Turned out fine. Wasn’t tired after so I figured I could try it. And I did.

That was how I started, with the goal of getting a few poles ahead. Whenever I got to the target though, I pushed it further. And I kept pushing it till I got to this house.

By that time my legs were killing me, especially my right leg. I felt a lot of pain in it while walking. And now I was running. At some point though I stopped to check on my flip flops. Yeah I ran in flip flops. I’ll explain why in my next post.

After that I kept going till I got to that house. From there I wasn’t far from home, so I pushed myself and went the distance.

I paced myself, kept my breath under control and kept my heart rate steady. I didn't tire out like other times. The only issue was the pain in my legs. It was crazy. Something on the side of my left knee was swelling, the pain in my right fibula was intense, but I overcame the urge to stop, multiple times, and just kept pushing forward.

I kept going and somehow, the pain faded a bit. Long enough for me to get home.

I was damn proud of myself. And as soon as I took a seat, the pain started to hit. That has to be one of the worst pain I’ve ever felt. I thought it would last for days, but it’s ok now.

I’m excited for who I’ll become at the end of these 75 days. Still got 71 more days to go. Let’s go!!

I think what really happened was I got tired. I got tired of creating posts for my page, of being stuck while I saw others grow, of being broke, of basically feeling like I was wasting my time on all that shit. It all just dawned on me one day and I thought to myself “What’s the point of all this? I’m just wasting my time running in circles”. So I decided to leave it alone for a while and focus on some other stuff.

What other stuff? Well for starters, me. I decided to work on being better and productive, and also to learn how I could step out of the broke-zone. I decided to straighten out my priorities and kind of just go with the flow. So was I successful? I won’t really say yes, but it’s all a work in progress. At the moment though I’m back on social, because I realized that no matter how small, I still built an audience and I gotta keep building and bringing what little value I can to them, while still learning how to build a monthly stream of income for myself.

The thing is, sometimes you just need to disconnect to be able to make a connection. I did a poll on my IG Page when I came back online asking if I should talk about the reason for my absence and well, here you go. I’ll be sharing my thoughts on here as often as I can.

If you got to this point, thank you for reading. — Larry.

Every time we try to deviate from the “norms” and do something different with our lives, we always hear people — especially parents and relatives — say we should be realistic, get a real job, do this and do that. That we shouldn’t take such risks and just do what we’re supposed to do.

Here’s the reality: “Life itself is full of risks”. Everyday we live, we face a million ways to die. You could be crossing the road, get hit by a car and die on the spot. You could slip in the shower, get a heart attack, get mugged and stabbed or shot, maybe get caught up in a robbery gone wrong, kidnapped, bitten by a deadly snake, encounter an angry mob and get beaten to death.

You could be driving and the wheels come off your car, the brakes could go on the highway at top speed, steering wheel could lock, you could slip on the stairs and hit your head on the edge of it, hell you could get in a ghastly accident while test driving to get your license. I mean, you ain’t even gotten the license yet and it could just end like that… There’s countless ways it could all just come to an end.

And then what? What happens to the “real” job and being realistic and all that? Like all the things I just mentioned ain’t real or only happen in movies. All we can do is pray and take precautions. One thing I’ve realized is that there are no guarantees in life. Anything can happen at any time.

Why then should it be different when it comes to what you want to do? Why should you give up the things you want for yourself and what you want your life to be like and settle for what everyone else is settling for? Why?

We’re advised to not take risks, play it safe and do the normal thing to do, but going through life everyday we face a million risks without even knowing it. So how valid is that advise? It’s as a result of the way we’ve all been programmed as humans to believe certain bullshit and discard other things that are also 100% possible.

I think by now you get the point I’m trying to make so I’ma end on this note; do what you feel in your heart that you should do, because that’s what you should do.

— Larry Niro.

1. Because I had a 1000 Naira note with me and most drivers said they didn’t have any change. The fare was just 50 bucks.
2. The governor banned the normal means of transportation, tricycles (normally known as keke), so it was proper taxis but you had to squeeze in as they carried like 4 people at the back and 2 in front.

With all that going on, I had a suspicion that the travel fare would increase, and I was right. Anyway I had to breakdown the money I had with me so I had to buy some stuff which lessened the cash I had to travel with. Finally, after trekking for a while, I got a taxi to the park and boarded a bus going to my home town.

It was a long journey. Finally got to Umuahia at around past 8, good news. Bad news was, I didn’t have enough to take me home. After everything, all I was left with was N70 and the fare to my house was now N100. They claimed it was due to the recent fuel scarcity. I was dead in my tracks, hungry and tired, bag in hand and not knowing what to do. I started pleading with drivers, telling them that all I had was 70 bucks but they wouldn’t listen. I kept at it tho, with any bus/car that was going my way until finally I found my cue.

I heard a little commotion behind me and headed towards it. Turns out the passengers had refused to pay 100 bucks and insisted on 70. I smiled and I stuck with that lot till another bus came around and agreed to our terms. I was on my way home. I got into town at around past 8 but I stepped into the house around past 9.

I had no other option but to plead with the drivers and be patient while I waited for my opportunity. Sometimes the journey to success is much similar. You just have to keep going at it and be patient as well while still believing that your opportunity will come. Little wonder they say sometimes you gotta burn the bridges you come over so you have no means of going back. It’s either succeed or perish.

Be persistent, be patient, keep believing.

— Larry Niro.

There’s quite a few reasons one might experience shit like that; could be irritation, someone got on your nerves, heart break, maybe your mind messing with you a bit, virtually anything. Maybe you just take a look around and see the situation that you’re in, and it just goes downhill from that moment. I think that’s it, most times, for me. Sometimes when I think about it and realize that I’m not where I want to be in life yet, when I remember all the problems and challenges I’m faced with, things I gotta do and accomplish and realize that I’m nowhere near, it just gets me upset and frustrated. I see it though, as one of those things we experience as humans.

At times like these, mostly I’d just find a quiet place and be alone, so I don’t take it out on someone else, letting it all run through my head and sometimes my mouth if I feel like it. I let it run its course. I just let whatever needs to be laid out get laid out so I know, yeah this is how I feel, this is what’s going on. I just sit back, let the tape play and pay attention. What brought about this feeling? Sometimes it can last for a while, maybe an hour tops, but when the class is over I ask myself, “How can I prevent this from happening again?”

Yeah everyone is saying positive thoughts this and that, and it’s very important to keep a positive mindset, but sometimes the negative shit stills finds its way in and plays around a little bit. I see no problem with that, we’re only human after all. The problem comes when you let thoughts and feelings like that find a place to settle in, that’s when they start to play Russian Roulette up there and shit starts to get all messed up.

Be careful about the thoughts you harbor in your head ‘cos believe it or not thoughts are things and sooner or later, those things will manifest.

What do you do when you feel down? Leave a comment. And a big thank you goes out to all those who’ve been with me so far, I appreciate it.

Cheers — Niro

One thing I know for sure is that I love and have a passion for music, and from when I discovered that I was blessed with a voice not so many have, I can’t see myself doing anything else but making music for the rest of my life.

As for the “why do I want to do this” part, I’ve decided to start documenting my journey and use this as a medium for self discovery also. See what I did there? I was gon’ wait till I got a better phone so I could start taking better pictures, making videos and shit for social media but “why not just start?” I thought to myself, so here we are. After a while of searching for opportunities online, I decided to get started with affiliate marketing to generate some funds to sponsor my music and create opportunities for myself as well as build a steady income stream online. Still in the works but we’re getting there.

With all that being said, welcome to what may be a window into my life. I’ll try to post regularly about what’s on my mind and thoughts I want to document and also provide value in any way I can. You can connect with me via social media — just search @larryniro and reach out if you see someone that looks like the picture above.

Have a good one. — Larry Niro