THE IP MAG

  Hi, I’m Sam ,   I want to thank the official and unofficial content creators who take pride, care, and joy in capturing and sharing moments on social media. It’s one thing to capture moments either for personal use or public consumption or for both and it’s another thing to share it. My perfect evening is lying on a soft bed or sofa in a very unusual but very comfortable position scrolling through Instagram or X and Tiktok (I'm still trying to get used to tiktok though) and taking in all the funny, beautiful, educational content on social media and honestly scrolling through social media might seem like a waste of time for a lot of people but it helps me be creative and fine-tune my creative ideas.    I think there are different ways we can choose to look at life; some may believe that life is slow for them because they've not gotten to the stage where they would like to do certain things but unfortunately, they can't do those things, other might think that...

Hi, I’m Sam , When it comes to opening up to people, I follow my instincts to trust so easily and I've never been burnt from that which is why I think I still do it. I don't think there is anything about or in my life at this moment that at least 2 persons are unaware of. My circle is pretty tight but not everyone in my circle knows absolutely everything. I don't open up to anyone in my circle with any atom of fear of lack of confidentiality. I think one of the reasons why I tend to overshare is because I want to hold myself and be held accountable for whatever I say.  If I share a plan, I want to be held responsible to make sure I work hard enough to achieve whatever it is I say. Telling someone for me means putting it out into the universe and won't be able to lie and say I never wanted to do that or never said such a thing.   I have always had this intense fear and discomfort with sharing anything about me especially my thoughts on the internet. It took a lot of ...

Hi, I’m Sam If you read my previous post you will know that I am very uncomfortable being the center of attention ( Read here ) but I saw this as an opportunity to try to work on myself and get comfortable at receiving compliments and it really did work.

  Hi, I’m Sam,   We count it all joy and a blessing when we wake up each morning, and each morning comes with the absolute undiluted feeling of a new beginning, a fresh and can-do spirit. As the days continue, knowingly or unknowingly we are open to creating and maintaining relationships with people in different areas of our lives; it may be our neighbors, a familiar taxi man, an attendant or owner of the store we frequent, our colleagues, the roadside seller who tries to convince us to buy what we clearly do not need, our relatives, etc. The chances of increasing the closeness or distance we might have with any of these people increases with each day we come in contact with them and as such we unknowingly decide what extent we can go for them. We can be having a not-so-good morning and still choose to politely decline to buy what we clearly do not need no matter how persuasive the seller might be, we just unconsciously decide what extent to go not to ruin the relationship...

Hi, I’m Sam,  

  Hi, I’m Sam,   "I am one with my body, spirit and soul and I am attentive to my being" Paying rapt attention is very important in everything we do. A lot of us have mastered the art of paying attention to a lot of things except for ourselves. It doesn't take so much to pay attention to our bodies and feelings but at the same time, it’s not also an easy thing to do.  

  Hi, I’m Sam, Read Part 1 For someone whose coping mechanism is to suppress emotion, I didn’t know any other way and never thought any other thing would work for me. As I tried to tie up some loose ends I kept having the urge to find answers to how I was feeling but how did I think I would be able to find the answers if I didn’t unpack and try to make sense of my feelings? Somehow I really felt like unpacking for me was a sign of weakness and bitching and I didn’t want to come off that way to anyone, most especially to myself.  

Hi, I’m Sam, Every living thing is made up of something tangible. Humans are made up of things outside our biological makeup. Our knowledge, learnings, desires, wishes, surroundings, and experiences. As a result of all these, no two humans are completely the same and as such cannot understand another person even if you experience the same thing.  

Hi, I'm Sam, We are living in an era of multiple eras happening all at once. We have so much to do and achieve that sometimes it’s ok to be selfish with your time but we still need to be intentional in coming through for the real ones in our lives whenever they need us because the truth is, we will also need them from time to time. Putting someone first or being intentional with someone in your life only works when you're in their top 5. You can waste care, love, genuine intentions, and sacrifice on someone who has no regard and probably won't do the same for you if the role or tables were turned. This is not promoting the attitude of being good or doing things because of what we stand to gain but the intuition to know where to plant and nurture to stay away from wasted efforts  

  Hi, I’m Sam,   One of the things in my life I have to get better at is taking compliments and trying not to panic whenever someone puts me on the spot. It's not like I would fumble or embarrass myself if that happens, I simply do not like it and it makes me uncomfortable and I cannot say why. As much as I want to be prepared to speak or do anything, I've also realized of late that I still talk and act on the spot; if I rehearse what to say or do, I end up doing what I feel or think in the moment of action and most times it comes out better than what I rehearsed or the same but never worse.   I've thought long and hard as to why I don't appreciate being the center of attention even though I'm someone who loves to ask questions and to be heard whenever I speak. I don't feel comfortable receiving multiple compliments at the same time or simultaneously, I don't like when a group of people ask for my opinion and I also believe that is one of the major r...

 Hi, I’m Sam, Are you scared to be the villain in a story?   Even when we don't consciously think about it, everything we do or say can be seen, heard, or interpreted from a particular POV and the powerless thing is that we often don't decide or instruct what POV to look at them from. It is not within our power to dictate what angle people should look at things. And as a result of that, we may not appear as spotless as we'd wish to be in every situation with our involvement. All you can do is explain yourself if you want to but the fact that you're not explaining yourself to a robot means that the individual still has the right to decide what POV to understand your explanation.  

  Hi, I’m Sam, I just finished reading a novel called “ Blessing ” written by Chukwuebuka Ibeh and the book brought back a lot of feelings about secondary school and boarding school which were kinda sweet. Believe me when I say boarding school was not a lot of fun but for some reason this book made me remember only the interesting aspects of it.

  Hi, I’m Sam,   Please permit me to rant a little, well it’s not going to be a rant per se but as always, I'm getting this off my chest. Art in this case means entertainment. Whether we see it or not, agree with it or not, entertainment has changed; I’m not really sure if it’s changed positively or negatively but I am very sure there has been some sort of shift.   First off, Art, or in this case entertainment is subjective; it is personal which ultimately means you enjoy what you enjoy, it absolutely doesn’t matter what someone else thinks about it or has to say about it. I would also like to think that making/ consuming art is also subjective which is ultimately the reason why everyone who makes art can never make the same thing and people who consume art cannot enjoy every art available. This is where variety comes into play. My mood affects my chances of enjoying any form of art; what I enjoy when I’m sad is different from what I enjoy when I’m happy, some peo...

Hi, I’m Sam,   I like to think that I’m a nice guy and I think I’m also a people pleaser; I’m beginning to learn not to displease myself to please other people. All was good until I nearly choked to death and still didn’t complain because I was trying to be a nice person.  

  Hi, I’m Sam,   Growing up my father always said this quote "Don't be ashamed of anything except Sin" and he was never shy to say it to whoever cared to listen and whenever someone would point out he was doing something seemingly below his level like washing the car or sweeping. I was just thinking the other day, what are we ashamed of in recent times?, and looking at the current trend of content on social media, I don’t think a lot of people seem to be ashamed of a lot of things because people share so much that they leave very little to the imagination of other social media users.  

  Hi, I’m Sam,   On some  days  I always say to myself, “At some  point   Sam  you are going to start going to Therapy” because there are some coping mechanisms I use concerning my emotions that I am not 100% sure are healthy  but  I  still use them and probably will continue using it until I know better and truth be told, this coping mechanism come easy to me and works like magic, who does not care for a short cut once in a while.

DO YOU THINK THAT MAKES YOU WEAK?   Hi, I’m Sam,   One of the  hardest  questions for me to answer  is  "What is your weakness?" Because I find the question broad  and   most times  when I ever get to answer that  question  I always ask for clarity, like give me context. The answer to that question depends on the context , for  instance  saying  that I'm a slow reader as a weakness is irrelevant or not applicable if you were asked that question in a military recruitment. No human has just one weakness  and  weaknesses differ from  Individual  to  individual . What you may consider a weakness in  yourself,  most likely will be listed as a strength to another individual.  A lot of  young people take their time to identify and focus on their weaknesses instead of their strengths  and   they  do it with another person's blueprint.  They can list more than ...

Hi, I’m Sam,   One of the easiest mistakes we make in life as human beings not only as Africans is thinking we are all alone and it always manifests in a negative situation. Whenever something happens we automatically feel like our situation is the worst and that we can never get over it or out of the situation. Whenever anything is about to happen to me or it has already happened, I always say to myself if it is a negative thing, “It’s well” or “It could be worse” and once I say that I get a realization that as bad as I think things are someone else is probably wishing it was like that for them; just like a dead person would rather be in a hospital bed, and someone confined to a hospital bed would rather just be on bed rest and the person on bed rest would rather be healthy and the healthy person would rather have a job to pay bills and the person with a job would rather want to be rich and famous and the rich and famous would rather have a simple life and the person with a si...

  Hi, I’m Sam,     Everything is not always as it seems, and that can be positive or negative. This doesn't mean you should go around with trust issues or disbelief with anything and everything someone says. I want to talk about this from a personal point of view. We would be able to love ourselves more if we could ask ourselves questions and give ourselves very honest answers. We can deceive people but we cannot deceive or lie to ourselves. Looking deep into ourselves, tracing our patterns and past decisions does not only help us perform a predictive analysis, in this case, it helps us understand and know ourselves more than we think we do. A lot of people are really scared of knowing their genuine selves which is why they prefer to live by other people’s rules or even do the opposite of what they want. Some people have mastered the art of not being themselves that they don't live like themselves and they don't copy people either; it’s almost as if they're in betwe...

Hi, I’m Sam,   For different people “freedom” means different things. Although my dad is a Bishop and my mum was a teacher, I wasn’t caged (as most people would say) growing up but I still grew up with strict morals and ethics which I also hold dear to my heart. I had a curfew but it was not official. I wasn’t allowed to do some things and that made me not misbehave when I got into the University but in some people’s cases it made them go wild. I started driving at 16, I can still remember going to the license office to get my learner’s permit. After getting it I was so excited but to my surprise, it wasn’t like a “driver’s license”, it was more like a photocopied sack letter only that it had my passport photograph on it; I wasn’t too excited anymore about the learner’s permit because I wanted to fill up those spaces in my wallet that could fit a driver’s license or an ATM card. Days after getting it I became scared to drive because every night before going to bed I would start...

Hi, I’m Sam, I remember back in 2013 when I was being home-schooled, my teacher only taught me 4 hours every day so I had the rest of the day all to myself. I won’t say my life then was boring but at the same time there was no action and it was a big transition going from being in a boarding school where you’re surrounded by fellow students be it seniors, your mates, or juniors to being homeschooled, so I had a lot of adjusting to do.  

Hi, I’m Sam   I’ve learned to live freely not nonchalantly, I don’t stress over anything; I strive to experience peace in every situation around me and at any stage. That is the best thing that can happen to anyone; Living in Christ. You don’t get to stress if a deal falls through, you don’t stress when you are in a tough position, you generally don’t stress about anything because deep down you have every belief that someone capable is handling things on your behalf then you let go of things that are not vital; things that take away your peace of mind. The good news is that the really good things in our lives are not heavy, so we can accommodate so much of it and thrive at the same time. When I say I don’t stress about things, I don’t mean that I don’t care about things or that I don’t work hard for the things I want. I work smart and hard for things but it doesn’t mean I should make it a life-or-death issue and go against my beliefs and ethics just to get them.    ...

Hi, I’m Sam   Everything not always going my way is something else I’ve come to accept; weeks after my mum passed we were having our usual morning prayer and I had to ask a question that had been bothering me. I asked that, all the time my mum was sick I prayed to God for healing all the time and had faith as well, but in the end, mum died, was it that everyone that was praying for her, myself included didn’t have the right faith or our faith wasn’t strong or big enough or was it that God didn’t hear our prayer or just didn’t want to answer? My Dad's chaplain explained to me that morning that there’s something called The Sovereignty of God; that God can make a decision contrary to what we wanted and no matter what his decision was, it was always in our best interest whether we could see it or not. I wasn’t angry at God that Mum was no more, I was just confused. I learned early in life that God’s Will would be done at all times and that is why anytime I find myself in a tough sp...

" Beauty is conceived, which brings out the aesthetic or experience of art and beauty is a primary bridge, to me it signifies the real representation of anything that anyone holds to be beautiful "  - Jennifer, founder of Jenny's Beauty Lounge How are you doing lately and hope you had a good day? I’m doing well, I had a good and stressful day but we thank God   Can you tell me a little about your background and what exactly about your background that inspired you to start a business? While growing up I’ve always loved anything that concerns beauty and I love to try new things as long as there’s money in it, most times I literally sleep on people’s pages or YouTube channels trying to see how it goes and then after trying other businesses and moving to a new town which I'm not used to, I studied the environment and got to find out that the people here love anything that brings out their beauty which took me back to my first love which is beauty (makeup) but inst...