When life shows you pepper, make peppersoup!

     Whether or not you are a fan of motivational quotes, you might be familiar with this quite popular one on making the best of life challenges: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Source: Pinterest

     Of the various versions and interpretations to this, my favorite is the Nigerian version which I found both funny and deep:
“When life shows you pepper, make peppersoup!”

Source: Ofilispeaks.com

When I stumbled on this quote on Natural Nigerian’s facebook page about two years ago, it hit me strongly because it’s much more relatable than the lemons and lemonade version and brought the message closer home. Moreover, if I had to choose between lemonade and peppersoup, it would be peppersoup all the way!! Catfish peppersoup to be precise, along with a bottle of very chilled drink to wash it down.

Source: 9jaFoodie

Pardon my digression, the semi-foodie in me wants to shine, lol. Moving on …..

     Life happens sometimes all the time, which is why I substituted the “if” with “when” in the picture above. Plans fall apart, the unexpected and unplanned happens, tragedy hits, mistakes are made, disappointments and failures come, etc. But the simple message in this (and other clichés) is to take it all in stride and turn the problems and negativity into something positive.  More like, create beauty out of ugly situations.

Here’s my interpretation:

1. See problems as growth challenges: Without problems, we’d be stuck and wasting away in our comfort zones. So, why not see them as challenges that serve to bring out push us out of our comfort zones to get better? No matter the outcome, let’s seek to grow and learn from the experiences. The lessons could be more patience, self-discovery and improvement, trust or even a tougher skin towards life situations.

For all we know, these problems might not matter anymore some time later, but the experience and the positive things we’ve gained from them will always stay with us.

2. Turn the challenges into opportunities: A lot of things can be brought out of bad situations once we see the value in them. Take for example, Dr.Ola Orekunrin-Brown who lost her sister to a health crisis because no air ambulance could reach them fast enough. She later started Flying Doctors Nigeria, the first air ambulance company in West Africa which works round the clock to save lives by providing swift ambulance services among others.

Flying Doctors

See? Life showed her pepper and she made delicious peppersoup!

Check out this hilarious one too:

He made art out of his baldness!

3. Learn from mistakes and move on: Made a mistake? Well, you might as well learn from it and improve rather than just sit there regretting. Sometimes these mistakes are meant to teach us not to make bigger ones later and improve our judgement. No matter the losses, the most important thing is to learn the lessons and move on. Here’s an inspiring lyric screenshot from one of my favorite rappers, NF.

     Obviously, all this is easier said than done and sometimes we don’t even know how to go about them, but trying is way better than moping, whining and staying down. Whatever life brings, we can either choose to accept it like that or turn it into something better and make things happen for ourselves and others.

I stumbled (I sure stumble a lot, lol) on this interesting book on Okadabooks which I think might be helpful. You can get it here and thank me later.

How to make peppersoup

In summary, whenever life happens and shows you pepper, make peppersoup and please, don’t just stop there. Go ahead and open a peppersoup joint and make a hella money out of it!

• What do you think about the Nigerian twist to the quote?
• What quote(s) do you live by and recommend?
• What’s your own interpretation to this?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below and if you enjoyed this, please like, share and subscribe.

Thanks and enjoy your peppersoup!

  – The Value Adder™