You Can’t Outrun Your Environment

Or Maybe You Can…

I was in the middle of an important call recently when my internet service started acting up. I have about three internet service providers, so I thought it should be a quick switch from one to the other, but on that day, all three conspired and decided not to work. This meant I could not continue a call I was coordinating.

After the call, I reached out to the people on the call, and some of them responded with how reliable the internet is in their part of the world, to which I responded, “Well, regardless of how hard you try, you can’t outrun your environment.”

I live in Nigeria with several problems that are more pressing than someone somewhere being unable to connect with his colleagues for a quick meeting.

Infact while the call was an important one, this episode is the least of my real-life experiences of how your environment can impact you, change the entire course of your life, or even make or mar you. I recall when we were going to have our son, my wife had been admitted to probably one of the best hospitals in the country. The electricity kept cutting out during a routine procedure. I can’t remember exactly what the nurse was trying to measure, but it had to do with a small machine that printed my wife’s vitals in real time. To be fair, the light came back on almost immediately, but each blackout meant the nurse had to restart the reading.

After some time, I noticed she was beginning to get agitated, and I had to throw a flat joke to diffuse the tense atmosphere. Every day, we see real-life stories of how just being in an environment influences every aspect of your life. I was at an event where the late Mohammed Fawehinmi, son of the human rights activist Gani Fawehinmi, had said he would not have been confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life if he had gotten adequate care when he had an accident. And yes, I know accidents happen everywhere, but what happens after is how your environment can make or mar you.

In Nigeria today, the very rich and upper middle class try to create a different experience by providing basic amenities and infrastructure for themselves or ourselves, LOL, from water to security to even roads. However, I once heard someone say it doesn’t matter how rich you are, if you’re from a poor country, you’re poor. The environment in this instance is not just the physical space, but also the social and cultural context. The people you surround yourself with, the norms and values you adopt, and the opportunities available to you all shape your trajectory.

But it is not all gloom. While your environment can shape you, it doesn’t have to define you. Even with all the challenges in this country, it is still home to very resilient people who are committed to seeing the opportunities that abound in this country and seizing them.

There are several examples of young people doing great things from Afrobeats to Nollywood, from Sports to Tech and Robotics, from fashion to real estate, despite the several infrastructural challenges. From my opening experience, while I could not finish the call, I took the initiative to ask if I missed out on anything and went on to work on my deliverables. So maybe that’s the key, acknowledging the environment, but not letting it dictate your outcomes.