𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗗𝘂𝗺𝗽 & 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗖𝗿𝗮𝗽 — 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲

This morning, during my usual walk around the estate, I passed by the waste management guys — you know, those fellows in green overalls who ride on the back of the garbage trucks. 🚛

The smell hit me first. Then I noticed some of them didn’t even have nose masks on. Just there, doing their job, breathing in all that waste like it was fresh air from Obudu. 😷

As I went back and forth on that lane, I wondered silently about the workers. Most people can’t even stand a minute of that smell. Some of us would rather hold our breath and jog past. 🏃🏾‍♂️💨

Then, in the middle of all that thinking, it hits me — "𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯." 😊 

So... when I was in primary school — age 9 or so — my parents had one of their big fights. They separated again, and this time I moved in with my mum and some of her cousins. The house we lived in sat on a marshy piece of land that had been filled with refuse. Actual waste. 🗑️

They couldn’t afford sand filling, so they used garbage to level the ground.

And right there, on top of that heap, was our home.

Not a former dump — It was in use. Everyday!

We lived with pigs. 🐖

On a refuse dump.

And somehow, life went on.

I remember it so clearly — the smell, the flies, the constant dampness. But you adjust. You stop noticing after a while. Your nose learns silence, and your eyes stop seeing the filth. Because when something becomes your reality, it stops being remarkable — it just is. What was unlivable for others was, at one point, my normal. 

And that’s how life is sometimes.

Some of us are living with crap — not the physical kind now, but emotional, professional, relational garbage.

Toxic workplaces.

Bad leadership.

Broken systems.

People who drain your spirit and call it “teamwork.” 🙄

And you stay. You keep showing up. You stop noticing the smell. You stop complaining.

Before long, you’re not just working in the dump — you’re living in it.

We adapt so well to dysfunction that we start calling it “culture.” We start believing that maybe this is what life is supposed to be.

Truth is — just because you can survive in garbage doesn’t mean you should. 🧠

I’ve learned that life will sometimes bring you to the dump — to places, people, and problems that stink. But you must never let the dump live in you.

The guys I saw this morning? They do their work and move on. They don’t take the waste home. They don’t let the smell define their worth. They just show up, clean up, and leave. 🧹 

Maybe that’s what we all need to learn to do — clean up, do our bit, and move on. Because at the end of the day, surviving the dump is not the same as belonging there.

So today, whether you’re walking through your own kind of refuse — at work, in a relationship, or just life in general — remember this:

✨ Even if you can survive it.

 Just don’t settle into it. ✨