1. Stay in Your House

If going out and seeing all the happy couples has the potential to make you feel depressed, just stay at home and sleep. Lord knows we could all use some sleep with this Lagos stress. 

Also Read: How To Survive Valentine As A Single Lady

2. Practice Self Love

If nobody will show you love or take you out, show yourself some love. You can go on a personal date, have a spa day, go wine tasting, get a pedicure and manicure, go shopping, or lick some ice cream. Just do whatever makes you happy!

Recommended: 4 Ways To Appreciate Yourself More

3. Hang Out With Other Singles

You cannot be the only single person you know. Get all the other single friends you have to come together and you’ll party the night away. Chances are you will even forget you are lonely and single or that it’s Valentine’s day.

Also Read: 4 Valentine Day Ideas For Couples In Long Distance Relationships

4. Catch Up

You can use the time other people are frolicking around to catch up on other pending stuff. If you have work, messages to reply, series to watch, books to read and you are behind, you may as well use the opportunity to catch up on them.

Also Read: Three Ways To Move On From Your Ex In 2024

5. Be Kind To Other People

Nobody said Valentine’s Day has to be for only romantic love. Use this day to share the love with other people. Give to the less privileged or visit an orphanage, just make other people happy.

What’s important to remember is that it’s not a crime to be single, so don’t bother yourself about it, there’s always next year. But whatever you do, DO NOT CALL THAT EX!

As the year draws to a close, the flood of memories shared with your ex may come rushing in. This cuts deep if you invested your time, energy and love. However, you do not want to carry all the sad tales into the new year.

In the year 2024, say no to all that baggage by doing these:

Set your peace as the top priority

It is okay to be selfish with your peace. To get to this point, you must leave mentally and emotionally. Why wish that someone who is not invested in the relationship will have a change of mind?

Set yourself free and place yourself first. And it is okay to put away everything that reminds you of them including their number.

Also Read: How To Survive Valentine As A Single Lady

Closure

Sometimes, saying bye leaves you asking questions. While some people may claim seeking closure is overrated, it has its benefits. Seeking closure can help you learn the truth about yourself and cause you to reconsider some of your ways.

Also, if seeking closure is the only thing that will make you able to forge ahead in 2024, go ahead!

Also Read: 4 Valentine Day Ideas For Couples In Long Distance Relationships

Improve yourself

You have probably heard this cliché but there is a reason it is one of the first recommendations after a breakup. Accept that the relationship is dead and try to move on. We agree that this is easy to say but you need to have some me-time indulgences.

Take time off and add to your knowledge by travelling, reading books, having new experiences.

Goodbyes might as well be the best words you will hear in 2024.

You probably have friends who won’t shut up about it and for every corner, you turn, the businesses around are advertising a valentine package or valentine special.

All these are reminders that you are still single stupor and most likely to end up spending the day alone in front of a TV (if you are lucky to have electricity) watching Zeeworld soap operas.

Yes, we get that, the story of our lives, right?

If you are hoping to spend this special day in a more fun way rather than on your couch binging on chips and talking to your pet dog, there are many ways you can own the day.

Below are some ways yo spend your valentine as a single lady.

Also Read: 4 Ways To Handle Valentine’s Day While Going Through Heartbreak

Visit the less privilege and show some love

Children living in the less privileged homes can use some love on this special day and while a special man may not be showering you with love, you can give love to someone else. Valentine is about love and this day set aside to show love is the time to show others love. Buy gifts you can afford and surprise them with it. The happiness these children radiate is enough to fill you up with love.

Organize a getaway party for your single friends

Misery loves company they say but instead of moping around feeling miserable about not having a date for Valentine, you can invite your girl pals over or decide to go out to a cool hangout spot. Laugh, gossip, make jokes about your singlehood and just ket your hair down for that day. Love is love and having loved ones around you is enough love in itself.

Also Read: 5 Things Single People Can Do On Valentine’s Day

Go to a concert

It is a sure fact that concerts would be organised to celebrate the special day of Valentine. Attending these concerts not only means you get to have fun but you are also potentially opening yourself up to the chance of meeting someone new. After all, Cinderella met her prince charming at a ball.

Also Read: 7 Thoughtful Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas For Him

Spend it with family

Family is everything because, without them, we are next to nothing. Your family will always be there for you through thick and think so if you don’t have the romantic love of a man, at least you are certain of the love of your family. Home is indeed where the heart is.

Turning down sex should be as simple as saying “nah, not today” but in reality, in a relationship you might hold back due to guilt, manipulation, coercion or pressure.

Sexual rejection has potential to harm your connection if you do not handle it with care, but so does “maintenance sex” that couples engage in without being in the mood for sex.

Misconceptions such as women thinking that men will always want their bodies whenever they get the greenlight, and assumptions about matching sex drives can make the moment emotionally charged coupled with inconsiderate rejection.

To avoid sending your spouse into a whirlwind of insecurity, and ruining your ‘no sex’ time feelin guilty and apologising, here’s how you do it:

Confidence

Become aware of what you want and why you don’t want sex right now. Simply say “no” because you don’t owe anyone an explanation for saying ‘no’, unless you want to.

Maintain eye contact

Leave no room for your partner to assume that you need some help getting in the mood when you are simply not feeling it. Look them in the eye, be direct and talk in a serious tone. Moreover, this is someone you are having an intimate relationship with, feel free to be honest. “Hey, I’m not up for sex tonight,” can be a starting point.

Maintain touch when turning them down

Let them feel that you still love and desire them despite not wanting to get between the sheets with them. Playing with their hair, rubbing their back or a mini-making out session should fend off feelings of rejection. Studies show that rejection from a partner hurts longer than the pleasure from them saying yes.

Encourage other activities

If you feel up to other forms of connection, let them know you want to watch a movie, or break in a glass of wine or to talk about your day, cuddling, watching a movie, and any other activity you feel up to in the moment. You can suggest the activity for a later date.

“I’m sorry, I’m sure this is disappointing, but I really just need alone time right now. I love you very much and hopefully this weekend we can ___.”

You can also suggest other sexual activities you may want to try.

We all think about nutrition to pique our performance in the gym, or even at work, so why not in the bedroom, too?

“There are some foods thats can make you feel tired, lethargic and bloated, and these can interfere with great sex,” says Lorraine Perretta, a nutritional therapist.

We run down a few of these food faux pas that might interfere with your performance between the sheets.

Sure, a romantic dinner in a nice restaurant is usually an opportunity to treat yourself to a prime slab of meat. But unfortunately, a big steak is not going to help you feel sexy later on. Large meals can focus the body’s energy and blood flow to digestion rather than sex. Meat can take up to four hours to digest.

Garlic

Apart from giving you stinky breathe down your lovers, garlic is supposedly a prime culprit for making a man’s semen taste funky, along with caffeine, red meat and onions.

There are reports that the bodily fluids of vegetarians taste better than meat eaters. So ditch the meat and garlic, and load up on greens.

Heavy Carbs

Another to avoid if you don’t want to feel lethargic and sleepy. Carbs like potatoes, bread, and pasta are likely to raise the blood sugar levels for the short term but a couple of hours later the sugar levels crash and so does energy.

Sugar

Sweet treats may tempt the taste buds, but their no friend to the ecosystem in your gut. Sugar feeds the unfriendly bacteria that occupy the gut.

When they’re fed, they can produce toxins which results in bloating, wind and abdominal discomfort. No wants to start a night of passion feeling gassy.

Alcohol

A bit of an obvious one, but no one ever had the most satisfying sexual experience when they were trashed. A drink may make you feel sexy, but too much interferes with performance and enjoyment in the long run.

And one that you should eat:

Eating lots of fruit, vegetables and oily fish gives you body the vitamins and minerals to increase testosterone, the sex drive hormone for men and women. Specifically, studies have shown that vitamin D helps to boost your testosterone, and tuna is a great source of vitamin D.

Here are five side effects of skin bleaching:

1. Nephrotic syndrome is a kidney illness caused by damage to the blood vessels that filter waste and excess water in your kidneys. It makes your body expel an excessive amount of protein in your urine. Mercury-containing skin whitening cosmetics have been linked to nephrotic syndrome. Swollen feet and ankles, frothy urine, loss of appetite, and exhaustion are some of the symptoms

2. Steroid acne can be caused by skin bleaching products that contain corticosteroids. With long-term usage of corticosteroids, steroid acne typically affects the chest, although it can also appear on the back, arms, and other regions of the body. Whiteheads and blackheads, little red pimples, huge, painful red lumps, and acne scars are all possible symptoms.

3. Exogenous ochronosis (EO) is a skin condition that results in blue-black pigmentation. It commonly happens as a side effect of using hydroquinone-based skin bleaching treatments for a long time. People who use it on a wide scale or on their entire body are more prone to acquire EO.

4. Contact dermatitis has been connected to the use of skin bleaching products in case studies and reports. This is a type of skin inflammation brought on by interaction with certain chemicals.

Skin redness, blisters, skin ulcers, hives, dry, scaly skin, swelling, itching, burning, and tenderness are all symptoms that can range from mild to severe.

5. Kidney Disorder

This is often caused by damage to the blood vessels in the kidneys responsible for filtering waste and excess water. It causes the body to excrete too much protein in your urine. Skin lightening creams containing mercury have been associated with nephrotic syndrome. Symptoms of this include; foamy urine, loss of appetite, swollen feet and ankles, and fatigue.

There are those who, at the end of the day, manage to achieve most of their set tasks. And on the other hand, some never manage to achieve their daily tasks and find themselves faced with the unpleasant feeling of not having done anything but have only lost precious time.

Increasing productivity is the dream of anyone who wants to achieve ambitious goals – professionals, freelancers, managers, entrepreneurs, etc. And it’s good to know that there are a set of routines that can help you accomplish most of your daily undertakings.

So, if you fall into the category of people who lack productivity and you want to remedy it, continue reading this article. In the following, you’ll find 10 activities that will help you to increase your productivity. Here we go…

10 Best activities to help boost productivity

Here are some ways to boost productivity:

1. Make a daily schedule

At the beginning of each day, take 10 minutes to write down the activities you really want to do that day. Do that on a small piece of paper and always throw away yesterday’s paper. 

If you haven’t done a task from the previous day, copy it over to today’s paper. You will see that having to rewrite this will irritate you and you would rather make sure you finish the activity. Or that you only plan for what you can achieve on that day. 

Also, always give room in your daily plan for unforeseen activities, because they are always there.

Also check out this: 11 Best Productivity Apps

2. Schedule up to 3 important tasks per day

Don’t include more than three important tasks in your schedule for one day. In fact, 1 or 2 is just fine. 

And don’t say, “Everything I do is important.” You also know that you do many less important things every day. If you have only a few important tasks in a day, it’ll be easier for you to focus and achieve them before the end of the day.

Also, try to find out when you’re most active. For most people, it’s the morning. And make sure you do the most important task in the morning(if that works for you) immediately after making the daily plan – because then you will still be fresh and energetic. 

Ensure that you are not distracted until you have finished the most important tasks completely. The satisfaction that this gives will raise your energy for the rest of the day. 

3. Do one thing at a time

Multi-tasking really doesn’t work for anyone, not even for women as they say. Research shows that multitasking makes you 25% less productive.

You can only do one thing right at a time. So the key concept is: focus. Try this out and you’ll see how productive you’ll become.

4. Use the Pomodoro technique

This technique is commonly used for time management and boosting productivity. It involves setting apart periods of 25-30 minutes in which you concentrate and work on only one task in succession. While doing this, ensure that you don’t let yourself be interrupted. 

If someone calls or walks in, you can tell them that you are busy at the moment but you’ll have time for them in .. minutes. This technique gives peace of mind.

Ensure that you turn off email and all alerts (WhatsApp, etc.) on your smartphone. After 25 or 30 minutes, you can stop resolutely. If you’re typing on your PC, once it’s time, you can stop after typing the sentence you are working on and press “Save”. 

Afterward, you then take a 5-minute break. Really, you need that time to recharge. Go to the toilet, get coffee or water, look out the window, call back the person who just passed by, etc. 

Then you concentrate on one task for another 25 to 30 minutes again. In the next 5-minute break, you should definitely start walking. After 4 Pomodoros, you should take a 20-minute break.

The name Pomodoro comes from the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that was used to keep track of the 25- and 5-minute periods. Now, of course, there are lots of handy apps that use this technique.

Also Read: How to work more productively

5. Group the same tasks together

The previous two tips automatically lead to this: if you have to perform many short actions such as making phone calls, answering emails, archiving documents, etc., try to do the same actions one after the other.

So, make a list of the calls that need to be made, list the phone numbers and the subjects of discussion, and do them one after the other. 

6. Stop Procrastinating

Everyone is guilty of this sometimes: we normally postpone annoying or probably difficult activities.

One way to overcome this issue is to assign those boring tasks to other people. But, if they are tasks you must do yourself because of their importance, do those annoying tasks first, preferably in the morning when you are fresh and full of energy. 

When that’s done, the most difficult part of your day is over and the rest of the tasks to be done will seem like a long calm river to you.

Recommended: 7 Ways Students Can Overcome Procrastination

7. Self-reflection and evaluation

Take at least 20 minutes twice a day (e.g. in the 25 or 30 minutes break after 4 Pomodoros) for self-reflection and evaluation. Is it going well? Am I really doing what I can do the best today? Am I procrastinating? Do I distinguish between urgent and important? Can I automate recurring tasks? 

Can I structurally solve recurring problems? Can I delegate tasks? Should I check if delegated tasks are going well? (Delegation is not delegation without control). After the first 10 minutes for planning the daily schedule, these two 20 minutes are the most valuable time use of your day.

8. Maintain a positive mood

Scientific studies have stated time and time again: that a positive mood can help you increase your productivity. Look on the bright side and you’ll have more energy and your mind will become clearer to help you identify solutions more easily, and get more done.

It’s very difficult to meet productive depressed people: they are usually much more optimistic.

9. Drink water frequently

You are probably wondering how water and productivity correlate. Drinking water is very beneficial for your health, and also your productivity. 

Water allows you to sleep well. And good quality sleep will increase your energy level. You will therefore be more efficient and productive in your tasks. 

Furthermore, water helps to reduce the level of stress. Reducing your stress level will greatly increase your level of concentration and thus your productivity.

Note: Together with taking water frequently, ensure that you cultivate other healthy habits like doing exercise and eating a balanced diet – especially not missing your breakfast.

Also Read: Six side effects of not drinking enough water

10. Reward yourself to amplify success

One of the best ways to avoid burnout – and resulting decreased productivity – is to reward yourself.

Give a small reward if you meet the target in the process of increasing the productivity of your performance for the day. Remember, these gifts don’t have to be material.

Conclusion

Your time is the most important thing you have, not your money or human resources. Money or personnel that you do not use will still be there tomorrow. But unused time is gone forever. So, I hope this article will help you to manage your time well and boost your productivity.

In the United States alone, following a report from the Federal Trade Commission, over 21,000 people were victims of scams in 2018, with over $143 million stolen. Over 75% of persons defrauded in the last five years were women, making women the most frequently targeted victims worldwide.

It is impossible to overstate the effects of these love scams, with the majority of victims experiencing an emotional breakthrough caused by the expected promise of a spouse who never existed in the first place. Also, many Nigerian romance scammers steal valuables from their victims.

This article aims to examine the actions of romance scammers, the consequences of punishment, and all relevant information.

How the romance scam operates

Social media and dating websites have both been used by scammers to reach their victims. Most scammers have extensive knowledge of their victims’ daily routine, family, and place of employment or residence, which their victims have posted on their pages. One of the most popular styles of scammers is targeting women in their late fifties who seek to fall in love again.

Most romance scammers use fictitious identities to trick victims into thinking they are sincere and have their best interests at heart. Scammers continually use the images and identities of other real people online; in Nigeria, the most frequently used identities are those of aid workers, military personnel, persons of African royalty, and foreign-based professionals.

Scammers are astonishingly skilled at manipulating people. They go through the process of luring their victims with love and winning their trust by having conversations that seem designed to give the victims the impression that the scammer is interested in having a lasting relationship with them.

By sending the victim phoney texts, video calls, and short videos, this trust is developed. Once trust has been established, the conversation quickly shifts from social media and dating sites to a more private setting of phone calls and emails. Scammers are more likely to prey on victims at this fragile point, following that the victim’s enduring love has developed into deep affection.

Most con artists pretend to need money for personal emergencies or to make an investment for their future success for the planned marriage with victims. Scammers would typically claim to have a sizeable sum of money available for investment, and then demand money from victims to access the investment. There are countless strategies used to defraud people, but they all have one goal in common: to get as much of the victim’s money as possible. 

Despite scammers being extremely meticulous in their methods, there are some key indicators that victims can rely on to identify them. Below are several crucial actions to take ahead of identifying a con artist online.

Also Read: Cryptocurrency scams & how to avoid them

Avoiding romance scammers in Nigeria

You should be able to recognize specific characteristics to determine whether someone you don’t know is a con artist. Here are some actions to undertake to avoid being scammed.

1. Examine the profile carefully

Scammers employ fictitious accounts that they have either bought or stolen from others. Make thorough identification checks to catch scammers. Check the profile’s details, the photos and the dates they were uploaded, the person’s previous friend list, and other things.

You could also thoroughly research contacts by looking them up on Google or requesting their handles from their other accounts.

2. Keep a low profile

To avoid romantic scammers, it’s imperative to maintain a low profile on dating websites and social media. These con artists typically profile their victims by looking up information about their lifestyle on social media before acting.

You can protect yourself from becoming a victim by avoiding topics like work culture, leisure activities, and general family information. Make sure only your friends can see the social media activity you are engaging in.

Also Read: Ponzi schemes in Nigeria: How to identify and avoid

3. Always have a video call

The simplest way to catch scammers is to engage them in video conversations. Technology has advanced over time, and online scammers’ tricks can be, put mildly, deceitful. When conducting short video calls with victims, scammers typically upload pre-edited, brief videos lasting no longer than a minute.

To catch the con artist red-handed, insist on having a lengthy conversation with them. Ask them questions that they could not possibly have thought of, such as your name and location.

4. Never send money without talking to your bank

Request the use of protective measures from your bankers before sending any money. As an illustration, some banks use technology to send money and track it to the intended account. 

This was used by a New York-based bank in 2018 after a woman sent over $40,000 to a soldier’s account in Afghanistan, and the money was then transferred to another account in the country before ending up in Brazil.

Following a complaint from the victim about the scammer blocking her on social media, the bank instructed the Brazilian authorities to arrest the account owner when he arrives to make a withdrawal. The money was returned to the victim after the con artist was captured.

Also Read: Student Money Scam To Avoid

5. Always talk to someone

You can achieve great success in problem-solving by speaking with your family, friends, and other close contacts. 

As an illustration, consider the case of a woman in Imo State who was about to be conned by a man who wanted to send her an iPhone 6 via Emirates Cargo and claimed to be a professional in America. She asserted that she received a call and email from Emirate Airlines informing her that her cargo was prepared for pickup in Abuja. For clearance and delivery to Imo, she was instructed to pay 300,000 Naira. She reached out to her friend, who in turn contacted Emirates Airlines Nigeria via their website after speaking with a friend but was informed that cargo only arrives at the Lagos airport and not Abuja.

Conclusion

With harsher punishments for international scams, scamming can land you in jail for up to five years. Fraud on the internet and other related offences are against the law. As a result of the recently passed anti-money laundering law, which requires banks and other financial institutions to report transactions exceeding $10,000 from foreigners, fraudsters have also come under increased scrutiny.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here’s what you need to know to lose weight

Do you find it hard to lose weight? You feel like you are doing the best you can but it just isn’t working.

Here are some factors standing between you and your weight loss dreams.

1. Genetics

If obesity runs in your family, then don’t be surprised when you find it hard to lose weight. Genetics affects how fat is stored in the body and where extra fat is.

If you have one of your or both of your parents struggling with obesity, then weight loss might be hard for you.

2. Food

Food is an obvious factor in weight loss, and yes, you have to count calories. No matter how many times you go to the gym, the simple rule is “you need to consume fewer calories per day than you burn.”

So, it’s not about not eating at all, but how much is your calorie intake and how much fat are you burning?

Some people use intermittent fasting to lose weight, and it works for them by reducing their calorie intake.

The other way is to eat less starchy meals like rice and spaghetti, flour-based snacks, and substitute your meals with fruits.

Also Read: Six side effects of not drinking enough water

3. Hormones

Hormones signal weight loss and gain to the brain. If thyroid and cortisol hormones are functioning abnormally, then weight gain and retention will be affected.

Polycystic ovary syndrome and insulin resistance diseases like obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes make weight loss unlikely.

4. Lifestyle

Stress and lack of sleep are major factors that might lead to weight gain in some people. Research has shown that lack of sleep and stress can lead to increased craving that causes weight gain.

When you are stressed, you might just reach for the next available and unhealthy meal and most people who stay up at night eat unhealthy food and go back to sleep with burning calories.

If you also drink a lot of beer, you might find it hard to lose weight.

Also Read: 5 Things for an Effective Workout

5. Exercise

It’s not only about exercising but how you exercise. Cardio is like running the treadmill, cycling is not enough to make you lose weight. What you need to do is combine it with strength training, that is means lifting weights.

What is it about a side chick that makes her so darn appealing to the man who already has a girlfriend, fiancee, or worse, a wife and kids of his own?

The side chick is not unknown in modern relationships, or in relationships of previous eras for that matter. She is the mistress, the other woman, the one who never comes home, the hidden one that no one knows, the force behind the scenes that the man cannot resist. The side chick is the babe over whom the man is willing to risk it all.

From the university undergraduate to the grandma travelling abroad to care of her grandkids, women of all ages are pretty familiar with her. Only few have been fortunate [or is it unfortunate?] to see her face or come in contact with her, but her legend can’t be missed nor can her looming shadow over a relationship or marriage be denied.

Most times after this great encounter or discovery, the question that women find themselves asking, either rhetorically in the darkness and still silence of their empty beds or to the man’s face when he quietly tiptoes through the front door late in the night is; ‘what is special about her?!’

Some phrase theirs as ‘what does she have that I don’t?’ and ‘what does she give you that I don’t?’ but the essence of those questions remains the same all the time. Women want to know what it is about the side chick that makes her a better woman than they are.

And young Nigerian men in their mid-twenties and mid-thirties are dishing out reasons why that other woman

What does a side chick offer that a main chick doesn’t?

In a frank, no-holds-barred response to a question posted on Instagram by user @macshayn on August 22, another user, @odlanky says the ability of the side chick to offer wild sex and be less problematic is the edge she has over the main chick.

“Less drama…unexplainable sex positions…” he comments.

@iamn_oloh and @gboyin.esq agree that these two are the strongest pull with which the side chick draws the man in. “No drama…. Just benefits!” says the former. “Less wahala, steady knacks,” says the latter.

While the question was posted majorly due to a desire to understand how the male mind works when it comes to the issue of sidechicks, women didn’t mind dropping their two cents, too.

@hormo_tee says a man is drawn to a side chick due to the “peace of mind” she gives him, As far as @inemudodiong is concerned, some men can hardly say no to the chance to put in “less commitment” than normal, escape from the stress and pressure their woman mounts on them, while likely enjoying “more sex.” These are offers too juicy to resist for men, according to the Instagram user.

Ntianu Obiora, an Editor at Pulse says that in her opinion, are drawn to the side chick because with her, men experience “no stress or less stress.”

She continues: “There are issues in relationships that ultimately put strain on [men].

“[Issues] like money, stuff to do with kids, rent, [and the expectation of] a [certain] level of accountability.

“…In general a main chick, rightly so, puts certain expectations on her man. A side chick doesn’t have to expect anything except trips and sex.”

For Chidumga Izuzu, a Lagos-based movie critic and Editor at Pulse, men are attracted to the side-chick simply “because they are scum.”

Justification for cheating?

With all the opinions popularly expressed above, it is easy to get the feeling that having a side chick is justifiable, provided that the man doesn’t get peace of mind with the woman, gets overly pressured, gets pestered for a level of commitment he’s incapable of giving, or in the instance where he feels the sex isn’t enough.

Do women need to give men more peace of mind in relationships? Can they be blamed for men cheating on them?