An Instant Coffee Or Face Your Larger Fear?

That morning, I woke up excited and in high spirits as my friends and I were visiting the Lekki Conservation Centre, a very beautiful tourist centre of attraction that I had fondly heard about.

I was in my coffee-coloured Jumpsuit, maybe because I love coffee😄, I wore very light makeup and was anticipating their arrival, in about 30 minutes they arrived and then we set out on our all-girls hangout to have fun.

We had a splendid trip and when we arrived at the centre, I had anticipated all the adventures and fun we were about to take, the tour guide came with all smiles and welcomed us in.

"My name is Mr. Mofé, I'll be your tour guide to show you around." The light-skinned average-height man said warmly.

We purchased our tickets for the tour and then the adventure began, We started with the zoos around, I loved nature so much and I had the opportunity to see some wild animals for the first time in my life and then Mr. Mofé pointed upwards. "We are about to climb the longest canopy walk in Africa," "Excuse Me?" I uttered as I looked upward and noticed a very high walkway, my heart skipped for a moment simply because I have acrophobia.

"Girls nope, I am not going to do this with y'all, I'll just sit here and watch y'all have fun and enjoy your adventure," I whispered to Dammy my best friend.

"Nope, we are going there together, haven't you heard of the adage that says.. "Face your fear?" She replied immediately.

"What's the essence of coming here and not embarking on this adventure?" Jimmie my other friend asked.

"You can do this Amie", Mr.Mofé encouraged me to embark on that adventure.

" No please," I wasn't going to concede to their persuasions and then Dammy brought out an instant sachet of coffee labelled "Nescafe" which was in her bag and handed it to me, "Amie, would you rather drink this instant coffee for the rest of your life or face one of your larger fears?" She asked.

I love a variety of things, I hate to be confined to one taste, one flavour. I loved coffee so much and I also love adventures, I love to take calculated risks, I love to live my life to the full and I have always loved to do something that scared me the most, but today, I paused for a moment, I looked up again and saw how high that walkway was, it was very high and long, from the top I saw swamps and crocodiles, I saw snakes too which made it so hard for me to decide.

"Would you?" She asked again.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and opened them, I have always preached to people about leaving their comfort zone and doing something challenging, I concluded that life is not meant to be easy if it's easy everyone will be successful, so next thing that I uttered was "Let's do this girl!! I haven't come this far to give up now. I would face one of my larger fears in life than rather be stuck with an instant coffee for the rest of my life."

Everybody was amazed at my bravery and that I could choose to take the risk and face my fears.

"That's the spirit girl." Jimmie cheered me and so we set out for the adventure, Mr Mofé was in front being the tour guide and I was right behind him while the other girls were behind me, I walked slowly with my heart beating so fast, I held the strong rails of the canopy and even tried to look downwards as high as it was, I got to a point that it felt like I was going to fall off but I took my eyes off and focused ahead to the end of the canopy walk, I managed to take pictures while I was on the walkway and we were up so high for about an hour.

When we got to the nature station, where the canopy walkway ended, I felt fulfilled and I was glad I took a shot at it.

Now, I sit on my favourite armchair and sip my favourite coffee, just the way I like it prepared, in varieties and different flavours and aromas, I am glad I could face my fears to enjoy varieties of coffee rather than being stuck with an instant coffee all my life, so I begin to scroll through my pictures. Each time I see the picture I took on that high walkway in my gallery, I smile because of my bravery—the day I chose to face my fear rather than be stuck forever in my comfort zone with just one flavour because life is full of varieties.

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Image source: Omotayo Tajudeen

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