07/01/2026
Okoro was a man everyone in the village both admired and feared. They said he never slept. Not because he couldn’t, but because he refused to. From the moment the sun rose to the last glow in the west, he worked. Carried yams, repaired roofs, fixed fences, even helped neighbors polish their floors, he did everything, and still found time to sweep the market in the evenings.
“Chai! Na who be this man?” children whispered as he ran past, arms full of coconuts.
“Na Okoro, the man wey no dey sleep,” one said.
One morning, Mama Ifeoma called him. “Okoro! You go tire your body one day o! Why you dey run up and down like that?”
“I no get time to tire!” he laughed, brushing sweat from his brow. “Sleep na waste. If I sleep, others go surpass me. I must finish my work, and I must finish it well!”
Even at night, when the village was quiet, Okoro didn’t sleep. He sat outside, counting coins and planning his next project. “Tomorrow, I go build bigger fence for Chief Chike. I go plant more cassava. I go…” His voice trailed off as he yawned, but he stood up anyway. “No time to waste.”
Weeks passed, and villagers began noticing. Okoro looked thinner. His eyes were red and tired, but he laughed like nothing was wrong. One day, while climbing a ladder to fix a leaking roof, his hands shook. He grabbed the wood, but it snapped. Okoro fell, rolling into a pile of sand.
“Okoro! Are you okay?” someone shouted.
“I… I just need to… rest…” he groaned, barely lifting his head. Pain shot through his back, his legs refused to move, and his pride felt heavy.
Mama Ifeoma came running. “You see? I don’t know how many times I warn you! You no fit cheat your body. Sleep no be enemy, Okoro. Na friend!”
For the first time, Okoro felt powerless. All the work he had done, all the money he had earned, felt meaningless when he could not stand, could not move, could not even eat properly.
Slowly, he learned. He slept a little. Then more. He rested between tasks, learned to deleg*te, and laughed again, this time, genuinely.
The villagers noticed too. “See am! Okoro dey happy now,” they said. And he was. Work no go anywhere, but his body needed him first.
Lesson: You can’t outwork life. Refusing rest may make you feel strong for a while, but your body and mind will make you pay. Sleep is not laziness, it’s survival.