A couple of months back I received an SMS that although important I avoided. This SMS was followed by a couple of other SMSes as the months went by. Until a different SMS came through from my bank that my card has now expired and needed renewal. And still I didn’t think much of it. Until this past weekend I asked my younger brother to go withdraw some cash for me, which was for an emergency important use. When he got to the ATM, due to the suspension, he could not withdraw the money. Like a good younger brother does, he went inside to enquire what was going on, only to find out that the card is suspended and the account is frozen. To unfreeze the account would need the account holder to go sort it out with an ID.

Fast forward to today, I went through to the bank to be welcomed by long lines as some people had just gotten paid, it is the 15th after all. Finally made my way to the consultants’ desk, and as things were finally coming together as she processed everything, she said with a smile on her face that I need to provide a proof of residence. And yeah, you guessed right; I didn’t have one. Fortunately, she advised that I get it from another bank if I have another account. (I saw the benefit of having multiple accounts, if not to hide my money from the monster that is called debit orders. Just Joking!)

A thrilled Nsuku marched to the other bank that he banks with, only to meet another long line. Finally was able to get my statements and went bank to join the line to submit my proof of residence.

Now, I would like to take you back to the beginning of my story, lest you think that my bank is unfair. It all started with notifications that I received cautioning me to go renew my card, I chose to ignore. Anyway, my reason for ignoring them includes that I was busy. And as one month went by and the card was working just fine, I convinced myself that it was nothing. Nothing important that I should give a second of my day to, I thought to myself. At some point, I convinced myself that it would just sort itself out. And boy! I thought wrong.

Now, on my way to the bank with my frowned face, a thought came to my mind that made me smile. This was the thought, “ how often do people ignore stuff even when the signs are on their faces?” As I thought  more on this, stories of how a business failed came to mind, how a relationship failed or how someone ended up in an abusive relationship also came to mind. The signs are always there, but just like I did, we always ignore them. I think that the reason we ignore them is because it is more comforting to avoid issues than to confront them, and we all love comfort.

We choose to ignore the signs because it takes effort having to address them and more often than not, we subscribe to the illusion that they will just sort themselves out. But, how many times have they sorted themselve out? Very few times, at most we have to make that conscience effort to sort them out.

The danger of ignoring issues is that they can become worse if not attended to. Think of torn clothing, the tear becomes even bigger as time goes if the item is not sewed. Torn to an extent wherein it can even be beyond repair. Could it then be said that some businesses & relationships have failed because they were not fixed as they began to tore? I think it’s an acceptable conclusion to make. And what is certain is that we can only avoid stuff for so long, but at the end we will have to cross that bridge.

In conclusion, pay attention to the signs and address them. Remember that there is always a sign.

Anyway, the end to my story was a good one, got a new card and my account was unfrozen.