Elizabeth Amarachi Ani

First Sundays of every month is usually my favorite Sunday of the month.

You know why?

Because it's thanksgiving Sunday💃🏽

I get to dance and celebrate God's faithfulness.

This particular Thanksgiving is however special because October is my birth month.

I celebrated my birthday yesterday and and today...

God has been so good to me and I don't take none of His blessings for granted.

Do you also have a favorite Sunday like me? What's your own reason? 😀

I'd love to hear it...

I woke up today and it's my birthday 🤭

Happy birthday Amarachi! 🎂

Here's another opportunity to Live. Learn. Grow.

One thing I've noticed about people who are building something...

At some point, almost everyone falls into the trap of comparing their journey to someone else's.

You started around the same time. Maybe you even shared your ideas with each other. Same excitement, same dreams, same "we're going to do something great" energy.

And then you look up one day and it feels like they're further along than you are.

But can I share a thought I had recently?

You're probably not growing the same crop.

Think about farmers who all plant in the same season.

One plants corn. One plants cassava. One plants oranges. One plants palm tree. One plants cocoa.

Same soil. Same rain. Same season they started.

But their harvest will never look the same.

No matter how much they pray or water their seed.

And it was never meant to.

The corn farmer has gone through several rounds of planting and harvesting by the time the cocoa farmer is still in the early stages of nurturing what they planted.

The orange farmer starts seeing fruit before the palm tree farmer has even thought about harvest.

That's not failure. That's just the nature of what each crop requires.

The cocoa farmer who panics because the corn farmer is on their third harvest will rush a process that was never designed to be rushed and may lose everything they've been quietly building, if care is not taken.

So before you start feeling behind, ask yourself gently...

Are we even growing the same thing?

Because your journey has its own timeline.

Your harvest has its own season.

The work is to understand what you're building, give it what it needs, and develop the patience and the mental strength to see it all the way through.

You're not behind. You're just on a different crop cycle.

I hope this speaks to someone

There is something funny about being Nigerian and trying to “avoid carbohydrates.” 😂

You stop eating rice.

Then you remember there is yam.

You stop yam.

There is plantain.

You avoid plantain.

There is potato.

Then somehow you are eating swallow.

At some point, you have to ask yourself:

“So… what exactly am I running from?” 😂

This was something I had to think about personally because I LOVE rice.

I can eat rice today and still happily eat rice tomorrow.

So instead of trying to remove rice from my life, I decided to learn how to eat it better.

As an intern Dietitian, during my internship, I paid very close attention during diet modification sessions. I wanted to understand how I can modify familiar meals to suit my goals.

And I started applying those lessons to my own meals.

Less rice on the plate.

More vegetables.

A good protein source.

Different combinations.

Different ways of preparing it.

And most importantly, still eating the food I actually enjoy.

The funny thing is, after doing this for a long time, I recently realised I had eaten rice almost every day for about 4–5 weeks without even consciously thinking about it.

I hadn't been trying to “be on a rice diet.”

I was simply eating rice the way I had learned to build my meals.

And that got me thinking:

Maybe the answer isn't always “stop eating the food you love.”

Maybe sometimes, we need to learn how to eat it differently.

Because honestly…

If I remove rice, what am I eating? 😂

I spent an embarrassing amount of time arguing with an AI over ONE sentence from FizzFree Lifestyle's mission statement.

Here's how it went down 👇

I looked at FizzFree Lifestyle's mission statement one more time and thought...

"FizzFree Lifestyle exists to build a healthier hydration culture across Africa, beginning with Nigeria, because something as small and overlooked as what we drink daily is quietly shaping our health, our well-being, and our productivity."

OR

"...our health, our focus, and our productivity."

So I asked Claude Ai

Claude: "'Health' and 'well-being' mean nearly the same thing to most readers. 'Focus' is concrete. Everyone has felt foggy after hours without water. And it ties straight into hydration's link to cognitive performance, which is exactly what FizzFree is about: protecting human performance, not generic wellness."

Me: "Ehen? In that case, why not I just use cognitive performance?"

Claude: "Because focus is felt, and cognitive performance is measured. A grant reviewer might want the second. Someone scrolling LinkedIn needs the first, because their own memory does the persuading. Use each in the room where it lands."

You'd expect that I'll be done by now right? But no...

Me(again after thinking for a while): How about"...quietly shaping our health, how we feel, how we perform, and what we produce." (or "our productivity")

Claude: "This one has rhythm. It sounds like the opening of a speech. But 'how we perform' and 'what we produce' carry almost the same idea, and four beats is a lot for someone skimming a flyer. It's strongest when spoken."

Finally , we arrived at... use this one here, and use this one there.

1️⃣ "...our health, our focus, and our productivity." For flyers, one-pagers, and anything people read in 3 seconds.

2️⃣ "...our health, our cognitive performance, and our productivity." For grant applications and formal reports.

3️⃣ "...our health, how we feel, how we perform, and what we produce." For keynotes, when I want the words to land.

And that's how one tiny sentence became three versions, saying the same thing to different audiences.

Moral of the story: I will absolutely overthink one sentence for a whole week if it means getting FizzFree's message right. This mission means too much to me not to. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Okay but genuinely, which one did it for you? 1, 2 or 3?

Tell me in the comments. Don't just like and scroll 😄

So you started drinking less water at work because you're trying to avoid the restroom?

It may sound strange, but it happens.

Some people deliberately drink less water during the workday because they don't want to keep getting up from their desks to use the restroom.

For others, the problem is the restroom itself.

Maybe it's poorly maintained. Maybe it's not clean. Maybe there aren't enough toilets for the number of people in the office.

So they make a simple calculation:

"If I drink less water, I won't have to use the restroom as often."

If this is you, let's talk.

Because the problem is, your body doesn't stop needing water because you're trying to avoid the restroom.

You are still breathing. Still losing water through your skin. Your kidneys are still filtering your blood. Your brain is still working. Your body is still carrying out thousands of processes that depend on water.

So when you consistently restrict your water intake just to avoid the restroom, you may be creating a different problem for yourself.

You may become dehydrated. That comes with its own baggage... you may feel unusually tired. You may develop headaches. Your concentration may suffer. You may feel mentally drained before the day is even over.

Your concerns are valid. But they don't change what your body needs.

So here's what you can do instead:

Plan your hydration around your day.

Let's say you need about 3 litres of water daily, break it into manageable portions. 75cl at a time works well.

Drink your first 75cl at home before you leave for work. By the time you're done getting ready, you'll have already used the restroom before stepping out.

Drink your second 75cl during a period when you know your workload is lighter, your lunch break is a good window.

Find another window later in the day for your third or fourth portion, when you can comfortably step away.

Create water breaks the same way you create work breaks. Intentional. Timed. Planned around your schedule.

And if the condition of the restroom is the real problem, say something.

Report it. Speak to your employer or HR. A clean, functional restroom is not a luxury. It is a basic condition for your wellbeing at work, and you deserve to have it.

Avoiding water to avoid a restroom puts your health at risk. And no workload, no meeting, no busy season is worth that.

Your body needs water. Find a way to give it what it needs.

💧 Monday Hydration Series | FizzFree Lifestyle

It's my birthday💃🏽

Well, not today.

But it'll be in a few days time. October 3rd precisely.

And I have already started gifting myself.

I mentioned the first gift in an earlier post.

Another way I'm marking this birthday is... I'm hiring.

For two years, FizzFree Lifestyle has run on almost on my time and energy alone.

That was fine when it was one woman and an idea. It isn't fine for where FizzFree is going next.

So this October, I'm bringing on at least one person to build alongside me — because a self-sustaining social enterprise isn't built by one person carrying everything alone.

This may look like a small decision.

But it's a big leap for me.

It's the difference between an initiative that depends entirely on me, and an institution that can outlast any single person — including its founder.

Here's to building bigger and deeper this year 🥂

YOU KNOW THAT PHASE YOU GET TO WHEN BUILDING A BUSINESS OR ANYTHING AT ALL, WHERE YOU START TO LOSE THE INITIAL EXCITEMENT AND YOUR MOMENTUM BEGINS TO DROP?

You know, you no longer feel as motivated as you used to when you started.

I feel like my niece has gotten to that phase in her business right now. 😂

How did I know?

I spoke to her last week and asked about her business.

Usually, she'll excitedly share all the latest updates with me.

But instead, she was just giving me the Nigerian-faith-based response:

“It's well o. God is helping us.” 😂

And as someone who has tried building businesses before and is currently building FizzFree Lifestyle, trust me, I immediately understood.

But I didn't try to encourage her.

I didn't give her advice.

I didn't even try to make her feel better.

I just let her be.

I want her to feel it.

I want her to experience it properly so she can understand that phase.

My plan is to call her after one week, which is today and have a conversation with her about it.

Then I'll guide her towards getting out of that phase so she doesn't interpret it as failure and quit.

Hopefully, by next Saturday, I'll be able to tell you how it went.

And if you're a young person here building something and you're at this phase, just know that it is totally normal.

Please don't interpret it as failure.

Yes, allow yourself to go through it.

But just don't quit.

By next week, when I share my conversation with my niece, I'll do well to include some guidance for you too on how to overcome that phase.

I'm rooting for you too, just as I'm rooting for my niece.

This is Treasure's Diary.

I'll see you again next Saturday.

In a few days, 3rd Oct. I'll be turning a year older.

I already got myself a birthday gift.

Guess what?

I enrolled in ma'am Nelly Agbogu's Marketing and Structure Business School.

For two years, I've built FizzFree Lifestyle as a social impact initiative.

And now, I'm repositioning it into something self-sustaining — a social enterprise that can fund its own future, and still keep giving.

That shift needs more than a new label. It needs new skills.

I've spent two years developing programmes and services that work. Tested, delivered, proven.

Delivering hydration education sessions and Facilitating behaviour change is what I do well. It's practically my calling.😃

But Marketing? Marketing is not. If I'm honest, sales has genuinely scared me.

The best way to overcome that fear is by getting skilled at it.

So this October, I'm going all in... Learning how to structure and market what I've already built, so the right people can actually find it.

And part of every revenue this generates goes right back to what started it all... free hydration outreach for public schools and other relevant communities.

Here's to turning a year older, and building louder 🥂

I was at a market earlier today and my God, what in the name of dirty, smelly water was that?

There was nowhere to pass. And another thing that made it worse was today was Friday. So around that mosque, I've forgotten the name of that market... But there's a mosque around there, and, you know, people were coming out from the mosque.

There was just this crowd.

There was literally just a tiny path left where you could walk if you didn't want to enter inside the water but it was filled with people coming out from the mosque.

The other option was to dip our feet inside the dirty water.

I couldn't do it o. It was smelly and dirty.

My colleague and I had to buy nylon and tie our feet. Because what? Oh my God. Nah.