By Toyin Falola
Life is a rolling wheel
with all of us holding to each side that faces us.
It is transient, unstable, and unpredictable.
It is a coat of many colours;
the paints of joy
and sometimes, even many times, the brush of sorrow.
It is everything complete,
everything unsure.
It is the brook of certainty
and the lake of uncertainty.
It is the beacon of hope
and the touch of doom.
It is a bottomless pit,
and also a deep with an end.
It is a dessert devoid of life
And a river with many fishes
It is life, it is death, it is with challenges.
I have been around for quite some time now. I have lived for more than three scores and a half and have walked and worked this ground through its mud, the scorching sun, and the normal terrain. If nothing has been my takeaway, it is that life is not always a straight story like a sprint from start to the end. It is not a linear endeavour. It is not an all-smooth ride or all rough gallops; it is just life throwing its challenges. It is also neither a short nor a long journey, at least not all the time.
Life challenges are often the pauses to either a euphoric ride or an uneventful season of life. It is an ambush that waits for everyone, and no matter the magnitude, it is a reality, and the only thing that is certain in this uncertain world. From the point of birth, humans have been attached to either generic or specific life challenges. What concerns each person depends on the peculiarities of time, circumstances, associations, and relative spaces.
At one point, the biggest life challenge for a child was surviving the 9 months in the womb. From the day of birth, adjusting to environments, different feeding systems outside the womb, walking, psychosexual development, education, relationships, religion, medical care, and much more, constitute the general challenges. Usually, people move through these stages, no matter how difficult; a failure at one could be fatal to development. For instance, failure to progress a psychosexual stage brings about fixation, which sums up the trajectory of the life of a child, mental states, and behavioural patterns. You can read up on Sigmund Freud’s stages of development.
Sometimes, life challenges could come from a thing totally out of control, and sometimes they could be from the consequences of consistent bad choices. The story of Mike Tyson comes to mind. Mike Tyson is undisputedly one of the greatest heavyweight champions in the history of boxing. He dominated the rings from 1987 to 1990. For the first time in history, he held the titles of the World Boxing Council, the World Boxing Association, and the International Boxing Federation simultaneously. Mike was a beast, and money followed it.
Mike made about $430 million in his career, one of the most successful boxers at that time. However, things started to fall. In 2003, he filed for bankruptcy and had about $23 million in debt. Mike made some decisions that he would probably regret right now. Created an unsustainable lifestyle for over 15 years, thereby draining his resources and taking him close to bankruptcy. He spent money on houses with a gold-plated bathtub. Exotic pets, unnecessary gifting, legal battles, divorces, addictions, and whatnots. Soon enough, he entered his own phase of life challenges, and what he had the most became scarce.
Marco van Basten is another example, now not for the money crisis but career. Marco was the star of his age; he won 3 Ballon d’Ors as the best football player in the world, led both AC Milan and Ajax to several trophies and European glories. He also led his country, the Netherlands, to the Euro 1988 victory. But just like many, his career ended at the age of 28. Age 28 is a prime period for most footballers, but Marco’s career was cut short unexpectedly. Several acute injuries hit Marco, who underwent many surgeries and experienced severe pain. Marco was forced to retire at the age of 28 in 1995.
Mike and Marco might have thought that their fortune and career would go straight forward as many had had it. Not all heavyweight boxers lose everything, and not all footballers are forced to retire, but challenges come in many ways and at any stage. You could have a rough start and a smooth ending. The mid-age may be a roasting crisis; it could be all shining and then all gloomy. Everyone often has a share.
I know people who become incapacitated by unsuspecting accidents, diseases like cancer, and other situations that change the course of their lives. I have seen those who are brilliant and hardworking but struggle to grow. Joblessness at an early and even mid-career stage. I have seen a man lose his wife and all his children, seen students performing well, and at a point, they could not progress. I have seen principled people fall to addiction and drugs. I have seen brilliant minds battling insanity.
I have been here for a while. I know that life is truly not a bed of roses; challenges will come, you may not know when or for how long. I’m sharing this message to prepare your mind, engage stories, and offer my perspective on how to approach some difficult phases.
I myself have faced some. Health challenges have hit me, I had to make choices and stand by their consequences, I have had my share of the side of the wheel of life face me. But in it all, I am sure that our reactions matter. And how you respond may sometimes be totally out of your control.
The story of Mike Tyson is not complete without noting that he started building his wealth back; it might not be from outright boxing, but from businesses and other engagements. As of 2025, Mike had grown to about $30 Million net worth. He has had comeback fights, media and entertainment engagements, a cannabis business, brands, endorsements, and others that have helped him climb back. Well, not everyone is Mike; it could be worse, and the case may be irredeemable. Some fall into deep depressions and instability. How does a man who lost his whole family and belongings to a fire get it all back? How does someone like Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, valued at $9 Billion and the youngest self-made female billionaire, come back after losing everything because of her life choices that led her to jail?
Can we not come back? Must we really go back to where we fell? Could we find new purposes, or gain restitution? The answers are not plain or straightforward. But we can discuss and evaluate some life challenges, and this is why I have decided to start this series on life challenges.
Look forward to the next episode, and let us engage the subject and learn from my notes.
[1] This is No. 1 in the Series
