Mrs Betty Irabor has been a major player in the Nigerian publishing industry for over fifteen years. She is the editor-in-Chief/CEO of Nigeria’s leading lifestyle magazine, ‘Genevieve.’ Widely celebrated on global platforms, she has been a role model and mentor for young ladies and this was put to bear on Saturday 7th of July, 2018 a remarkable day for one of Nigeria’s media icon, author and CEO of Genevieve, as she launched her amazing publication “Dust To Dew”, an emotional book that chronicles the darkest period of her battle with Depression for 7 years.
Dust To Dew is a momentous work of an iconic figure in Nigeria, Betty Irabor who revealed how to deal with Depression through her own experience and her personal account on how she fought it and became a conqueror. To those who haven’t dealt with the illness, Dust To Dew will give insight into what the darkness looks like, and hopefully guide them so they know how to spot and help those who are suffering and for millions of people who have experienced it, Betty’s courage will encourage others not just to share their own story, but also to seek the help that is needed.
She shared some lines of words, “Dust is chaos, Dust blinds, it inhibits. Dew is Life, it is Hope, it is New Beginnings. It’s been an interesting journey putting several emotions into a book that chronicles the darkest period of my battle with depression. I didn’t lose those 7 years, Rather it was a period of Learning and Unlearning! This is me being audacious about sharing my most intimate battle with depression with you. May all our aspirations distill into the morning Dew.
Sharing My Story On My Fight with DEPRESSION is me being AUDACIOUS. Hopefully it will shine a ray of hope to those trapped in that same dark tunnel where I was a prisoner for 7 years.
Over the years I have owned my personal philosophies, I have come to realize that very often when we find ourselves inside a hole we still continue to dig and the more we dig the more we fall into the bottomless pit. Dust to Dew chronicles my various journeys and battles through life from my little insecurities and a full blown fight against mental health/depression. Dust is chaos, dust blinds. Dew on the other hand speaks of a fresh start of hope renewed.
Dust is travail, Dew is triumph. I hope this book encourages you not to give in and not to give up but to look at every situation in your life from a fresher perspective”.An Excerpt from the book reads…
…I heard the voice again, you’re no good. I tried to ignore it but it wouldn’t go unheard. You are nothing; you are just a big fat failure! The hand of trauma is long and strong, stretching over decades and slowly choking out life, as it demands to be dealt with.
With those words ricocheting around my head, I climbed back into bed and slid the duvet over my head. I could still hear it, so I got up and adjusted the curtains until I could not see a glimmer of light. I felt my way along the walls and back to my bed, where I pulled the duvet over my head again. At last, the darkness that enveloped the room matched my world”. Betty also narrated what triggered her depression. “”Insomnia and Menopause! This is something women don’t talk about but the reality now is that people go into menopause as early as 37. I went into menopause on the other side of 50 but the depression came later. It wasn’t diagnosed in time. I was simply told I was under severe pressure and was advised to close down or take two years off. I lost a lot of weight and people thought it was intentional. Thisday Glitterati wrote I was anorexic.
After two years of going back and forth on the root cause, one day I asked my doctor if it was menopause related. He was surprised I was 50 and admitted that it was likely to be menopause. I suffered depression for years until I made the decision to get out of it. In the morning I didn’t want to open the blinds. I did not socialize for two years and the depression took its toll on my skin as well as my emotions. I would be having a conversation and randomly burst into tears. People were insensitive and made comments about me losing weight because I wanted to stay young but it was all based on ignorance. I am sharing this because we hide what could be helpful to others.”
It took her 7 years before she conquered and she also explained this “”Family Support, Will Power! Change of outlook towards everything. I woke up one day and decided to get out of it. I decided to fight and get my life back. I didn’t like where I was and I realised no one could get me out of this dungeon except me.
I didn’t like the effect it had on my family so I began to fight back. I fought against the dominance of overwhelming negative emotions. I began to find reasons to be happy. I lived in the NOW. I looked for joy in everything around me and started to read the bible again.
I travelled. I went to both London and New York fashion week and stayed abroad for a while. I took time off and went to health farm outside London. The minute I stepped into my room I just zoned out. I slept for 4 hours straight, the first time in nearly 18 months. Before then I was sleeping 2 hours a night.
At the farm, I got to read “The Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer and I could see that I had been in a battlefield which only a change of mindset and prayers could
The amazing media mogul has been featured on ‘The Entrepreneurial Edge’ on CNBC, Forbes Woman Africa’s ‘Against all Odds,’ and BBC’s ‘The Conversation.’ She was the Creative Curator of the Cointreau creative crew for its ‘Dream, Dare, Create’ campaign which was aimed at developing women’s freedom and expression. She also sat on the board of Total Nigeria Ltd. as a jury member in the STARTUPPER project for young entrepreneurs.
She is the founder of the ‘Pink Ball Foundation’ which initiated the conversation on breast cancer awareness in Nigeria. Her first book, “Morning Dew,” was a clarion call for women to live a purposeful life. She was named a Hero for the Lancôme Paris ‘My Shade. My Power’ beauty campaign in Nigeria. She is also a recipient of several awards. Betty Irabor is passionate about reaching out to the younger generation of women and sharing her wealth of experience. She is known for her strong influence in impacting and influencing thoughts; she steadily shares her story at the risk of being vulnerable, in order to encourage others to succeed against all odds. Betty Irabor is a wife and a mother with a very supportive family.
–Sunday Adigun
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