Lessons from 2018

Dear Reader,

Greetings from Nairobi, Kenya. Its been a minute since we last interacted on this blog I must admit. Contrary to my usual custom of writing about lessons from the previous year by January, this year I chose, the middle of the year.

Well well well, I turned 27 and damn am I feeling younger than ever. When January came, I asked around 4 people to guess my age, and ha ha ha! their answer was hilarious, but I loved it. Apparently, I still look 16 to some!!! That was a perfect guess, I look 9 years younger!! Wow. Anyway, I have with me today amazing 2018 lessons which I thought I should share, and lets get right to it.

1.  Passion will always follow you no matter what

When I was thinking about writing on this passion thing, I first asked myself, what am I passionate about in this life anyway. It is only when I went back in time to as early as my primary school when I was around 8 years old that the answer came to me. When I was 8, I rarely talked to anyone, I loved keeping to myself, in school, at home and best I remember I had 4 friends, who seem to have understood my personality, I really don’t know.

Conversely, I loved reading books, I loved that lesson where it was time to go to the library. I was good in Math, and I loved all language subjects, specifically English and I loved Kiswahili only cause of the “Isimu Jamii” subject (this particular area “Isimu Jamii” used to contextualize life situations, then you are asked to identify where the language is used, why such language appeals to the audience etc.) My love for languages later manifested itself when I met the French language in high school and learnt that my mother had tonnes of French books in the house which helped me to become a French speaker so early in life after interacting with the language. My love for languages birthed my love for writing, I used to lead in English and language composition, I remember my teachers used to read out my composition to the class (trust me if I find those papers today I will laugh at myself, I am sure I used to exaggerate especially fictional writing).

At some point, I was asked what I would like to be in future, and I can guarantee you being a lawyer was not the answer. In primary school, I wanted to be a teacher. In high school, I switched gears to want to be a doctor but I soon grew to hate Biology, I still hear people say Biology was the simplest subject but hey, not for me, I hated those scientific terms too much. But let me surprise you, I loved physics to a point where people thought I would become an Engineer, however, I never saw myself in that area in as much as I understood physics and math subjects. On the other hand, History subject spoke to me, I loved it too much, but hated Geography, I still don’t understand why rocks are different. Those things have layers, who even discovered that? Volcanic eruption used to make me dizzy and monsoon winds gosh! Even winds know where they are supposed to go? Geography used to lie to me, that was my opinion.

By the time I was in Fourth Form, there were many times I taught students math, explained physics and discussed various concepts in the English language. I still compose poetry to date. When we were young and said to anyone we wanted to be teachers, you were the laughing stock, but I soon realized that teaching means a lot more. In 2018, I taught law students legal writing and legislative drafting as a volunteer and I realized that I had a passion for teaching which was developed right from primary school and because I love writing too, no wonder I love research so much.  In a previous organization that I worked for, a few colleagues and I wrote a research paper proposing that Kenyan laws be made bilingual and made oral presentations before a panel organized by that organization. This particular research paper made me discover my passion for writing, teaching and research.

By the end of 2018, I realized my passion for writing has been following me all these years without me noticing (which explains why I started this blog too). I am currently a legal researcher which I find joy in writing and have faith that I will become a Judge one day. You might be asking, so how did I finally become a lawyer? Story for another day, suffice it to say, law was my second choice in high school. From all the examples I have given above, I realized passion always follows us no matter how much we might tend to not realize it or ignore it.

2.  Know your worth

This is one of the toughest lessons I had last year, let me explain why. As a young person growing in their career, we tend not to know what we really want. I do not blame you, its quite normal to not know what you really want. This is because straight from school, we carry with us knowledge of various subjects from a theoretical perspective. This means, without knowing how to apply that knowledge, you basically might not know where best to work or what you want to eventually become. Not knowing our worth has a few consequences, we act desperate to get a job anywhere. Once an employer notices this desperation, you might get overworked or mistreated because it seems to them you have nowhere else to go. Knowing your worth means making yourself an asset and a brand to an organization and to yourself.

3.  Living Life

Have you ever had those moments that you feel like you are going with the flow?

Many times when I was younger I didn’t quite understand why my mother and my youngest sister loved to laugh hard! So hard! They still do that. With time, I noticed how they would light up a room with their laughter, how suddenly it seemed like life just began if they laugh.

Living life to me has been appreciating the simplest moments, those moments that should never pass us by.

Living life has also meant that I remember to laugh so hard and not feel guilty about it, buy myself that piece of cake not because it’s a birthday, but because I want to. And take a damn break from the world.

4. Looking for the other side of the story

Society has taught us to think that since so and so went through one, two and three, then since I am geared towards an almost similar journey as that person, then his/her story is my story too.

How messed up is that? For many years, I have tried looking for a mentor, and up to date, I have none, yet a few people look up to me as their mentor. Even if that is the case, I wouldn’t want anyone to go through my journey in an almost similar way, I would want them to take lessons from me and modify the lessons to fit their path.

We grew up being told, go to school, get a degree, get a job. Be like so and so. Lately, I met the other side of the story, I realized the degree certificate is not enough, the job is never enough. The other side of the story to me means a change in the world because of my knowledge.

I think that these are just about enough

Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Cheers!!