Been There Done That.

It’s funny how when you are there doing that, it doesn’t look like you are covering ground. To me that statement has always come up when referring to something in the past. When looking back at ground covered or achievements gained. The Kiswahili equivalent would probably be tumetoka mbali. At 40 one qualifies to say that, irrespective of the path they have walked.

The one area that easily comes to mind is my entrepreneurship journey. I started biashara tendencies in primary school when I was breeding and selling rabbits. Tendencies, because money was not the motivator at that early age. I somehow knew that money was good to have (kyuk genetics) but being a kid, I didn’t appreciate its value. Later on in high school, I ran a cafeteria and outside catering business. In campus I was selling mitumba clothes in Gikomba market and on campus, (we called the high quality threads, camera). Then my events and tents business followed up until now. In between I have tried importing and selling cars, buying and selling land and the hustle continues. Yaani, I was like Mbugua of the Faiba ad – just a slimmer version.

So based on that journey, I can say I have been there, done that. When I look back at all this hustling, I’m surprised at how much time has passed. More than half my life. Yet I was just focusing on daily projects and how to do them well. For most of my adult life I could not plan my life more than 48 hours in advance. My life was that fluid and still is. A single phone call would change everything because that is how the events industry operates. I can only imagine how much worse it is for careers like doctors, fire fighters, security agencies and the like.

Been-there-done-that can be a good or bad thing, depending on what you have achieved in that long time that certifies you to look back. For me, when I look back I’m happy my life went into biashara. The ride has been made more enjoyable because my sanguine personality thrived in that space. In the events industry, I have met very many people and made many friends. You spend a lot of time with folks while planning and setting up gigs and that is good ground to get to know one another. I remember an event we did in Mogadishu, Somalia in 2015. We were holed up there as a team from a few Nairobi based events companies for about 3 months.  I met Frank who helped my team erect a huge tent and we got to talking while having canned watermelons and nyama jioni surrounded by bomb shelters. We have kept in touch since we got back. Two years down the road I now refer to Frank as my younger brother. He is good people.

If I stayed at the bank where I got my first job after campus, I would have died at the counter while issuing bank balances and my post-mortem report would have read, ‘cause of death – was never there and did nothing’. My occupation has defined who I am and how I process maisha. What we do can easily become the lens through which we view our world. I am spontaneous, have an internal resistance to structure and order (ok, too much order), I think I have above average capacity to handle stressful situations and I adjust easily to changes. I relate with people and process life mostly through what I have become as a result of my being there and doing that. This therefore means we need to be very careful what our occupations expose us to as that eventually moulds us to who we largely become. Who you are at halftime will impact your second half substantially.

Every time that quote comes up in my mind or in a conversation, it’s mostly an indication of coming to the end of a phase and the beginning of a new one.  I am now more aware that I’m beginning a new phase that hopefully when the time comes to say – Been There Done That, I shall look back with pride and satisfaction. Although I do wish I was more self-aware while doing in my first half as that would have enabled me to accomplish more I believe.

Folks let us try and be there while doing that. Being there is the same as being present at every stage and place we find ourselves in. From my experience, this is very hard to do because we tend to be deep in the doing that and we to forget being there (or present).  This stage in life has crept up on me like a bandit, so the lesson I’ve learnt is to have one ear on the ground as you move along. That’s my take. Maybe even by being more self-aware in our current hustle, we shall say – Been There Done That earlier and save precious time so that we can embark on Been There Done That season 2.