Comments.

I will let you in on a secret hope many writers have. Whenever I post my stories I look forward to the comments section getting busy. I enjoy reading my readers’ thoughts. LinkedIn is the busiest platform for me as far as readers’ responses go followed by Facebook. Twitter seems to have switched off the lights on me. Hardly any reactions there.

Despite having very few likes or retweets on Twitter I’m reminded of something my Mwalimu BikoZulu once shared. I met him a few years ago at a local we both frequented. I was feeling discouraged because there were very few reactions when I posted my articles. “It’s like I write to myself”, I blurted out in frustration. He listened to me with an amused look as if he knew something I didn’t. He sipped his drink slowly and asked me if I read his Tuesday articles. I answered that I do. He then inquired whether I comment or double-tap. I told him I don’t. I just read and move on.

“That my friend is your reality”, said Biko. There could be more people who read my article on Twitter than on Facebook but leave no evidence. The moral of the story is, to keep writing and improving. Your tribe will follow you and grow with time. That was more wise counsel from Biko’s writing father Oyunga Pala. Thanks, guys for sharing your experience and wisdom with me.

I hear that feedback is the breakfast of champions. I look forward to the insights people glean from reading my Friday stories. Some of you share such deep reflections that almost warrant an article on their own. One such response came last week. A reader commented on the distractions I wrote about that prevented me from seeing Mt Kenya while driving on Thika road. Initially, I found her response dramatic and sounding almost fatalistic. She said, “we need to remember that any distraction is destruction.” Yaani even small distractions can eventually lead to our destruction. Let that sink in for a minute.

The Covid pandemic has proved that to be true. Again social media ranks highly as far as distractions go. We display happy and successful lives on Instagram and other platforms. Hardly anyone is struggling. People are eating life with a big spoon. While that may be the case for some many of the stories are not what they appear to be. What does this do for those in a hole? They sink deeper. Depression and suicide have been the outcome of comparisons of one life to another both in real life and on social media. Hardships brought in by covid have stretched our coping mechanisms to the limit. Many of us are hanging on by a thread while sadly for others the thread snapped and they left us.

Maybe I’m being overly dramatic on what simple distractions of just scrolling through my phone can do but I hope you get the picture. I am not saying that once we pick up our gadgets it is the beginning of the end. A lot of good is found in social media so maybe it’s a question of choosing to consume positive content compared to the stuff that makes us feel like the bus left us kwa stage on the way to prosperity county. Remember the same way there is a lot of fake news around, we also have fake lives being lived and blasted on our screens every minute.

Robin Sharma said that “ ordinary people waste the hours that extraordinary people use.” How we spend our time determines how we turn out and what we accomplish in the process. Be extraordinary by frequently detoxing from that gadget, socializing with yourself and those who matter to you, and making your media meaningful. A meaningful life does a lot of good for long and with the cameras off. And that’s how we will be judged at the end of our tenancy on earth. Not by the number of likes or followers (I still want more by the way so please follow me hehe) but by the search for meaning and not branding.

A life with fewer distractions is more productive and more authentic. Anne Lindberg says, “the most exhausting thing in life is being insincere.” A lot of what we see publicly is insincere. I like the feeling I get when I come up for air after a period of working on something important where I was so absorbed that I didn’t notice the progress I was making. You look up and find folks congratulating you. It’s a good feeling we are genuinely appreciated for tangible progress. But I’m human so I still catch myself trying to impress unnecessarily at times. I’m often my biggest distraction. We will keep improving pole pole.

Watch out folks for those distractions. Work on minimizing them through heightened self-discipline and striving to live a quiet life. That’s how to live and leave a good legacy. Of course, this is best achieved when we are authentic and comfortable in our skins. That’s one sure way to avoid destruction. I love how Claude McKay put it, “if a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything else.” Don’t be that guy or chic who’s distracted by anything for when that is the case then destruction is near.

Thanks for your comment Lydiah. A full article just came out of it.