I have been watching The Blacklist TV series on Netflix. Raymond Reddington, the main character, is at the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted list. One day, he walks into the Bureau and surrenders and then ends up working with a special task force that operates undercover. In every episode, he tracks a name on a list they call the ‘blacklist’. Each target is a criminal planning to unleash terror on humanity, and he (together with the FBI) must stop them.
Every case is full of drama, and just when it feels like he has exhausted the blacklist, another crime emerges for him and the taskforce to solve, and then another. Be warned, folks: should you choose to start watching this series, please set a timer. Otherwise, you might start it jioni and realise that morning has come as you’re still watching. It’s that addictive.
Our lives are similar to The Blacklist. Thankfully, we are not pursuing any criminals, and with any luck, we won’t become the crooks being investigated hehe. Sometimes life throws us a situation to handle, and once we deal with it—depending on the severity—we imagine we’ve seen the worst of it. Sometimes a deceptive calm sets in, making us think we’ll be cruising from there on, until life throws us another curveball and a new episode begins. Life seems like a series of endless episodes, and none of us knows when the series will end.
So what do we do in the meantime? How do we find meaning and purpose in all of it? This reminds me of the winding road through Murang’a. I’ve been on it a few times while heading to or from Nanyuki. That route is the long, scenic one for sure. It’s full of curves, steep climbs and dips; you can get dizzy from all the twists and turns. No wonder they call that road nyoka nyoka. It takes extra caution to drive on it, especially at night. Your headlights can only illuminate the short stretch directly ahead before the next bend. Our journey in life is like that too, something many of us know.
This week I recalled how my life has been nyoka nyoka for the last decade. I was going through a diary I wrote back in 2018 when my journey with Halftime began. The front cover even bears the title ‘TRUE NORTH’ alongside the logo of a sailing ship. It’s important to put down our thoughts and plans on paper so that years later, when we revisit them, we can see and appreciate the ground we’ve covered.
I launched my webinar series last Friday. Asante sana to those of you who have registered so far. You will get a Zoom link to the webinar closer to the day. As I was perusing my old journal, I came across an entry made on 7th November 2018. I was reflecting on a book I was reading then, The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson. It’s about praying our biggest dreams into reality. One of my entries reads that God is predictably unpredictable. He prefers the long, scenic, nyoka nyoka route to our purpose destination. Yet we humans prefer the shortest path, which often ends up frustrating us when we get impatient. Eight years later, I can confirm that what feels like a long detour is where we get moulded and prepared for what’s ahead.
Another entry that caught my eye was on New Year’s Day in 2019 during my personal AGM. There was a job vacancy at the National Sports Fund that I felt I should apply for. To add to that, my Mzungu dad, Mike, confirmed that it would suit me well, knowing that my future was in public service and that I had experience in sports management. I was Chairman of the Kenya Golf Union at the time, so that positioned me well, or so I thought.
2019 was my fifth year in Halftime. Like the proverbial bamboo that grows underground for five years before breaking the surface, I thought that was it. My wait was over. It was time for a new episode in the series of my life, or at least, that was what I hoped. That year passed without any dramatic outcome. At the end of it, I was disappointed and confused, wondering when this midlife suffering would end. To make it worse, COVID showed up the following year and did its thing. For a period there, I couldn’t see a few yards ahead on my road, let alone around the next bend. In hindsight, I think I grew quite a bit internally during that period. Sometimes the desert is the most fertile place for us to grow our roots.
Back to my old journal, I found a page with a diagram I had drawn. It was of a circle with four arrows outside it, pointing inwards from various angles. I was getting some clues on what the second half of my life would look like but still couldn’t see the full picture. My ‘one thing’ in the middle of the circle had a big question mark over it. The arrows represented the ‘how’: whatever my ‘one thing’ turned out to be, it would make this country and continent a better place. It would impact many lives positively, and it would consume me fully by using my gift, experiences and talent. The fourth arrow read that my one thing would pay me well.
As I think of this webinar series I introduced last week, I see those four arrows represented. Well, that last one on malipo is still forming slowly hehe. It has taken eight years of work (mostly internal) to get here. There have been a few false starts along the way that felt like the real deal. Only later did I discover that the bend I took led straight into a shamba—much like missing a turn while navigating your way to shags.
I’m excited about this new chapter. I’m trying to resist anticipating the outcome, as Sir God is predictably unpredictable. For now, it just feels right to start and progress from one webinar to the next. Folks, if you feel like your life is a never-ending Netflix series or resembles a nyoka nyoka road, tuko pamoja. I invite you to journey alongside me as we navigate midlife transitions within our unique African context. After all, road trips are always more fun when done together. Consider signing up below.
Success to Significance Webinar
You've built the career, the title, the reputation — everything success was supposed to give you. So why does it sometimes feel like something's still missing?That's exactly what we're unpacking in Webinar 1: When Success Isn't Enough, the opening session of my new Success to Significance series for African leaders in midlife. In one honest hour, we'll talk about the transition every high-achiever eventually faces — and how to cross it well.
Friday, 25th September12:00 – 1:00 PM (EAT)
Live on Zoom
KES 2,000
Seats are limited. Know a leader who needs this conversation? Forward it their way.
Register Here