New Beginnings.

I met for an end-year coffee with one of my mentors, Mwihaki. I admire how she has manoeuvred transitions in her life, neatly and somewhat directed I must admit compared to many of us. So when you find someone who can cross a busy intersection with relative ease without being knocked down you try to ape them. We met at the Art caffe in our neighbourhood. That catchup was a refuelling session for me. Well, maybe it had to do with the restaurant being at a petrol station hehe.

From our chat and based on Mwihakis journey, It stood out that beginnings have a shelf life. She has noticed that hers come every five years.  It’s important to fully embrace a beginning in our lives but put a reminder at the corner of our minds that another beginning is loading. This stood out for me because the biggest regret in my 40s remains the fact that I was blinded by past success when I was on top of my game previously.

Past success is often the biggest threat to future success. Opportunities for new beginnings don’t come shouting. If you’re not attentive and snooze then you lose. Folks, even as we prepare for the new beginning in about two weeks (the new year) may we remember that in just twelve months we will be here again. Prepare for the new beginning with the end in mind.

Out of the three stages of transitions, which one sumbuas you the most? For me, beginnings have felt elusive especially in this season. It’s like they are coming in slow motion or playing the statue game we used to play as kids. I feel less daring too compared to twenty years ago when I would start stuff up and think about it along the way. Maybe it has to do with the increased impact of my decisions on many more people hence the heightened caution. So advice to self and all of us is don’t let caution paralyse you from starting what you want to do.

Horace said, “He has half the deed done, who has made a beginning”. Starting stuff feels like climbing a mountain that’s covered in soap. The more you climb the more you slide backwards. So keep in mind that if you have started the thing you desire you are halfway there, whether you feel it or not. It remains a journey of faith, my good people.

Incidentally, my first article on this blog in march 2017 was titled New Beginnings. It was indeed a new start and here we are almost five years later and the same title comes up. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, or am I being influenced by Mwihaki? I started writing as therapy for myself and I haven’t stopped since. It was a random decision to document my musings. I’d easily have dismissed it because I was many things but a writer.

The cause of the high mortality rate of beginnings is because they mostly appear in mute and almost by mistake. That was the case when I started playing golf in 2006. I was in a boring phase of my life and needed some excitement. My aunt offered me her old golf clubs to try this boring game of old people (as I saw it then. Now I’m the old person woi ). I reluctantly accepted and visited an open field near home to hit some balls. Soon after my uncle informed me that Limuru country club had a membership drive. He invited me to join.

Fast forward fifteen years later and I cannot describe my life without talking about the impact this sport has had on me. The people I have met, the engagements I have had and the places I have gone, I doubt I would have achieved that if I didn’t take up golf. I even confirmed that my future is public service as a result. Yet it all began with a decision on a mid-week afternoon to just go and hit some balls as I kill time. That one decision has led to many beginnings and endings. As random as that beginning was, the break we seek may be equally random and maybe even lingering around. So be alert folks. The beginning you are hoping for in 2022 may already be tagging at your shirt yet you are busy looking elsewhere for signs and wonders.

Bridges tells us that, “ much as we long for external signs that point the way to the future, we must settle for inner signals that alert us to the proximity of new beginnings”. For some of us, our beginnings might be even closer than Christmas leave alone the new year. What do you see? what are you looking at? And where are you looking?

“Endings and beginnings, with emptiness and germination in between. That basic shape is so essential to growth that we must learn to recognize it in our lives” – William Bridges. Folks my wish for you this Christmas is that you may recognize the beginnings that will inevitably come your way and cause you to live intentionally.

And no matter which of the three stages of transition you find yourself in and the accompanying emotions, be encouraged by the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Not in his goals but in his transitions man is great”.

2021 has been a year that has taken transitions to a whole new level. But we are here still so we are great. Thank you for passing by here every week for some and once in a while for others. I hope these reflections have been of help on your life’s journey.

It’s that time of the year again when I hibernate to a place bila wifi. May we all transition into the new year safely and in good health. Happy holidays folks.