Fruit Of The Grind.

Last week I had an anxiety attack. I was wondering how much longer I can keep my head above water. I was feeling like my screensaver that reflected calmness was about to crack and eventually crash. I was swelling inside like those old cell phone batteries that heat up, expand and can eventually explode. Then I received an email from the Halftime Global office at the beginning of this week. I had been waiting for that mail for almost a month since I had finished their certification to be a halftime coach more than two months ago.

When it popped up in my inbox on Tuesday morning I got heart palpitations similar to the ones we would experience back in high school. Being in a boarding school, Duke of York to be precise aka Lenana School, letters would be delivered once a week. We would pick them from the bell ringer’s office at the end of classes. We would rush to anxiously search for our letters mainly from the pretty lasses from the nearby Precious Girls school in Riruta whom we sang with at the National Music festival.

I would be lucky sometimes to receive a letter. It would be in a gysty blue Conqueror envelope with my name written neatly on it using a black calligraphy pen. I’m nostalgic just from remembering those moments. I would pick my letter and preserve it in my room like fine dessert after a meal to read in the evening before going to bed. My pals and I would reply our letters, choosing our words carefully and spray Brut perfume on them before we sealed them. That was our equivalent of emojis back then. You smell how I feel since I can’t show you by posting an emoji. We could easily make the movie, “Love brewed in an African letter”. Innocent teenage days those were.

I opened the email and it confirmed that I had been fully certified to practice as a halftime coach. Helping folks transition from a life of success to significance. This is the culmination of a six-year journey that began when I turned 40. The restlessness I felt forced me to begin a search for a new life after I realized that my first half occupation was over. That’s the challenge with entrepreneurs. We only do things driven by passion. Once the passion meter (remember the late Otieno Kajwang’s speech in parliament) runs at zero then it’s time to move on. Its #onlyBIGthingsgoingforward from here on.

I picked up reading as one of my new interests at 40 and I have learnt a lot since then. I bought a small book at the beginning of this year to help me remain faithful to my word(s) for this year, Normal obedience. The book – Make Today Count by John Maxwell says that the secret to my success will be determined by my daily agenda. I find that true because whenever I complete a kawaida and random task well, I get an internal drive to find and undertake another meaningful task. It also makes my life feel more orderly and progressive. I choose to believe that my certification is a result of the sum total of the many small tasks and decisions undertaken over the last six years. And yet this is just the beginning.

Chapter six of the book talks about consistency. The boring mundane ability that we have to cultivate if we are to achieve anything meaningful in this life. The book is small but huge on inspiration. One quote says, “Excellence means doing your very best in everything, in every way. That kind of commitment will take you where halfhearted people will never go’’. So for my readers at halftime, please remember your second half of life cannot be of significance if you get into it halfhearted.

Our lives have all been disrupted by corona virus. At first we were all clueless then panic set in and now we are adapting to a new reality. I’m amazed at how people are trying all sorts of things to make ends meet. My business has been closed since March. As a result, my mentoring and coaching interests have grown now more than ever. That’s because I have increased my commitment to them and like a plant being watered, this new occupation is growing and showing signs of a bumper harvest in the near future and beyond.

The panic I felt when business ground to a halt is slowly being replaced with optimism. And what follows soon after is providence because what we focus on multiplies. William Murray captures it perfectly when he says, “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way”

Remain consistent in the grind to activate your gifts, talents and interests folks. Do not give up for if you stay the course soon the universe will make space for you to do your thing. We may realize that this pandemic may just be what we needed for our breakthrough to occur.