Choose to Live Life on Your Own Terms

Today I noticed that I must define life for myself, otherwise people will do it for me and they will make me lose my way in life. There is a kind of life that I want. This life is rarely embraced in our culture today. At least in Kenyan culture. The likes of Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk would not be praised in our market. They would be pushed aside and labelled as too intense, nerds and not cool. Our society likes socialites, musicians, politicians and generally just rich people with no regard for how they got their money.

This is not the world that I want. I want a world where people are acknowledged and praised for the amazing feats of innovation, commerce and progress that they have brought forth into the world. People should be praised for their ability to bring forth change into the world and bank their lives on that change. They must be willing to stick to one thing for a very long period of time, without recourse, without remorse. They must keep charging forward. This idea of deals, opportunities and hustling is bullshit that I don't agree with. It is hurting our society. People should take pride in being known for one thing and one thing alone. They must be willing to fight for that thing to the end.

Everyone wants to be a fucking investor. They want to dip their toes into many things and hedge their bets on the few things that could work. They don't want the risk of betting on one thing and working day and night to make that thing a reality. They are cowards indeed. I understand where the venture capitalists, stock brokers and hedge fund managers are coming from. Their business model requires them to do so. However, you have people like politicians, employees and so on, who are not willing to stick to one thing that they believe in. The only thing they believe in is money.

It could be privilege that allows me to think this way but the evidence says otherwise. Those who care too much about money will never make enough but those who care too much about their craft will get more than they will ever need. Fine, there are exceptions in each case and it can even be said that they are equal. There are people who care about money and make a lot of it and there are people who care about their craft and end up poor and miserable. Fair enough. However, if you look at all the exceptional people who did great things, they all loved what they did. They did not do anything else. We all know them for one thing and one thing alone. Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill, Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya, Steve Jobs, Napoleon Bonaparte, Michael Jackson and so on. These people loved what they did. To them, it was never about the money. Name one famous people who hated that they did and ended success. Exactly, you can't think of anyone.

No one ever did anything worth doing if they only cared about the money. You have to be willing to make your decision based on the following questions:

1. Are you okay with suffocating your hopes and dreams so that you can earn a paycheck at the end of the month?
2. Or are you okay to be broke as fuck for a time and take a chance to work on achieving your dreams?

Most people in our society would pick the paycheck and lie to themselves that they will build their dreams later. Some do this and they are the committed ones. The truth is that most people won't. Once they taste the paycheck, they will become prisoners to it. Once their responsibilities increase like getting married, getting kids and taking them to school, they don't have the luxury to pursue their dreams. They have to make that money at the expense of their dreams. They could hate that job to their guts, but the cost is too high to make a switch. What if it doesn't work out? What will happen to the kids? Who will pay the bills? The cost is so great that most people would rather bite the bullet and discard their dreams as childish and not important.

For those people who have dreams, whatever they may be. It could be to start a business, become a musician, become a digital nomad or go back to school. My advice is to start now. If you cannot start now, come up with a plan to ensure that you make that dream come true as soon as possible. The more that time passes, the smaller the window becomes to make the leap. If you miss it, it becomes very hard to open that window again. The richest place in the world is the graveyard where unexecuted dreams, visions, hopes and ideas have been laid to rest. They will never be worked on, because the person never took the chance when it was right in front of them.

I fear for our generation. We are too focused on keeping up with the Kamau's and Jaden's that we forget about what we truly want out of life. We want to be like nani. Everyone wants to buy a nice car, own land, have apartments to rent, go to fancy restaurants, go on vacations to trendy locations and wear fancy clothes to post on Instagram. Everyone wants the soft life. The life that looks flashy and trendy. They want to live like the typical 21st century person. The trend is rampart and I don't want to live in it. I want a separate life. I like what Amerix is doing. Eventhough I don't follow his teachings, I understand the point he is putting across. You don't need to live like everyone else. You don't need to believe what everyone else believes. You don't even need to give two shits about it. Live your own life and do what you believe is right. If it works for you, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

One must design their life to fit their ideals and beliefs. We must also understand that there are different ways to live and it is not a must to follow what everyone else is doing. Even if there is pressure to do so. You don't need to. Live your own life on your own terms. This is freedom. Free yourself from the masses. Walk the lonely path and do it with a smile. It is greatest thing you can ever do.