inspiration

I heard somebody comment that after mid-January we should stop saying happy new year. But this being my first post in the 2025, let’s start off with a happy new year message, shall we?

I am somewhat thrilled to be in this moment and season. Because 2024 was a rather difficult year, socially, economically, professionally, friendships…you name it. It took a mental toll to finish strong. It’s impressive to note that ‘we’ did just fine. The details are subject of discussion at another forum.

I believe 2025 will be an exceptional year. I have resumed setting of resolutions after a two-year break. I had always wanted to get a feel of living experimentally or free flow or autopilot as some people term it. The last two years were chosen to be a season where we simply work to be better, without anything specific identified as the major goal. Looking back, I think that kind of ‘reckless or aimless’ living as some people would term it has its own pros and cons. But generally, I realized it is possible to let life simply be, worry less about everything and anyone. That is probably my biggest lesson coming from my so-called resolution-less season.

What can we expect as we shift back to a ‘whole load’ of resolutions type of lifestyle? I believe the principles never change, because that defines who you are as a person. This is the year to make progress – be it investing self-education, health or career growth or wealth creation. I recently read this autobiography called Doctor at Heart by Dr Dan Gikonyo, one of Kenya’s and arguably Africa’s remarkable and renowned cardiologist.  Through his life journey, one of my notable takeaways was in his sharing of occasions where people or systems doubted his abilities. But that did not shatter his ambitions. Instead, we see an ignited man whose quest to be the best at what he does crafts him to be an achiever of many firsts who goes on to inspire us that:

When people underestimate your abilities, work even harder and prove them wrong.

As a person coming from a two-year season where I have felt underestimated in many ways, this book came in handy and timely to energize the new season.  I would highly recommend reading it. Among others, it is a great piece if you are looking to reconnect with  a bit of history as it takes us back Kenya’s history lane which in my case helped to get a better understanding of how events unfolded the past 70 years, at least from another person’s lens.  Dr Gikonyo reiterates by his mention of Chinua Achebe’s quote:

Until the lions have their own historians,  the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.

In other words, your story is better told by you. I cannot emphasize this enough ever – tell your own story the best way you know how.

My mantra for 2025 is to get even better at all I do. Not necessarily because I aim to prove anyone or anything wrong, I think there is deeper satisfaction and sense of fulfillment in using one’s abilities to lead a purpose driven life.

Before the year gets all too busy, allow me to also point out this article on 7 traits of successful people. I hope 2025 allows us to be successful in all that we do and while at it, always take a quiet moment to self-reflect and give birth to new solutions.

Until the next post, happy fulfilling and productive 2025!

This post has been inspired by a sister and her colleague. I had to request if I could write this as my next blog. Well, that’s because the incidence happened yesterday late evening into the night and still a bit fresh in our minds. Hence wanting to put it out today would seem like a typical ‘paparazzi’ move. The incidence is likely not what you think —for sometimes we hear about miracles and think galaxies. No, it can happen in the simplest of ways. How about we dive right into this one.

There happened to be a young girl, age estimated at around 4 or 5 years old. She is left in the hands of a neighbour to take care of her because her mother must travel out of town to take yet an older sibling to school. Not known to the mother, the neighbour wouldn’t be as involved to care for her little one – or maybe the girl slipped away – because accidents do happen. The girl finds herself sauntering around, lost, and stranded trying to trace her way back home. She is several miles from home and strangely nobody seems to have so far spotted a little girl walking all by herself. As fate would have it, she bumps on a young man and woman walking to a bus stop after a rather busy day of work and end of week, it is Friday after 6pm. The two also happen to coincidentally be practitioners in the security space, not as security officers but more like analysts or what you would refer to us internal security affairs team – any premise providing essential services or trading in high value goods needs to invest in their own internal security and risk management team. For you cannot rely on external service providers alone, but that is a story for another day…

When the two saviours bumped on this little girl, their first instinct given their profession was to ask where she was headed all alone. The girl, timid and panicking informs that she is looking for her mom. They ask her where her mother is – for they are not willing to leave this child alone – sunset is fast approaching and scavengers are all around, because the surrounding isn’t exactly safe. The girl explains where her mother works – a small eatery supposedly somewhere in the vicinity. The two saviours decide to take her there. It’s a risk they must take, despite the outcome it might present. As fate would have it, they find the eatery closed and ask a few roadside vendors whether they can identify the child. Unfortunately, nobody sees any familiarity. It is now already night fall, so the two saviours decide to take the child to the nearest police station. They are discouraged by a few by-passers. Nevertheless, they set out for the station. By this time, they have created a sense of safety between them and the little girl and asked her a few questions but more importantly which school she goes to – which if you ask me was a genius idea I would probably not have thought about in such a moment. But thankfully, some people are born with security instincts – now that’s my sister for you! What I learnt is that as a parent or guardian, teach your child to always remember the name of his/her school and location, because a phone number can be a little too heavy a piece of information to remember especially in a time of crisis.

At the police station there is too much commotion, so much that the little girl gets more frightened and traumatized. She can no longer speak. The information obtained prior to arrival at the station becomes what will have to be relied on. So, the saviours explain the occurrence and mention that the girl said she goes to XYZ school. They hand the child to the Police and depart with a request to be informed once her mother is traced.  They commute to their homes rather worried. What might become of the child if her mother is not traced tonight? Our police stations are not exactly the kind of place you would term as child friendly – from the infrastructure which is either aged and dilapidated – to the general tension and aura of alleged law offenders you would expect to find there.  Having to leave a child, especially a 4- or 5-year-old is hard to stomach but is what we must to avoid taking the law into our own hands.

The next 3 hours that would follow were a period of worry for our saviours. Praying and hoping that a phone call sharing news that the child’s mother had been located would come any time. Now aware of the chronology of events, I mumble a short prayer in my heart that the child does not spend the night away from home. And just before we tuck to bed a few hours later, the phone call comes through. I can hear the conversation from a distance – and from the smile on the receiver’s face it seems all has gone well. The school details had been used to quickly locate and contact the school’s administration who went ahead to contact her mother. In no time, mother and child had been reconnected. Isn’t that a miracle friends?

Often, we think about or expect miracles to occur in a rather unconventional way, when it could take an act of kindness by a friend or stranger to make it happen. Miraculous deeds take the simplest of forms – which is to say we experience miracles every other day but sometimes fail to notice because our minds are expecting bigger and extraordinary miracles that we may not live to experience.  How about we take a minute to appreciate the miracles experienced because of the relentless service of men and women in uniform around us?  What of our non-uniformed security advisors and analysts whose wisdom comes in handy every other day? They don’t always get everything right – but their action a few hours ago just helped to reconnect a lost family member with her loved ones. This is something money cannot buy.

Until the next post, happy moments striving to be that person through whom others can experience a miraculous deed.