"Mark, do you know that you are going to have a midlife crisis". She said! I almost spurt the drink in my mouth in astonishment, "what? Midlife crisis? Not me." That came out yesterday evening, while catching up with a long time friend. She gave me an example of someone she knows who bought a Subaru in his forties, only because he wanted to look cool. No offense to Subaru owners, but the way she put it, sounded like what nobody in his/her forties should ever do. "Life is like an insects cycle," she continued, "you jump the larva stage, expect yourself to go back there", to which I laughed out, because it sounded so true (at moments of truth, I laugh). I mean how can you grow to another stage before you fully outgrow the on you're in.
I have always wanted to buy a bike. You know those super bikes that you see whirling down the curves of Tigoni Tea Farms? A 1000cc that puts your rage on the road. But every time I think of it, it has always been a war between starting up a business, or buying the bike. Of course the former one has always won, something that I'm not too proud of, as I write this. I have longed for that bike for too long, for many years, daydreaming of taking long trips with it, all over the world; biking from here to Cape Town, while taking afternoon naps at the Victoria Falls, as I replenish my energy for the journey ahead. What of those random afternoons that I would just tell her, "let's go to Nanyuki!" And like the loyal girlfriend she will be, she will just give me that vroom vroom fire as we roll down Thika Road, at 250Km per hour, and off to the bush. And this can't wait till 40, only to be termed as a midlife crisis haha! It has to be now now! I mean, why should I wait till forty to ask such a beauty out? It's suicidal.
Following your gut may sound foolish, risky, but believe me you, it is among the best things that you will ever do, for yourself. People rarely regret what they have done, it is the wasted and unheeded call sounds, that come back haunting. Whether it's walking away from that job that makes you feel stagnant, or just getting down on chasing your dream, just follow your gut. Your gut knows what you don't know, it sees where your eyes, faith and hope cannot see, trust or even believe in. It's risky, but it can be rewarding as well.
This reminds me of how before graduation I signed my fate into working for a certain government organization, in the belief that I needed to work for a while, in order to raise capital to venture out into business. Capital is the biggest excuse that people give as a hindrance to getting into business, and here I was, falling into that trap. I can assure you that the following months were the most stagnant months of my life. And it is then that I probably made my worst financial investment mistakes, something that I consider as getting my MBA in the School of Life. The point is, I eventually started a business, in which no single coin, came from my then employment. I sourced the funds else where, which just proved that I did not require to work to raise capital. In this case I had ignored my gut, but thanks to myself, I woke up from my ignorance.
So let me call your inability to follow your gut ignorant too. That will bite you, and challenge you, because I don't believe you appreciate being ignorant. Wake up from your dilemma, and chase that dream down the road. Jump even if you can't see the end of the cliff, you will develop wings before you hit the ground. Some times responsibilities may seem to be shouting "but you can't have it your way!" But the thing is, that's just another excuse. Your gut is your true way! It is the untrodden path that Robert Frost talked about years ago.
So what is going to happen to me and my bike. I'm so getting it! Not tomorrow, for that would mean I close down the hardware store (here they compete again), but I will write it down in my every day, to-do-list, "Get a bike", and eventually, I expect to buy it by the end of the year, which means December 2015.
In the book "Why A students work for C students", Kiyosaki talks about expanding one's means. That living within your means is boring. That it is what poor people do. I mean poor people live within budgets, and are proud when they are debt-free. (You understand that when it comes to Kiyosaki, poor also means middle class). He explains that to be totally happy and live to one's fulfilment, one should learn how to expand his/her means, so that your expanded means can cover your growing life engagements. And that is how I intend to get my bike. I will be expanding my means for the next couple of months, which basically means growing my investments, from which I will then buy my bike. This may be as simple as buying a small property which I will then use as collateral to get the bike loan. The bike loan, can then be paid off by the income from the small property. At the end of maybe two or three years, I will have my bike, and my kasmall property. Or it maybe as complicated as the thought of hell, but that won't matter; I will still get my bike. #ExpandingMeansAndFollowingGuts
And before I forget, you probably wonder how I got off the employment hook.. Well, one day I went to work, and there was this voice in my head that kept saying, "if you do not resign today, you will never resign, and you will be stuck here forever". Of course, I had done a pro and cons analysis way before, and I had written a resignation letter several months back, but not handed it over. On this day, the voice was too violent and shaking. I felt restless and off balance. I assumed it was my gut talking to me. I retrieved the letter from my tab, updated the date, and off I was, chasing my dream. Follow your gut. It has been there before you, in the shoes and souls of other men and women, and it is far and widely experienced more than you are. It won't be easy, but why the heck do you want an easy life? Good luck friend.
