YOU’LL NEVER BE SATISFIED ON ANOTHER PATH
I HAVE learnt and experienced in my short life that when a particular path is not that which you aspire to take, then no matter how rewarding it is and how much other people think it is so great, you will never be satisfied on it. You will never find true happiness in a path that is not meant for you.
There is an old saying that goes – find a job you like, and you will never have to work a day in your life, or something to that effect. There is so much truth to that saying. I suppose on the other hand, this means that if you find a job that you dislike, then those eight-hour shifts must feel like an eternity and life in that job must feel like prison.
Now dear reader, can you imagine yourself in a job that a lot of people admire, a job that so many of your colleagues are proud of, it makes them so big headed that they think it’s akin to a ticket into heaven? Take the time to think about being in such a job yet you actually dislike it, you actually feel that as much as it brings you so much benefit to your life, it’s not what you aspire to do.
When you are in such a position, very few people can understand your dissatisfaction. It is just those few, and they’ll often be very few that have experienced the same and can appreciate your predicament. The problem with most Zambians is that they are too easily satisfied. Africans in general – and our people here in Zambia are no exception – tend to get impressed easily.
That’s why the rest of the world is ever taking turns at selling us goods while our own industry develops at a painfully slow pace, but that’s another story for another day. In Zambia, we do not embrace that dare to be great mentality. The moment people hear that you have a decent job, whatever their idea of a decent job is, they can never fathom that it may not be your dream to stay in such a job. As I have said a million times in this column, life in Zambia starts and ends with a job.
When something is not meant for you, you will never be satisfied no matter how attractive it is to others. And in Zambia, there also tends to be all this talk of how you must appreciate what you have and never complain about it because others are worse off. And yes, it is highly logical that we must indeed count our blessings because others have not had our luck, however, there is also absolutely nothing wrong with being ambitious. There is nothing wrong with wanting more and choosing to pursue another path whatever the risks involved to profit. People who take risks increase prosperity after all.
I know a certain lady that has had what many would describe as a decent working career thus far. She is well educated and has spent years in the banking industry and is now in another sector. She has held decent jobs and certainly gets paid a decent salary according to Zambian standards. Most people on the face of it would say she has done well for herself and if she continues on this path, she will definitely go places.
What most people do not know however, is that this lady has been frustrated from the beginning. She has never really loved working any of the jobs she has had over the years. She has always felt dissatisfied with some kind burning desire to do more with her life being a constant feeling for her. All the while, everybody that she knows has always told her that they are proud of her station in life. This feeling of not being satisfied and wanting more is a personal feeling, one which only like-minded people can really understand.
The lady I have spoken of is one that appreciates her job because she currently needs it to survive. On the other hand, I do not foresee a situation where she will stay in formal employment her whole life. Inevitably, her burning desire to do something else will be stoked to a point where she will leave formal employment and pursue her dreams.
As it turns out, she has done that once before though it did not go according to plan. But the way of those that pursue big dreams is not to try once, have a setback and give up forever. The idea is that if at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again. I am certain she will live up to this philosophy. It’s not always hard to tell those that won’t give up on a dream from those that will.
There are certain kind of people who chase a lost cause; call it being stubborn or whatever you will, there are those that just never give. One simple way to tell who would never give up is to listen to their words. Often when words come out constantly and repetitively out of the mouth of a human being, they tend to give you a huge idea of who that person is. As British tycoon Theo Paphitis said in his book Enter the Dragon, “If you can go to the pub and bore your friends senseless about your dreams, you’re halfway there.”
When you hear people say things like I work in a bank or at such and such a parastatal or at such and such a Mobile Network Operator with so much pride and a huge grin from ear to ear, it is not hard to discern that they have arrived and they are living their dream.
On the other hand, you have those that will say, yes life at such and such an organisation is okay, especially if you want to stay there in the long run, but you’ll never know what tomorrow might bring, particularly if our projects take off, we may leave to give more attention to our projects. They may even go on to say things like – agriculture is the future of this economy, if we can find a way to jump on it now, we will create a proper investment base. These are words from a different mindset than the employee of the Mobile Network Operator.
In life, it is important to know your role. It is also important to pursue your dreams not just to fulfill an ambition but also to realise your full potential and live freely and happily. Nobody likes to have a troubled mind on a daily basis because they feel they are in the wrong field. Always remember that you will never be satisfied as long as you are on another path. Share your views: muyangwamukuni@gmail.com