Survival Guide from a proud survivor

It all started in 2014 when I lost my source of income, at first I did not stress because I believed it was high time I stopped focusing on someone else’s objectives and pursue my own, something I was passionate about. Little did I know that I was about to embark on a journey that required more than passion, energy, strategy, persistence and emotional intelligence. This new journey included upsetting what I have known as Normal from when I was young till this day. I embarked on a new course of action, and most importantly it entailed learning the basics of survival in a whole new world, a world without a comfort zone.

The first element of survival I had to learn was to be patient, it took me sometime to understand that there is no “I want that jean I want that sneacker” and partying every weekend.  I had to be patient with myself for not affording the luxuries that I once did, had a lot residual anger that imposed an emotional strain that soon translated into a medical condition. I soon learnt that being patient was a must if I wanted to maintain my sanity and rescue myself from anxiety and possible depression, did you know a lot of stress affects one’s state of mind and that can result in memory loss, migraines, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression.

I never knew the courage one needed to stop a total stranger and ask for 50 cent till the day I had no money to go back home, that one experience alone demanded that I strip myself of any pride and leave my comfort zone. It is an experience that taught me my wallet is not my source of confidence and that making excuses for yourself makes people think you are a scam, and most importantly I learned to smile even when my plea was rejected and thank that person for their time.
The spirit of sharing surpass the need to please oneself, I only learned this by asking myself what I can do to help the people around me. This remains one of the spirits I would love to maintain regardless of my situation as it does not only display spirit of humility but portrays to every degree a character of responsible citizenship. Like they say sharing is caring and because it makes me happy to give my last R3 to the poor guy at the taxi rank who is also in the same situation I once faced I will keep doing it.

What I experienced firsthand is that embarking on any journey without direction is brave and foolish, brave because a few people never take that first step and foolish because embarking on a journey to nowhere is not a very smart move. Any action without strategy is a tragedy waiting to happen; as a result my first step was not a waste as such as it allowed me to think from a doer perspective and not just a dreamer or bystander. I was in a slow motion learning every single step of the way; in short this element taught me knowledge is not only at school and lectures are not the only teachers thanks to Google and the 1000 of blogs available online. Until you actually do something you not doing anything, until I wrote this piece it was just a wish or dream.

“Let Your Ideas Outlive You”

The emotional torture that comes with trying something new is not a child’s play, and the upsetting of normality meant I upset what I thought made me happy. So it became a whole new world, drinking and clubbing is a complete bore and holding a can taking stills or video is more exciting than having a female companion. In short I had to change the input to get different outputs, it is a must for anyone trying something new. A case of a friend who registered at school and failed because he did not want to upset what he has known as normality for the past 5 years always reminds me, even in the absence of scientific evidence to support my theory there is some logic to it.

Emotional stability is an investment, have you ever woken up in the morning and felt like not going to work. Well that happens to be common to a lot of people and emotions play a huge role in that kind of situation so whether you are trying something new or feeling your emotions are holding you hostage remember emotions are not supposed to control you. I learned I had to master manipulating my emotions for my own good or they will would have led me to complete failure.

Article By Dimo Wa Moraswi Sekele

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