a little perspective – dance, like no one is watching you
For a friend who, almost a lifetime ago, got me started on one of the most important journeys of my life. If ever there was a purpose for what we shared during that brief glimpse into eternity , I’m sure this was very high on the list. Thank you.
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Kawanda Research Center is one of the most serene places I’ve seen around Kampala. That place is beautiful. So quiet and peaceful. Too bad I didn’t have a camera.
My siblings stay there with their Auntie, so yesterday, like I do every once in a while, I went there to visit them and give/get an update on how things are going.
That place is a huge break from reality. Everything is so laid back, life seems so lazy. There’s lots of shade and these huge old colonial style houses that make you want to move in immediately. There are kids playing football in a makeshift field and their laughter ripples through the place, reminding you of the good old times. During weekends, you rarely meet anyone except the occasional couple taking a stroll. It’s like you’re in another world altogether.
It’s places like Kawanda that keep reminding me of one of the biggest lessons I learnt last year: Life is not about being so obsessed with your ambitions and goals and dreams that you do everything in your power to achieve them and forget about all else.
It’s okay to work hard for something you believe in, but once you get obsessed to the alienation of everything else, it becomes a completely different story.
Like a phrase I read somewhere about how “people waste away their health trying to get rich, and then spend all their riches trying to get back their health.”
Granted, the commitment and dedication I had has seriously paid off, but at what price? I know I was dangerously close to messing up my health, and last year put a whole lot of things in sharp perspective. Fifty odd years from now, I don’t want to spend my last years in regret. I don’t want to make a bucket list when I’m eighty or close to death. I don’t want to wish I’d lived more and worked less.
It’s about balance, but that balance starts with knowing your weaknesses and strengths. My biggest weakness was/is being too responsible or taking everything a little too seriously. Yes, it may seem strange, but that is a weakness. Someone once told me, “You’re not the president of the universe.” That one statement, like many things she told me, stuck to this day. … one of the many reasons I loved her so much, she of the dedication up there …
As Alfred De Souza said,
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.
That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what has been happening to me for the last eight years, striving to achieve what I believed to be a darn good measure of success. But towards the end of last year, during my days at the family home, I resolved to refuse to let it continue.
I refused to let my work and ambitions consume me. I’m a fairly ambitious guy, as anyone who knows me very well can testify, so this is no easy task. I will always have my dreams, hopes, goals and ambitions, but I will also have my life. And for my life, I insist.
So for the past three months or so, I’ve been sleeping more, playing more, living more, seeing more, dancing more, loving more, listening more, talking less, talking to Abba more.
It’s not much, but it’s a start, and it sure is fun.
And it forms the core of my “No more bollocks” resolution. Not a resolution for this year, but a resolution for the years and decades ahead.
It’s a resolution for my life.
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Audio: Lee Ann Womack – I Hope You Dance
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Offtopic:
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
Dance, like no one is watching you.
Love, like you’ve never been hurt before.
Sing, like no one can hear you.
Work, like you don’t need money.
Live, like heaven is on earth.- Alfred De Souza
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13 Responses to “a little perspective – dance, like no one is watching you”
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val on January 11th, 2009
“So for the past three months or so, I’ve been sleeping more, playing more, living more, seeing more, dancing more, loving more, listening more, talking less, talking to Abba more.”
This is what I loved……especially the playing bit….time to connect with the inner child…etc…
and you’ve given me thots about a post…
val’s last blog post..Muzina, Loi, Ultimatum….and other classics
Miss Cheri on January 12th, 2009
Hmn, kale I’m awake at this tiny hour, reading your blog…Ineno…?
Miss Cheri’s last blog post..Merry Christmas y’all
Miss Cheri on January 12th, 2009
Someone once said to me, that “When u stop taking everything so seriously and take it at face-value, is when losing stops being a really big deal.”
Problem is this *quote* is two pronged. I don’t think losing should stop being a big deal.
I hope I’ve made some sense.
Goodnight.
Miss Cheri’s last blog post..Merry Christmas y’all
lulu on January 12th, 2009
my melancholic friend i feel you alot! and true, i vistied jinja once and the townss sleepy way just gets me nostalgic everytime i pass through that twon, tags at my heart as if saying ’stay a while’ coz a month in jinja once, i found my lost soul
lulu’s last blog post..thinking out loud!
TRP on January 12th, 2009
Hm………Work, like you don’t need money….
TRP’s last blog post..Sunday Morning With Calvin
The Apprentice on January 12th, 2009
Little bro, I’m proud of you. Always have been. Stay young, stay foolish. Nuff said.
The Apprentice’s last blog post..Bon Annee Mes Ami
Mr. B2B... on January 12th, 2009
Dawg
this habit of stealing my future posts is not going to work!!
infact so much so that i am making you buy the drinks this Thursday at the Impromptu-BHH!!!!
Dope Dope Post SoloDawg!!
Dope….
Thanks for sharing it!!
Mr. B2B…’s last blog post..Informally formal
petesmama on January 12th, 2009
Good for you. When you decide to start dancing, can I watch anyway?
Solomon King on January 12th, 2009
@Val, if the post is going to be anything like that Luzinda post, I can’t wait.
@Miss Cheri, aneno, nino pe iwangi? And yes, you’ve made two pronged sense, but who said anything about losing?
@Lulu, aaaah Jinja, that town is so …. yeah.
@TRP, yes, Page, I know money is especially high on the motivation list for you.
@The Apprentice, thanks big bro.
@Mr BDawg, muahahahaha! LOL. Dude, you know what they say in bidness, hit first, hit hard, hit often.. translate accordingly. Drinks on me then. and thanks.
@Mamapete, lol, we’ll see. give it about five years.
Sybella on January 12th, 2009
i am glad that you are now enjoying life the way God intend it to be for us…
what hit it for me last year was that there will always be drama/problems in our lives but He is in control all the time and plans the best for us so we have to “Let go and let God” take control of everything…
enjoy the week…
Sybella’s last blog post..Aaaaarghhh
The Rogue King » 2009 Mercedes Benz McLaren SLR Stirling Moss on January 12th, 2009
[...] after my melancholic post yesterday about taking a little more chill time, and not getting obsessed with my goals, The Apprentice sends [...]
TRP on January 12th, 2009
Is there something wrong with that??
TRP’s last blog post..Sunday Morning With Calvin
Nevender on January 12th, 2009
For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness, happiness is the way.
wisdom.
Nevender’s last blog post..Live Coverage of the Israeli Palestinian war