TAKING STOCK - 2020

Today felt like a good day to take stock, so here I am with my open heart, mind and spirit:

MAKING more time for exercise. This has been my most active year, physically. Quarantine days made it easier, especially in March when all we did was stay home for the most part. For several months now, since then, I made a weekend workout routine which involved an early morning run and some easy exercises after the run. I do this on Saturdays and Sundays. Some days I go hard, some days it's really tough but I'm glad I haven't given up on it. It's become part of my life and I think I'm gonna do it for as long as I'm here. People exercise for many different reasons; losing weight or building muscle being among those reasons. For me working out has proven to be one of the main ways I keep sane. After all the noise and activity that the week comes with, I like to just take some time for myself, a good hour, where I just go do something that gives me peace of mind and a kind of calm that I don't always get everyday. I like how I do it, I like how it makes me feel - and this has been the year where I've really loved my body and it's imperfections.

EATING less take-out. This has largely been caused by some guilt that I sometimes feel when I know that there are better and more useful ways I could be spending cash, let's say some 1,500 bob. It's really hard to always cook from home everyday when you're staying alone. There's always that inner manipulative voice telling me to substitute that home made meal with a quick Delamere yoghurt and some fries because that's always convenient right? Adulting has made it easier for me to stop at my tracks when this voice comes up, so I then weigh my options and call my discipline to action. Sometimes I treat myself and take advantage of Terrific Tuesdays for example, but most days I'd rather the money goes into something long-term, like paying school fees for my bro, etc.

WANTING a break from my usual norm so bad, damn! Seeing that the year got folks rooted in one place for a long time this year, is there any form of guilt attached to wanting time-out? Like, are we in a position to be asking for some R&R after literally having a lot of it during quarantine? 😏😂 I think there's no harm in wanting a break despite quarantine life, or maybe that's just me consoling my recurrent thoughts of wanting to go for a long holiday (of doing nothing but watching Series 😂 - and probably hiking). Routine get boring over time so if a break comes through right about now???? Anyway, December holiday is around the corner.

DRINKING some water just now and office coffee earlier. I was told that if I want to hike and go for adventures like a pro, hydrating should be top of the list when preparing. To be completely honest with you, I don't like water. It's like that one Maths teacher you really hated but you had to attend their class regardless, the subject was mandatory, the teacher was shit but attending their class was a means to you getting that degree/certificate. It's bland but it helps the body do it's work so yeah, we drinking till we drop.

READING nothing bro!😂 I'm marvelling at this taking stock post over HERE last year noting down pages of the novel I was reading at the time. I also remember at the onset of quarantine life how I used to chachisha people on my WhatsApp stories with the books I was reading 😂. Well, all that died a rather loud death. I only read 2 books this year and I ain't even mad that I stopped. Maybe I'll pick up the habit again next year, or not - I can't kill myself ooh 😂. In the meantime, lets keep reading tweets and put up 'fleets' while at it. 

PLAYING the same songs all day, everyday. Do you ever just have one dope playlist you keep jamming to until the artists asks for some water to quench their thirst and moisten their now dry throats? Haha, me I have been playing the same songs on a loop and I am not even mad. 

LIKING the fact that I still got to go for hikes this year as I'd hoped I would when the year started. Covid really tried to stop me but the way my personality is built yoooo...it could never keep me stuck in one place. I went to Ugali Hills & Sleeping Warrior Hills in March, Mount Longonot & Rurimeria Hills in August, Ngong Hills (to and from the Kiserian side for the first time) for the umpteenth time in October and closed off my adventure plans with my short but wonderful trip to the Mara. I captured the experiences and made short videos which can be accessed on my YouTube Channel HERE.

HOPING to #TembeaKenya more next year, specifically climb MT. KENYA and Elephant Hills. Those two are my 2021 targets. I also hope that covid will have slowed down so that I can get back to active outreach work. I haven't done any major outreach work this year. 

CREATING a space in my head that screams "Everything in life requires discipline." I've made it through this year because of self discipline. I had one of those buzzwords people come up with at the start of the year and attempt to abide or live by throughout the year. Mine was 'Being intentional'. Have I been intentional in 2020? Yes and No but it's all good because I'm here, right now feeling pretty good about how things with myself are. There's things that aren't as I'd wish they were but I am very optimistic in nature. Fingers crossed, in the end things will eventually fall into their rightful place. It took discipline for me to stick to taking care of my body. Financial discipline is still a very huge struggle of mine but with help i think I'll get a grip on it. Sometimes I console myself saying 'Aaaah, as long as I've paid rent, why should I worry?' I've wasted a lot of money on unnecessary stuff but as they say, everything is a journey and my journey to learning how to adapt to a personal budget is underway - again, so help me God. Discipline made me avoid recalling my past poor mistakes and if that wasn't being intentional, I don't know what is. 

WISHING I was mad, super ridiculously rich, and not that ati rich in love and happiness (which isn't bad, LMAOO). Money isn't happiness but it's a means to attaining happiness IMO. I mean billion dollars rich, that Oprah swimming in money rich. I'd be writing this on my private island but here we are in pauper continent wishing. I love my life tho 😂

LOVING my twin brother's life progress. I am really proud of how far they've come and I am more that 100% certain that my folks are looking down on them praying they keep up the pace. They recently moved out to their own ka joint and from what they tell me, life's been since dishing them a fair share of good and bad. All I wanted for them was to see how living, learning, adapting and surviving on your own feels like in this Nairobi. We lend a hand occasionally but they are taking it all in like the grown ups they have become. I am a proud big siz. 

ENJOYING the fact that our landlord hasn't been bringing those water bills he brings every month. We've been getting away with the water bill since April. Lakini it's not like its too much money😜. Maybe that was his covid life unspoken leniency tactic for his tenants? It's not enough Mr. Landlord, do better Sir 😂. 

HAVING a hard time deciding when to say NO to family/relatives for a long time but I finally got revived from that societal imposed shackle of madness. They say the thing you love the most can also be the thing that hurts you the most. There's a burden that is automatically placed on you the moment your relatives get wind of your income source, and that you are in NAIROBI working. They instantly think that you wake up each day and pluck money from trees along State House road. I have this nephew of mine who's the same age as myself and for a long time I was always sending him cash whenever he'd need it - and even when the reasons for him needing money weren't as convincing. Me and my good heart would just find a way to send because 'You don't say NO to family'😖. The thing that slowly started making me think twice about helping him out was that every time I told him I wasn't in a good place financially to help him, he'd pull the family card and try that emotional manipulation trick most relatives have. "No one in this family cares about me, Oohh I will just go and kill myself because I am poor...lucky you, you are very privileged and working...you mean someone like you can't even afford 200 bob for your nephew?' There's a lot to unpack here but I am very happy to have gotten to a place where I take no BS from people who don't give a hoot about me. Your family, close or extended, can be your greatest supporters and can also be the number one catalyst to your downfall. This year I have learnt to refuse to be used by relatives, siblings and friends as well - those friends who only remember you when they have a problem, you're only a handkerchief when they have tears 😂😂😂 but you're nowhere on their radar when they are having a good time. Refuse to be a handkerchief bro! 

MARVELLING at how easy I take life nowadays. Yes its serious, but then again it's not. I really feel like it's never that serious manze. Me I am just trying to live this my life in my own simple way trying not to get carried away by what other folk are doing and let myself fall off track. It's me against the world, not complicating stuff, laughing at a meme here and there and not being modest for anybody, appreciating what I have and who I have it with bila pressure, celebrating small wins and crying hard when I lose but I keep waking up tu, hakuna kugive up. Me I am LIVING life, and I breathe too. Always remember to breathe!

FOLLOWING This Youtube Channel coz I been loving that girl's content for a long long time.

THINKING about the food I carried from home that I am now going to warm and eat while I go waste some time on YT as I eat it. Adulting imenifanya nikuwe na discipline sana. No wasting money bro..haha I love it and finally

PRAYING that you bless me and those around me, that you keep us well and healthy, that you make your face shine upon us and that you give us peace. That your favour be upon me, upon us, and my family, and their family, and their children and the generations to come. If there's something I've always know to be true - the fact that you got us! So I'm never worried about tomorrow. I look forward to an even crazier year, next year!