5 minute read

Steve Waiganjo in 2016 said “the most difficult age for any man should be between 24 and 29 years, the pressure to be something, to be someone is so immense”. You probably don’t know him but, I assure you he is one wise Bro. See, during this phase, everyone seems to be doing something for themselves, and people seem to be living a life you can only dream. You have applied for jobs, and the results have been more disappointing than that lecturer who’s always the devils agent trying to prove a point.

 Sadly this is the age when most people lose it, the period drugs consume you if not careful because the disappointments become too much. Worse is when a few people you studied with have been lucky enough to land jobs, soon your circle of friends gets thinner – mostly they don’t even cut you out, if you are real with yourself, you just cut yourself off. I mean what you will do when you are in a WhatsApp group of friends discussing about last week’s trip in Zanzibar and planning another road trip to Kigali while you are not sure of what your next meal would be? 

 Most times, you follow the conversation silently, all alone like a cross on the grave. Soon you realize this is no longer your kind of crowd because the more you keep around, the more the pressure to be something takes a toll on you. You know when stories about house parties come up, and you act deaf because you do not see where an extra five people would fit in your house. Have you ever sat in a group of people discussing the new iPhone on the market or how British Airways offers shit services and you can feel your heart whisper to you “boss this is chest pain hour”.

 Nevertheless, you sit there as these people get lost in their lifestyle conversations, you are like a secretary taking minutes during a meeting, and you are forgotten like one of a woman’s breasts during foreplay. Occasionally, one of the friends will turn and ask if you need another drink and you wonder if you should say No and head home, but head home to what? So you grudgingly drop in the “I will have just one last one” lie.

After a few years of job hunting, you are now ready to take anything even if is to smell a rich man’s farts as long as it pays, so you end up as an office messenger in one blue-chip company in town. To imagine that three years of studying and getting a degree is now reduced to picking and dropping off letters and if you are not doing that, the employees are sending you for cheap lunch when they are broke. This is when conversations about where people schooled start, you go silent for it’s no longer of any use to say you’ve been to Campus too, it doesn’t matter – you have resorted to surviving.  

Once in while you will bump into your now “well to do” classmates, they will often offer you lunch, but not even the meals make you feel better about yourself because in your mind, you wish instead they would give you the money to sort your meals for the next five days. As it is the norm, you will have photos taken, and uploaded on Facebook, but always it’s your face that looks misplaced – not even the best filters can hide a face which has borne the city dust and survives on boiled beans.

 The worst mistake you can do during this period is to try to date – there is not much a person going through such times can offer. How are you going to do romantic evening walks when you are tired from walking delivering letters in offices around town? What are you going to tell her when she says she wants to eat out? That your financial religion doesn’t allow it or what? This is the age when you sit back and watch as the women you would want dating or getting married to guys ten years older than you. We can’t blame them – it’s only that your life seems to be progressing slower than their goals in life. Most of the ladies you meet during this period, if you are lucky will be patient with you till you hit 28, and if by then your life is still in disarray like the current Arsenal’s performance in the EPL, then my friend a walkout is headed your way.  

Then again, this is the age when you learn a lot about life, and if you can hack through this stage; the only hard moment in your life would be when you lose your parents – that’s if you are still lucky enough to have them. This stage teaches you a lot about perseverance, about appreciating the small wins you have each day; it teaches you something about genuine friendships, love, career growth, and personal responsibility. This is always your rise or fall moment depending on the choices you make. How you handle yourself in this phase determines your life in the ’30s.

Beautiful day fam, keep glowing!!

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