My love for nature never let’s me stay in town for too long. Last Saturday was no exception as the hiking bug bit again. This time it landed me on the western part of the Aberdare ranges situated in the central part of Kenya.With a group of fellow hikers, we intended to conquer Rurimeria peak, the third highest peak on the Aberdare ranges. This is considered among the toughest hikes in Kenya and those intending to conquer Mt Kenya or Kilimanjaro are advised to do a pre-hike here. The terrain here is quite unforgiving and even to a seasoned hiker, you have to summon all mental and physical strength to make it to the summit.
Along the trail up, there are the most breathtaking features; some rock formations would make Michelangelo turn green with envy. The vegetation up there is the type that can be found in no other place apart from up the mountain. There are some flowering plants that are a sight to behold and this is where I derive my lesson. During one of our brief stops as we hiked up, I saw some very beautiful white flowers. They were at the different stages of bloom. Some were already open, others were just slightly open while others were still in their bulbs.
This pricked my interest and then it occurred to me. All of us are like these flowering plants. We are planted in this life and our careers, dreams or aspirations are like these flowers. We are all gifted differently and our breakthroughs in life will never come at the same time especially since we all have different paces. We may go to school all through to campus adhering to the same rules but some will get employment before others. Some will fulfil their obligations earlier than others. There are early bloomers and late bloomers. The sad thing is that those who break out first are used as a yardstick to measure the success or lack of, of all the others behind them. If you don’t buy a car, house, marry at the same time with your age mates or college mates, then you are often considered a failure. Many people have been forced to do things they were not prepared for, just to fit in. Many are running the marathon of life at speeds far above their capacity and capability and many end up blowing their life. A tuk tuk cannot travel at the same speed as a Ferrari and that is why each has its own designed tracks.
It is therefore important, much as we have ambitions in life, to know our capacity and then work from there. We can then slowly move up as our capacity improves. In most major roads, there are various lanes and you are expected by law to keep to the lane of your speed limit. This is the same with our lives. There are those who are fast, some are moderate and while others are slow but all will eventually make it to the end, as long as they don’t stop or give up. I leave you with this simple question: Are you within your lane? To read more posts by Mwangi, click HERE
