By Kabelo Mollo
The last time I cried was when I left my high school. I went to one of those schools where your affinity for the institution doesn’t ever waver. I will be a “Saints boy” forever.
I remember vividly sitting in the chapel pews getting ready for the rest of my life. I was all kinds of emotional on that day and I suppose I couldn’t believe I was leaving five years of history behind me. I couldn’t foresee a future without the familiar faces and every day surroundings of the campus that I to this day hold so dear.
Recently, my life has changed markedly once again. In the space of not very long I have got engaged, legally married and moved in to a new home with my gorgeous wife. This is easily the happiest I have ever been in my life, and touch wood, it will continue in perpetuity.
Change, they say, is as good as a holiday. I read somewhere that it is advisable to take a holiday and rest period wherever possible. Leave the house for a day or two, leave town if possible and clear your head. Many of us have had to work from home owing to these new uncertain times we are living in.
It is suggested that rather than working from home, we are now living at work. I have seen this to be true with many friends and family who are always on call no matter the time or circumstance. Stressful doesn’t even begin to describe this new normal. The question though is how do we adjust to our new daily realities, because adjust we must.
Embracing change is the only way we can cope with it. Trial and error is probably the only way. Setting schedules, setting boundaries and most importantly sticking to them is a start. Taking time off where a gap appears sounds like a plan. There are so many breath-taking spots in the country as I highlighted in my previous column that may be perfect for this. Either way, we must find a way to embrace the change.
I woke up the other day and realised it that was really the first day of the rest of my life. It is difficult to describe that feeling but let me give it my best shot. It’s like the first time you eat a medium rare steak, for those of us who aren’t vegetarian or vegan. It’s like tasting that juicy cut of steak. You didn’t realise you needed it, but wow, you do! It’s a luxury that you will not be able to live without in future, and for some odd reason you’re grateful for it.
My day started and I was confronted by a series of lovely realisations. One being that my wife and I now cohabited meaning neither would need to adjourn to their parents’ houses after the day’s activities. Instead we were going to need to work out a new rhythm and pattern that suited us. We are in the midst of working it out, and while it hasn’t been seamless as such, it’s been a real pleasure.
We know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so we make provision for them. We are also new in to this journey so we are very careful not to take liberties. Long may this trend continue.
Our new normal requires getting used to beyond just the two of us though. There are other people, like our parents who are having to deal with a sort of empty nest syndrome all over again. I haven’t made any serious enquiry to either set of parents about what it’s like having us over as visitors but I assume it’s a change.
My parents are fortunate they’ll no longer have to feed a six foot, 100-kilogram man. They’d never admit it because they’re great people, and even better parents, but mine was a heavy load. Literally. They ought not fret though as we’ll be attending regular meal times with them!
I have been doing some reflection and enjoying some nostalgia from matters past, such as that valedictory service I spoke of earlier. I have been chuckling to myself wondering why the change looked so difficult to embrace when really it was so necessary. I loved it too. Life after school has moulded me in to the guy I am today. Naturally I continue to be moulded by life and different experiences so there’s that, we are constantly changing and evolving. Ours is to make the absolute most of the evolution.
Five years ago if you’d have told me I would be station director and on air personality on a radio station I’d have laughed heartily in your face. If you added to that I’d be living in Maseru and enjoying it, I’d have called you a buffoon, if you’d gone further and said I’d have met the love of my life in that self-same Maseru you’d have seen tears emanate from my eyes. So much can change in so little time. Ours is to create the flow and then go with it. Change might even be better than a holiday, and for me, right now, life is one change after the next, I like it. I really do.
