The Attitude Lounge with Kodwo BRUMPON: A walk in a maze

“Love forgives shortcomings.” – Akan proverb

Life is a huge maze. And interestingly, the layout is different for each of us. For each however, the maze is winding and can sometimes be tortuous.

And as one gets older, it gets bigger, thicker and scarier. The clues we receive from others with regards to navigating the maze do not always work for us.

In short, there are no guarantees. You just have to step out and take the next turn. Some steps you might have to take after a ton of analysis, others you simply have to because it appeals to you. Whichever method motivates the step, the most important aspect is taking the step.

Like an adventure, every step is risky and quite tricky. The world might either applaud you or they might jeer at you. This is where our individual struggles with our inner selves begin. It starts with making sense of who we are, and then it jumps to what are we here for and how can we make any contribution to what is existing.

This leads us to the strange feeling of striving to fill our thoughts, words and work with that which makes sense and is right. More often, we have a shadowy feel about what to do and how do it, but we are not too sure it will land dry and safe.

Like pieces of a jigsaw, we can make out the picture in our minds and yet we are afraid the piece in our hands might not fit into the spot we are about to place it. That is probably what most people refer to as ‘doubt’, but it is as real as the rising of the sun. None, not even the most dynamic of humans can comfortable say they do not have doubts about their choices.

Sometimes, the desire of ensuring we take the next step better than we did the last time creates anxiety. Brooding over getting it right can paralyze us, and ultimately prevent us from taking the step at all. We do not realise that we are not taking the step because there is no adrenaline that comes with the paralysis.

We simply go about doing what we are doing and yet we never take the next step. It is like the sweat we experience when we dance in the rain. We never appreciate the sweat because we cannot feel it. But then how can we? The wetness of the raindrops sensate our feelings, with its overwhelming chill.

Such unconsciousness are just an inevitable part of life. The important thing is that we accept them and address them and overcome them. We must act in spite of them. And to do that, we need to appreciate that we do not have knowledge of everything, neither are we divine to ensure we never get anything wrong.

Thus, some of our steps might be wrong. However, getting a step wrong and refusing to correct it, is problematic. Not only do you affect yourself negatively, but you become like a boil under an armpit. You create an imbalance in the harmonious gravity of our humanity. Be courageous enough to accept your flaws and correct them. They will only make you a greater individual.

The point is to learn to be less afraid of taking initiatives. And to do that we should be taking more steps. Inaction causes us to be more fearful. What we should bring to the fore of our consciousness is that, every step you take in the maze should strengthen humanity, not matter how easy or hard, scary or tough it might be.

Your step should give me wings to fly and the flapping of my wings should generate enough force to propel you upwards to enable you soar with the eagles. In cases where your step inhibits the growth of any person’s wings, that individual cannot generate enough force to enable you rise as well. So let us ensure our steps do not step on others. Instead, they should become prints that illuminate the path for all others.

Sadly, too many of us stray along the middle path, hoping to find solid ground to enable us spring high up into the clouds.

You need to understand that your desire for the world to find you interesting, witty, cocky and all the adjectives that generates a buzz, can only become a reality when you walk on the extreme edges.

You need to step out differently, and you need to do what you do so well, it would get fingers pointing at you and the parents telling their children to strive to be like you.

That is what dreams are all about. We dream dreams so that we can have the ideal, for the ideal is possible. We must always remember that as long as one person has been able to achieve it, so can we.

Lest we forget, the point of triumph is not always to achieve the outcomes we visualize. Rather it is about taking the initiative to implement the vision. The reality is, we are all lost. Very few of us will be found in this lifetime.

All of us however, can be found after we are gone. But to be found, we need to leave a legacy. We need to carve inspiring legacy, one that contributed to the thrive of humanity. Otherwise, we will be lost forever.

Fortunately for us, everyday learning affords us greater control over ourselves and our environment. Let us take advantage of this advantage at our disposal and take steps to make living meaningful for ourselves and everyone else…

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Kodwo Brumpon is an executive coach at Polygon Oval, a forward-thinking Pan African management consultancy and social impact firm driven by data analytics, with a focus on understanding the extraordinary potential and needs of organisations and businesses to help them cultivate synergies, that catapults into their strategic growth, and certifies their sustainability.

Comments, suggestions, and requests for talks and training should be sent to him at [email protected]

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