tHe neXt fIve yeaRs

A letter from somebody to anybody…

I have been asked to write an article about where I see my life in the next five years. After being told to write this article – a nerve struck in my body. For the first time in a long time I was being asked to write about myself. Now- this would have probably worked out just perfectly had I been in a better frame of mind but alas I am not and I find myself at a crossroads asking myself… Keabetswe, where do you see yourself in five years?

Anywhere. Everywhere. Somewhere. I don’t know.

I want to learn.

Education has always been a big part of my family’s legacy. It is what my father calls “the bridge from nowhere to everywhere”. Listening to those words should probably have filled me with some mythical dose of inspiration where all I’d want to do is to know everything, right? Right? Wrong. Instead, I am pressurised to live up to my father’s expectations to keep on learning, to be endowed with everlasting wisdom- to know everything. Don’t get me wrong, I love to read. Reading and writing have always been my first loves, so why the sudden anxiety? I figured it out.

In the next five years I want to study everything. Next year I hope and pray to be allowed to study Communication Science at UNISA. If possible, I would like to triple major in psychology and English literature. Afterwards I want a shot at something unorthodox like sexology or philosophy- just because I can. I am not forgetting my future plans about acquiring a Btech for my Journalism diploma, but honestly, I’m not so excited about that line of work anymore. It feels like I put that dream in a balloon, hoping it would reach the starts then someone decided to shoot it down. If you’re imagining this, it’s not as bad as it sounds. It just looks really pathetic and sad and in some ways, that’s how I feel right now. Back to education. I am hoping to win one of those awesome scholarships for National Geographic, because I have come to realise that I have a higher tolerance for animals and for mother nature than I do for human beings. I can already see it “My Life amongst the Wolves” or something as close to that as possible. Just thinking about it gives me a rush of adrenaline and most of all- hope.

I want to travel.

Not just the movie’s version of travelling, but see the world and life through a writer’s eyes. For some reason, nobody experiences life more than someone who hopes to see it. I want to be like my favourite author, Wilbur Smith. Now that man has had a taste of Africa like no one else I know. His writings make me want to travel through time and breathe Africa the way it should be. So I want to travel in order for me to discover and learn and breathe. There are other places I’d like to see too, like the Seychelles and Ethiopia and all the other hidden and lost gems of this world. I’m more excited about that then getting a PhD in something or another. I’ll probably end up going as far as Namibia in the next five years and that’s ok with me. I have the rest of my life to do everything else and that puts me in no hurry at all.

I want to do a lot of good.

The beautiful thing about this crazy thing called technology is the ability to see just how much someone else needs your help. In the coming five years I want to invest more time in doing all I can for the doctors, the journalists, the penguins, the rhinos and the pandas (who would forget the pandas). Now I’m sure by now you have realised that I wish to live a very busy life- and I do. Apart from all the boring things like children and marriage, I want to be involved in things bigger than me. World peace, the end of all hunger and the success of science so we may bring extinct animal species back to life. My ultimate dream is to be at the forefront of something within my power to change. If I make enough money, I want to buy better equipment for the brave doctors who go to horrible places to spread the medical love. If I had the power to persuade governments, I would urge them to protect their journalists more. I mean- we all know they can be a pain in the rear end but they are human- and it gets things done. If I was gifted some part of the North pole by a dead ancestor I’ve never heard of, I would take all the penguins of the world and put them there to live happily ever after in perfect harmony. If I had a very big garden with plenty of shade, I’d adopt a rhino or two and give them epic names like Darth Vader and Lord Voldermort. And last but not least- someone please tell the pandas to stop eating their own babies, I mean there’s nothing I can do about that sad scenario.

I want to do everything.

I want to start a blog, a podcast, write a book, produce a documentary, own a travelling restaurant, paint, draw, write, inspire, talk…. my apologies, I’m just taking a moment to marvel at my awesomeness and take a break- I was running out of breath. Like I said, I want to do everything. I haven’t much to say about this area in my life because I’d first have to see where all of those things would fit into my already imaginary crazy schedule but I am hopeful that I’ll find a way.

Thinking of all the things I hope to achieve in the next five years fills me with a sort of excitement. I can’t put a name on it yet but it makes me want to go out and just do. But, for now, I am forced to be content with the last few months of quiet in my life before I go out to save the world (did I mention that I have super powers?).What can I say? Conquer and defeat. Carpe Diem. Be bigger, faster and stronger. Live.

And it is with these words I bid you adieu.