Hello there,
I have heard many different stories from my friends about how a lot of people lived through the lockdown period. Some became “chefs” others sportsmen; in other words, everyone had to do something at least to see the sunset. Otherwise, one could feel trapped in an endless time loop. People at home must have thought that I was going through the same as I did less physical activities while all the magic was happening upstairs-in my mind that is.
Being stuck in a house with so much free time made me sit tight, bring my life closer to the loupe, and take a look at where I’d come and where I wanted to be.
I realized in the middle ground of such a scale that I barely existed let alone living my life. I displayed poverty of ambitions; I preferred the elevation of social life over my personal life, of short term gains over lasting achievements.
After careful evaluation, I noticed two main problems of my “old” approach to life.
That lifestyle distracts you from what is really important and it may lead you to compromise your values, principles, and commitments.
Furthermore, we too often let the external (the little material things), serve as indicators that we are doing well even though something inside us tells us we are not doing our best; that we are avoiding the difficult but necessary, and that we are shrinking from instead of rising to the challenge of age.
And the thing is, in this new hyper competitive age, none of us can afford to take the easy way out.
I wanted to try something new, I am talking about a new approach to life, a quality of mind and a quality of heart, a willingness to follow my passion regardless of whether they lead to fortune and fame.
A commitment to do what’s meaningful to me, what helps others, and what makes a difference in this world. I believe our country needs young people like us to step up, a new generation to jump in with our daring, enthusiasm, energy, and imagination. Now my goal is to build a body of work, this is about the daily labor, the many individual acts, the choices large and small that add up over a lifetime, to a lasting legacy. I have realized it’s moments like these that force us to try harder and dig deeper and to discover gifts we never knew we had, to find the greatness that lies within each of us.
When you learn, teach, when you get, give.
That’s what gives you a story, purpose and meaning.
Yours truly,
Junior Rutamu
Junior Rutamu is a 22-year-old university final year student in Networking and Communications at the Adventist University of Central Africa commonly dubbed as AUCA. The digital savant has participated in most of Rwanda We Want organization events.