NAIROBI, Kenya: The fire within which we burn has us setting expectations at every start of a New Year.
Resolutions. Year in and Year out, sometimes we make the same resolutions and sometimes add to the list and, at times, totally new ones.
A worst-case scenario is none at all, but we still get to the end of the year either way, don’t we?
In so many ways, our expectations of the New Year feel like the changes should be of grandeur magnitude—something so different it’s noticeable from miles away. Then we learn to live with the reality that changes often look like tiny, insignificant substances—very unnoticeable and treacherous to keep up with.
Changes invite discouragement in the form of insipid jokes and laughs and mutual pre-existing sentiments that are hard to explain and beat.
Like a broken record, nostalgia has a warm, fuzzy feeling. It reminds you of all the comforts you intend to leave behind and of the never-ending judgement from the broken records who wish they were doing what you are secretly.
Nolstalgia makes you question whether you can stand the malice and good-for-nothing negative comments. Don’t get started on the unsolicited advice from self-proclaimed experts.
Resolutions or no resolutions, though, in a peculiar way, we find ourselves living through a New Year with some of the same old habits. Save for the common ones like increased screen time and social media, binge-watching, family meetings at funerals, and half-assed birthday wishes on WhatsApp groups, there are those that we really can’t shake.
You know, the kind that no one will judge you about like hating on this regime for unaliving it’s children and kidnapping it’s critics, the verbal diarrhoea from politicians, corruption and misuse of office.
Every new year, every new regime, we still expect terrible governance, empty promises, and a lack of remorse for so many ills. We keep hoping something will give, and some good will be done, even though we know the narrative all too well.
We are still here, hating in our conversations, somewhat in our actions, in hushed tones given the recent rise and rise of kidnappings. We are still here condemning what we can and trying to stay alive for our dependants and doing what we can best.
We are still here despite the endless attempts to kill our spirits for new resolutions in the New Year!
