I know its been a while since I last posted on my blog, what can I say? I allowed my self be distracted by work, vacation, continuous adult education, motherhood, preoccupation with my self ......... I can go on and on and on and I won't stop with the number of excuses I would come up with.
The truth of the matter is I got distracted! Or better still I allowed myself get distracted....... guess that sounds a bit better shey? ( shey or abi : words we made up in Nigeria to fill up spaces when we don't know what else to say).
I had a wonderful vacation, I just upped and disappeared with my daughter for 15 days, my plan to see places I have previously just seen on the television, in movies, documentaries etc. So I planned a 7 days tour of the East Coast of the United States as part of my vacation itinerary. I wanted to see places in New York City, Washington DC, Boston and of course get to see the great Niagara Falls. In between I got to some fun places in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Maryland.
I want to share with you my visit to Central Park in New York City, I went to this iconic place on the third day I landed in the Big Apple. It was spectacular and lived up to its expectations. However, am taking away from this visit something surreal.
I met a guy from Namibia at the Park, who works as a Pedicab driver (an environmentally friendly tricycle powered by the driver's legs), he was like the head of the African crew of Pedicab drivers (there were others from Europe, South America etc) and was very passionate about his small business and experience gained over the years.
Standing by one of the entrances to the park and right there he bids you to have a comprehensive tour of the park with him as your guide. He prides himself on being able to identify people of different nations and was thus able to tell me am a Nigerian from Africa (quite astonishing feat really as you don't have to say a word so no usage of accent).
My daughter and I decided to take a tour of the park on his Pedicab and we set forth, on our way to show us off he stopped by other drivers we met to introduce them. He also was able to guess the nationality of every passenger those ones had on their Pedicab.
Then we got down to talking, I asked him how long he had been doing this business and he says over 10 years with pride. He said the job gave him fulfillment, he gets to meet people of various nationalities who come to the Central Park year in year out, learn about various cultures and people whilst earning an income alongside.
I met a fulfilled man, one who had pride in what he was doing and would leave this world pleased with achieving his own passion. I think of myself and several others along the way and wonder if we are as passionate doing what we do day in day out?
Are we simply working to make money? Or do we get a sense of fulfillment each night we lay our heads down to sleep in what we do? You and I may view the tricycle driver from Central Park as having a blue collar profession not worthy of our educational background or social standing, but does all that matter?
What do you have passion for? I ask you today, right now look into your heart, have a deep talk, what is it in you that sets you apart from the rat race? What can make you move to the next level and how can you make a living from doing this?
Do you like socializing? or writing? or training? or restructuring ? or cooking? Look for what you are passionate about, put together a business plan i.e. try to set up a small business around this and push it through your social network i.e. friends and family, use your Facebook page, Google+, twitter etc.
Start, start small.............. you will grow and the business will flourish as long as you are passionate about it, join my friend from Namibia, live your dream,
N.B - Its nice to be back blogging.
The truth of the matter is I got distracted! Or better still I allowed myself get distracted....... guess that sounds a bit better shey? ( shey or abi : words we made up in Nigeria to fill up spaces when we don't know what else to say).
I had a wonderful vacation, I just upped and disappeared with my daughter for 15 days, my plan to see places I have previously just seen on the television, in movies, documentaries etc. So I planned a 7 days tour of the East Coast of the United States as part of my vacation itinerary. I wanted to see places in New York City, Washington DC, Boston and of course get to see the great Niagara Falls. In between I got to some fun places in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Maryland.
I want to share with you my visit to Central Park in New York City, I went to this iconic place on the third day I landed in the Big Apple. It was spectacular and lived up to its expectations. However, am taking away from this visit something surreal.
I met a guy from Namibia at the Park, who works as a Pedicab driver (an environmentally friendly tricycle powered by the driver's legs), he was like the head of the African crew of Pedicab drivers (there were others from Europe, South America etc) and was very passionate about his small business and experience gained over the years.
Standing by one of the entrances to the park and right there he bids you to have a comprehensive tour of the park with him as your guide. He prides himself on being able to identify people of different nations and was thus able to tell me am a Nigerian from Africa (quite astonishing feat really as you don't have to say a word so no usage of accent).
My daughter and I decided to take a tour of the park on his Pedicab and we set forth, on our way to show us off he stopped by other drivers we met to introduce them. He also was able to guess the nationality of every passenger those ones had on their Pedicab.
Then we got down to talking, I asked him how long he had been doing this business and he says over 10 years with pride. He said the job gave him fulfillment, he gets to meet people of various nationalities who come to the Central Park year in year out, learn about various cultures and people whilst earning an income alongside.
I met a fulfilled man, one who had pride in what he was doing and would leave this world pleased with achieving his own passion. I think of myself and several others along the way and wonder if we are as passionate doing what we do day in day out?
Are we simply working to make money? Or do we get a sense of fulfillment each night we lay our heads down to sleep in what we do? You and I may view the tricycle driver from Central Park as having a blue collar profession not worthy of our educational background or social standing, but does all that matter?
What do you have passion for? I ask you today, right now look into your heart, have a deep talk, what is it in you that sets you apart from the rat race? What can make you move to the next level and how can you make a living from doing this?
Do you like socializing? or writing? or training? or restructuring ? or cooking? Look for what you are passionate about, put together a business plan i.e. try to set up a small business around this and push it through your social network i.e. friends and family, use your Facebook page, Google+, twitter etc.
Start, start small.............. you will grow and the business will flourish as long as you are passionate about it, join my friend from Namibia, live your dream,
N.B - Its nice to be back blogging.
