A Donkey, A Robot and A black Astronaut

Movies have always been fascinating to me. Each time I watch a movie, I get teleported to another world, forgetting my present surrounding. Realms in which donkeys can talk, cars turn into robots and African Americans drive their cars into space. Films open up my mind to what could be possible, regardless of how crazy it could be. But this only lasts while watching the movies, once I get to the end, its usually back to reality. And in this reality, people don’t glitter or shimmer in the sun.

When CDs were done and the internet took over, I started heading over to family friends’ office over the weekend to download movies. I would store them on a flash drive, which became my favourite activity over the weekend. Having the movies on the flash drive meant that I could watch them as many times as I wanted and the best part… It was free.  This was revolutionary, data was quite expensive then, so I definitely struck gold.

A while later, friend of mine travelled abroad and while we were talking, I suggested a movie to watch. They agreed and uttered a statement I hadn’t heard till then, “I’ll stream it.” I remembered asking how that could be possible and why they preferred streaming over downloading the movie. It was a new concept to me and in my mind If they streamed the movie and wanted to watch it again later on, it meant they would have to pay for data again. However, if they downloaded the film, it would be basically free to watch till kingdom come. They went ahead and streamed the movie. This was before Netflix...What a waste I thought to myself.

Years later, I got to travel and realised that people in other countries didn’t download movies anymore, they streamed them online, in 1080p. That was mind blowing and queue the era of Netflix. Data was cheap and could be paid for an entire year uncapped for a reasonable price. Had I not left home, I probably would still be downloading movies to date but thank God for the ability to be exposed to different environments and possibilities.

What I’m getting at? Well, it might be maybe nothing but one thing I have learnt about being in Africa is that life is beautiful but can be challenging. In some countries transportation might cost you 2$ and stay at that fee for 4 years. Here however, prices change every 30 days. It’s easy to feel frustrated, discouraged and disappointed.

In my opinion, the world wants us thinking a certain way and is trying to determine who we are, what we can be and how far we can go. If you disagree, download a VPN and reload your google page.

The world is advancing, opportunities are opening up but If we continue to focus only on what our environment is screaming at us then we might miss it. I’m starting to learn that one of the ways to remain focused, opened minded and not be discouraged is to be intentional about what I see and hear. I would scoff at those ‘vision board people’, but finally understand the importance of having one. Ensuring that my wallpaper reflects my dreams and curating my social sites to mirror the vision too. While it is tedious, If you want to live an extraordinary life, you might have to take extraordinary steps that keep you believing that anything is possible. Like being able to stream movies all year round.  So keep your mind open, stay focussed and don’t give up believing that you could be the one to cause a generational change. Who knows, maybe donkeys don’t talk yet but Siri sure can, so who knows what the future holds.