There once was a man who loved to travel, he set on a journey to a spellbound world.
He began the journey with a thirst for knowledge. Albeit he crushed over 250 books and hundreds of articles on medium, Prsuit, and other publication, but his biggest lessons came from his encounters with wondrous creatures.
The beginning of the year was the beginning of a new era. Turns out he was searching for something. Yet the trouble was he wasn’t sure what it was.
His mantra was: If I want something bad enough I shall seek and find it.
Upon arrival in the desert on a late winter night, his adventure took a turn for the worst. His first encounter with a serpent.
He has read stories about serpents and knew how sly these creatures were, so he began to play along with the serpent’s antics. The creature asked in a riddle “How should I know that you are you and I am me? Who are you to tell me what to do, when you cross my path, who should let you thru?”
The man confused by the riddle, as he has never heard such a riddle before, he proceeded to tell the serpent: I set a goal to be published in 5 publication this year, I accomplished my goal. Relentlessly pursuing these publications, I was fighting for their attention with many other writers.
The serpent then asked, who am I to learn from you?
The man replied; don’t quit even when you hear them say no.
The Serpent then hissed and showed his fangs, the man was ready for anything, as he set out on this journey with his backpack and a swiss blade. He had his hand on the swiss blade but had nothing that would harm this creature if the creature attacked.
He thought he came prepared, but was completely caught by surprise for what came next.
The serpent began twisting so fast that it created a sandstorm. The man laid down on the ground and covered his head with his backpack.
A few moments later the man opened his eyes to find himself in the sea. Using his backpack as a floating device he saw a shoreline up ahead to the north. Slowly he began kicking his legs towards the shoreline. With 150 feet to go, the man heard a whistle.
He didn’t know where that whistle came from, and then splash, a massive killer whale jolted passed the man.
The man stopped kicking his legs as he was caught by surprise. He looked around to see where the killer whale went but it was nowhere to be found.
Moments later, he looked down again and as he took a slow breath in, the whale came from under his legs picked him up from the water and propelled him away from the beach.
The man was confused, he asked the whale, where are you taking me?
The whale replied, why should I take you to safety?
The man didn’t know what the whale meant, so he naively said that he can’t swim, only whales can swim.
The whale continued towing him without saying anything.
The man then asked the whale, would you like me to tell you my struggles? Will you then bring me to safety?
The whale continued to listen.
I struggled with the fact of being featured on the radio and a podcast for the first time. My introversion made it difficult to muster the courage to show up at the studio. I went and I did 6 episodes on the radio and 1 podcast.
The whale puzzled, asked the man, what did you learn?
The man replied; When you find a challenge and it seems scary, think about why it is scary, validate that what you believe is true, counteract with opposing beliefs, then over prepare.
The whale was impressed by his answer, did a 180 and took the man as close as it could get to shore.
The man kicked the rest of the way to shore and was exhausted from the swim. He needed a rest so he took his wet clothes off and hung them on a branch to dry.
The man saw a bush of berry’s and was starving so he ate some. After his second berry, the man’s eyelids began to shut.
He fell back and doze off to sleep.
In his dream, he saw a beautiful woman in a foggy distance. He didn’t understand where he was, but it was dark and eerie.
As this figure of a woman approached him he realized that it wasn’t a woman at all, but rather a creature he has never read about or encountered before.
The creature was human like, with a tiger face and a tail.
The creature got on all fours and circled the man twice, then got back on it’s two hind legs and asked what the man was searching for.
The man confused by all of this asked where he was.
No reply from the creature.
The man asked what the name of the creature was, as he read about and knew all the creatures in the world except for the one which was in front of him.
He wasn’t sure if it was a tiger’s face, he couldn’t make it out as this is the only thing that he understood and could relate too.
The creature said; tell me a story.
The man thought to himself, what could he tell this creature. It was exotic and he didn’t know if the creature would understand his story.
So, he began.
I have been going to school for a long time. The more I went the more I disliked it and thought it wasn’t the place where I wanted to be. I walked away from school feeling discouraged and unsatisfied, only to find myself back there earning straight A’s.
The creature bored by his story still found some curiosity and wanted to find out more.
The man continued.
I learned that learning can be hard especially when you are not interested in the content. Change your style, approach learning from a different perspective, study with different non-traditional methods, and relate that content to something that you love and understand.
The creature got back down on all fours and walked silently away from the man.
The man yelled out, wait where are you going I was going to tell you another story. Don’t leave me I am all alone, it’s dark and it’s scary.
The creature vanished in the fog like setting.
The man felt something dripping on his face.
He looked up and he was back on the beach, under a tree, with a giant lizard salivating over his head.
The man in horror began to search for his backpack, only to find it hanging on a branch with the rest of his clothes.
He thought to himself, did he eat a poisonous berry and fall asleep?
The lizard kept the man motionless with his keen eyes.
As the lizard blinked the man asked, can I tell you something?
The lizard blinked again, not saying or moving.
The man said I want to tell you about what I did this year.
The lizard still.
The man continued; I launched my first website, not knowing how it will turn out. The fear of doing something unknown was proven to be challenging.
The lizard swiped the man with his tongue. At this point, the man wasn’t sure if he should continue to talk, run, or just sit and not say a word. He took a leap of faith and he blurred out.
I learned that I love talking about myself, and when it came to constructing my
website it seemed so natural to me to create it for me. The problem is that I quickly learned that the website isn’t for me, it’s for my audience, so through careful thought and deliberation and 5 iterations I am finally happy to announce the new launch coming in the first week of January.
The lizard descended the tree towards the man, crawling over the man’s body, the man more terrified than he has ever been, even more than he was before his radio show or podcast. He began sweating as he thought he was going to be this lizard’s dessert. The lizard then picked up speed and pierced the ocean.
The man’s heart beating so fast wasn’t sure what was going on. After moments of calming down, looking towards the sunset. The man got up, put his clothes on, and pondered whether to enter this jungle or to stay on the beach, light a fire and wait for someone to cross his path.
He decided to stay on the beach, he wasn’t ready to encounter any more creatures.
Days went past, then weeks. He was growing anxious and lonely. The sun would rise then go down, the ocean would swell in then recede. Nothing else would happen.
Then he noticed something that seemed like a hallucination. A spirit appeared in front of him. It was magical. A cloud like figure with a green aura surrounding it, in the middle was a little boy.
He looked at the little boy and asked him if he was sent by god.
The boy replied; I have come to find out what you are doing here, and why you haven’t figured out what you’re searching for.
The man confused, looked at the boy and asked him; how did you know I was in search of my purpose?
The boy laughed, the laughter was sweet, that of a gentle harmonic sound, that the man heard before when he listened to soft classical music.
The man then repeated his question; how did you know what I was searching for?
The boy replied, did you find it?
The man replied I have.
I brought my laptop with me, I can show you.
After writing 263 posts. The man showed the boy all of what he has written, but the boy wasn’t interested. The boy then asked again, did you find what you came looking for?
The man perplexed by his question, said yes, with a sort of questionable attitude.
He continued to say, I love writing. I love to articulate my thoughts in such a way that get’s the reader excited to read and share my posts. I love to bring practical value in each and everyone one of my posts. Some things have been repeated only because they are so important to comprehend.
The boy then changed his question to; I know you love to write, but did you find your purpose? In a childlike manner, he continued to look at the man as if waiting for the man to say something different.
So, the man continued.
I made a big impact made this year and it wasn’t in my businesses or through my writing, but it was through my philanthropy work. 6 projects, from books to meals, my partner and I touched the lives of over 600 people, all of which don’t have the same privileges that I do.
The boy persisting with his question; What is your purpose old man.
The man thought to himself, why did the boy call him old? Was he on this beach for much longer than a few weeks? He felt his face and felt a scruffy long beard that came to his chest.
The man then looked down at his feet and they were wrinkled and looked as if they belonged to an 80-year-old man.
The man took a moment and said, little boy, what am I doing here? Why am I searching for something that cannot be found?
The boy laughed again and disappeared to never return.
The man now becoming angry with himself, let out a loud yelp. Walked over to the sea and began to swim.
He wanted to get back to where he started, he didn’t care anymore about his accomplishments because they seemed so trivial.
He just wanted his time back. As he kept swimming out the shoreline was getting smaller and farther. He kept on swimming.
He yelled out for the whale to bring him back to the desert where he came from. The whale was nowhere to be found.
He then noticed something extraordinary. Another apparition appeared in front of him, this time it resembled someone he knew. It looked like him when he was 31 years old.
He stopped swimming with his arms and kicked in place with his legs.
The apparition then asked; tell me, old man, what is your purpose? Why are you out here alone in the ocean? Where are you going?
The man said; I just want my time back. I came in search of adventure, I didn’t have any goals in place, I wasn’t exactly sure what I would find. And now I know that when I am not setting myself goals that I am going to get lost along the way.
The apparition listened closely.
The man said. I realized all of this after the boy came in a godlike spirit on the beach over there. The man pointed north, but there was nothing there.
The boy asked me what my purpose was. I realized that this whole time that I was doing things just to do them, not having anywhere to go, I was pursuing things that meant nothing. I realized that doing the right things and being acutely aware of why I was doing them I would be happier and I wouldn’t ask for my time back.
The apparition asked one last question?
Do you have any regrets?
The man thought to himself, well yes, but then he retracted his thoughts and said. I still have a long life to live, no, I don’t have any.
The apparition approached the man, the closer it got the brighter it became. Until it was so bright that in an instant flash the man found himself with his backpack and his swiss army knife right where he began his travels on the desert floor.
The man stood back and thought to himself, was this a precognition. Did he see the future? He felt his face and he didn’t have his beard anymore, he looked at his feet and they were that of a young man.
He looked upon the vastness of the desert and thought to himself;
The beginning is always hard because you never know what you are going to accomplish. That’s the beauty of it. You’re, not suppose to know. The best part about this year is that I don’t know what next year holds. I do know that through my relentless efforts no goal is too grand to accomplish.
He felt his world has changed and will keep evolving. He sat down in the desert, took out his laptop from his backpack and began writing in it.
My purpose is…
To be continued….
