We Are All In A Rut…

We are all in a rut, pigsty and slum it just depends how far deep we are in. So before you judge the next person who is stuck in rut consider your own situation. We are in rut until somebody pull us out. After been pulled out of the rut and can see the light. We operate in a better rut…now the issue is ideological as opposed to blindness. We always need somebody to show us the way out. Somebody we trust…relevant, experienced and walked the road. We need somebody to open us to new possibilities, newness (novelty), fresh thinking and different perspective. The problem with being in the trenches is not necessarily total blindness rather one dimensional view of life. Normally we hold dearly to one view and ignore other possible avenues. There is a quote that says, a mind once expanded will never return to its original dimension. An expansion need to occur in some areas of our lives in such a way that it blow us out of the rut or put us in a better one.

There are ways to pull ourselves out such as reading, self-study (advancement), mentoring and coaching. When I did not know better I thought education will automatically take people out of the blindness. But it is not the case, after I completed my B-Degree in Nature Conservation I was still in a rut, I could not see the light. Education just provides us with improvement in one aspect of life…and better our lives to a limited extend. Even Master's Degree in Engineering cannot rescue us from the rut. For a better groomed individuals (well rounded) we do not necessarily need education but benchmarking ourselves with other groomed peers. This can be difficult at times. If you are not able to see, it will be difficult to even compare yourself. Hence I always say the ability to see beauty is learned. Fortunately I observed how other people were carrying their lives and I copied the good and forsake the bad. It is difficult to see ourselves when we are in blindness. You get statements like you are not interesting…

Those that had a better grooming and upbringing are at an advantage as opposed to those who grew up in rural areas such as Springbok, Beaufort West, Transkei (Cala) or Limpopo etc. They tend to remain in blindness a little longer than those who grew up in urban areas (Kasi). They literally have to learn a lot of things from the scratch and sometimes they miss the mark.

There are different types of trenches such as political, financial, social and technological. I was in financial trench - prisoner of money, after I learned a trick from a friend, money was never the problem ever again I controlled the situation until today. One and greatest lesson I learned is, LET IT GO (give). This does not mean you should not save. Now I am totally out. I can see others in, and I have helped some but others remain in (financial rut).

There are those that are well poise and know a bit of everything about current issues and life in general. Those are now in ideological rut which is better than a one dimensional rut or trench. At least they are broad minded and informed about current affairs in the country. The greatest challenge is to transit from rural area to city, from high school to tertiary, from tertiary to working class and from working to a family person. At least there is a need for some development (cognitive learning) from each phase otherwise it's fruitless and one is not ready to move to the next phase. Unfortunately we can never blame poverty for our situation. Sometimes people will say you need a girlfriend or boyfriend!!!

My advice…let us compare ourselves constantly with the best…whatever you regard to be best…improve all the time, ask feedback from different people…how can I best improve, some will give you negative and some positive feedback. Identify yourself and your style and stick to it…identify people that are successful that emulate and epitomise your style. Write and develop a plan to reach their level - basically work on the plan to best become your ideal self. The fact remains we are all in a rut some are just in a better one than others. This is one view to the topic. There will definitely be part two and three.