I Went Jogging...

The year is barely two months old, but I have broken one of my resolutions – that is posting article fortnightly. I must have underestimated the stress that came with combining work and ‘intensive’ schooling. Please, do forgive me. And notice is also served that that resolution is now hereby declared null and void – at least for the remainder of the year.

However, I made another resolution which I have been ‘unfaithfully’ keeping since the year began. I resumed early morning jogging. A little pot started forming on my belly, which I detest particularly as I am slim. So I resolved to hit the road for a jog every other day. I love this exercise because pure unadulterated thoughts about life clamour for space in my mind, as well as soliloquizing with my Maker when I’m running. So it was on the first day upon resumption, jogging from the Kaneshie First Light up the hill to the traffic light at Mataheko junction several times when the thoughts you will read in the next few sentences filled my mind. They were about life and how we lived it – generally.

I realized that about the first ten minutes of the jog are my hardest moments and I had on several occasions contemplated quitting and returning home. It has absolutely nothing to do with sleep, as some of you are imagining, but everything to do with the intensity of the itches I feel on the lower half of body, especially the back of my thighs. To say they are very uncomfortable will be for lack of a better word. Interestingly, many joggers I spoke to experience this, and some quit jogging and walk back home when they do. It is that bad, really. On this particular day, I understood why many companies fold up almost immediately after they are set up. I understood why people are unable to execute that brilliant idea they had some time ago. I understood why that guy gave up when the lady that makes him drool gave him a hard time. They experienced difficulties, succumbed to them, and abandoned their dreams. The result? An unhappy, unfulfilling period before they are called to eternal home. You think those who are living (not just existing) did not experience itches on their bodies? Indeed, some encountered much more difficult problems than you are facing but did not succumb to them. In Jay Elliot’s book, The Steve Jobs Way, he vividly describes very cruelling details of how Steve got kicked out of Apple, a company he co-founded, by board members he hand-picked himself. Anyone could have lived a very comfortable life from the proceeds of the sale of his shares in the company when he was hounded out, but not Steve. He went on to set up another company, NeXT and calculatedly worked to ensure that Apple eventually bought it a few years later for a fortune and got his job as CEO of Apple back as part of the deal. You think the world would have seen the development of its most user-friendly, most advanced cell phone, the iPhone, if he had succumbed to his itches? Certainly not!

It also hit me from the jog that when I am on the road, I am not in any way competing with anyone. Indeed, I jog past several people on the road as several others also run past me. Once, I tried outpacing a guy who jogged past me, and I nearly fainted when I eventually did. On this particular day, I realized forcefully again that we are all created to run different races, not the same one. We have different purposes – different assignments. I realized that whilst I jog to stay fit, another also jogged to reduce sugar levels or burn excess fat in the body. Understand that your ability to reach your destination is not dependent on your ability to outpace another. Never increase your pace with the sole purpose of outpacing another. What if you exceed your capacity and collapse after you have passed him? Know your limits and keep to the pace. However, if you must increase it, do this with the attainment of your goals as the sole aim, not to outpace anyone who is ahead of you in life.

You know not every one of us on the stretch from the Mataheko traffic light to First Light actually goes the full haul? Whilst few of us jog the full stretch, many others cross to the other side midway and jog up the hill again. As stated above, we have different reasons for jogging, but I picked up a very important life lesson here – never envy one who is ahead of you in life. You have no idea what they have done to be there. There are some who have gone the hard way and succeeded. If you have not realized it yet, there are still an untruthful bunch of people in all spheres of our lives who have made it through questionable means. The Good Book says that “the heart of man is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked”, and by extension, if care isn’t taken, will go just about every length to succeed, through fair or foul means. Also never expect anything from anyone, else you will be disappointed. Only look up to Divine Providence.

The jog down the hill requires little or no effort, it is simply a jolly jog. However, the ascent is where serious effort is required. If it takes one about 2 minutes to descend, it takes about 4 minutes to ascend – at least for me. Of course, I do not expect the jog to be easy, same way I do not expect my soaring higher in life to be. If one is going to be positioned on a high pedestal, make an impact and to accomplish his purpose in life, it will require some effort. Don’t expect it to come easy. Even an easy, effortless ascent in life promised by God requires effort to materialize. One needs to spend time praying lest the Prince of Persia prevents the Angel from delivering the package, just as evidenced in the Scriptures in the case of Daniel. And that would be your effort I speak of.

I also realized that sweat does not always break on my face to show that I have exercised. To a very large extent, whether I sweat or not depends on the weather. I’m not bothered on days when I don’t sweat. You know why? I don’t jog to impress anyone. I do it to burn calories and stay fit. I know I put in the 45-or-so minutes when I jog, and that serves my purpose. Listen, the moment you do what you do to impress another, you have taken your eyes of your purpose, and you will be derailed. Imagine if in my bid to feel sweat on my forehead, it takes about an hour and a half. Won’t I run out of breadth, possibly collapsing as a result? Think about it. I am the only one who knows what I put my muscles through during those moments, not the man who just woke up from bed, and brushing his teeth by the roadside, lifts his head to see me and asks in Ga: “Oblanuu, oy3 sure ak3shi oojoggi?”, to wit, “young man, are you sure you are jogging?” On those rare occasions, President Mahama’s favourite song – Lumba’s Mentie Obiaa – comes in handy. Just keep your focus.    

Indeed, you will go through troubles, sometimes torments, stressing you out, tempting you to give up and not reach your full potential in life. These trappings are designed to make you settle for less in life, even spouses. The final jog from Mataheko traffic light to the Dansoman Asoredanho is one I had always considered walking rather. After all, lots of calories have been burned jogging up and down the hill, right? Wrong! Nothing is more fulfilling than seeing something you started small blossoming or successfully coming to an end – could be a phase of formal education, blossoming of a start-up company, standing at the alter with that beautiful lady. In my case on the road, it is the thought of reaching home, and having a sweet cold early morning shower.