“A rolling stone gathers no moss” is one phrase I have heard quite a lot of times growing up, but I never really read meaning into it until things started playing out in my life, going from one stage to another, with every stage forcing me to move from one place to another. Over the years, I have come to realise that someone who keeps moving from one place to another cannot be stuck in one place. Moving can be really stressful and bothersome, but sometimes it is a must-do.
The truth is that sometimes life itself is like a rolling stone. As a child, I believed life had a simple pattern, and all I just needed to do was grow up and then live by the pattern: graduate high school, get into college, graduate college, get my dream job, and then settle down and build the life I have always dreamt of. Life had other plans, and that included not settling down immediately like I imagined.
After years in college, I finally graduated. I was very happy, as I expected graduating would open a new chapter for me, one where I would finally settle down like I imagined growing up.
“Now that you have graduated, what is next?” My uncle asked me over the phone a few weeks after graduation.
“I am still working on that, sir,” I responded casually, but I knew that question was more serious than it sounded.
While in school, I took freelancing jobs to support myself and also pay my bills, but after graduation, getting freelancing jobs became an issue. I could go a whole week without getting any job at all, and I was forced to start looking for offline jobs to add to my freelancing jobs since it was not stable, and as a graduate, the expectations were now higher than they used to be.
I kept searching for jobs, both online and around my neighbourhood, but got none.
“I heard you are looking for a job?” My uncle asked over the phone.
“Yes, sir. I need something doing before my one-year mandatory service to the country, sir,” I responded.
“How about you come and live with my family and me?” My uncle asked.
This same uncle I lived with growing up, and I did not like it there, but since I needed the job and also something for my upkeep, I reluctantly agreed.
“Okay, sir,” I responded reluctantly, but wishing I had other options to choose from.
In the end, I moved to the city of Aba, where I lived with an uncle for months. It was really tough at first, but I found my way around it. I taught in different schools while waiting to be called for my mandatory one-year service. Eight months passed, and I did not hear from them at all. Then my uncle’s became quite uncomfortable with everything that was going on there, and I had to plan my move out of the house.
“I will be leaving my uncle’s house,” I said to my friend Dera when I went back to visit him in school.
“Where do you plan to go to? There is no job back here in school, and you need this job, at least for the little income,” Dera said.
“Bro, my mental health is being messed with in that house. I will probably go back home,” I responded.
“Will there be work for you back home?” Dera asked.
“Even if there is no work, there is love at home,” I responded.
“Whatever works best for you, my bro,” Dera said as we shook hands.
A few months later, I travelled back home, and I got another job working as a barman at a hotel. It is quite stressful, but it pays the bills, and that makes the stress worth it.
“Hey Kachi, how are things with you since you moved back home?” Dera asked over the phone.
“I have been in between places, bro. Life after school be hitting really hard, bro, but we keep trying,” I responded.
“Gotten any job? What are you even doing at the moment?” Dera asked.
“Bro, I got a job as a barman oo, bro. It is tough out here, bro,” I responded.
“Life itself is a moving stone, bro, and a moving stone gathers no moss. It has been from one job to another. Why not find one you can settle for?” Dera asked.
“Don’t add to the pressure I am under from family. You people think I like moving from one job place to another, huh?” I asked.
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