OFF THE PAVED PATH

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Barnabas was a happy accountant who worked in an investment company. He was single and still lived with his parents and siblings. He would wake up every morning and, before anything else, climb on his bicycle to do his morning round, riding 10 kilometres before he took his bath, had breakfast, and then headed to the office for his banking job. He had a boss who was always on his neck about deadlines, always looking for faults in his job, which made him resent his boss while at the same time losing passion for his job. This made him look forward to the weekends and hate Mondays, having to relive the frustration of the previous week over and over.

The job was a safety net for him; as such, the fear of losing the job was always heavy for him, he had the fear of the unknown, and he would have to bear with whatever challenges he faced at the office, as his boss was a heartache and would always want to kill his morale every single day.

Barnabas who was an accountant professionally as well as in life, likes to see everything in a balance but he finds lately that the maths in his life wasn’t adding up, he was amongst the 10% of individuals in the country making as much as he made and with his salary, he was suppose to be living a meaningful and a fulfilled life, yet he finds what he does unfulfilling and without meaning.

He will wake up every morning with resentment and hatred for the things he loves. He would leave his job, but the fear of what is outside hunts him and makes him clock in the next day. He will always tell himself that he has to be reliable and stay at the safety net, but as time passes, the safety net starts feeling like a spider web meant to trap you, your happiness and refuse you to grow until you are completely drained before it lets you.

The breaking point came on a Tuesday afternoon. Barnabas had stayed until 8:00 PM the night before, ensuring a complex investment ledger was perfect. His boss, without even looking at the data, tossed the file back at him because the font on the cover page "didn't feel aggressive enough."

"You're a bean counter, Barnabas," his boss said with disdain. "Don't think. Just calculate. And do it faster."

That night, Barnabas didn't sleep. He stared at his bicycle in the corner of his room. He realised his boss was right about one thing—Barnabas was excellent at calculating. So, he began to calculate the cost of his own soul.

The next morning, during his usual 10km ride, Barnabas will look at the road leading to a small town housing those little businesses. There, an idea just popped up in his head; he knew immediately that he needed to visit the small towns around to know what was awaiting him. For the first time in the years he had been working for the investment company, Barnabas decided to take a leave of absence and would call in sick for the day. Barnabas will visit the town to find opportunities for his personal growth, and how he will utilise his expertise in the small towns, helping the fast-growing business with their various business challenges by solving these challenges and in the process creating his own investment firm.

The road less travelled had opportunities for Barnabas, but he never knew this because he had not even once travelled the road. He will come to realise that the unknown he was scared of wasn’t something he should be scared of, but a place full of new opportunities, having businesses looking for an honest and independent financial advisor, businesses that were not having assets in billions, but were worth his time.

At the end of the day, Barnabas will have realised how exciting his life could be. He didn’t quite realise it the next day, but he had the understanding that he could start somewhere, no matter how small, and he needed to stay at his present job for a little while before he would settle down. The scolding of his boss wasn’t hitting him as it had before; he had smiles all over his face, his compulsion was very different, and onward, he started travelling on the road less travelled. His life became different going forward, with the understanding that he had more to give than just working in the company.

Thank you for reading through my post. My name is@rishagamo, and above is my response to the week’s prompt 30 “A ROAD LESS TRAVELLED ”