6 takeaways from 6 months in Africa

A six month trip is sure to leave you enhanced in one way or another at departure. I find it difficult to articulate my thoughts on my time spent across South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Morocco, over the last six months.

Here are the six most conscious reflections I have had:

1. Behave like you’re in a fairytale

 Thankfully I am not only a producer of social media content, but a consumer. I know what it is like to watch other people’s content and unconsciously glamorize their lives.

 Travel creators by their very nature travel often. There is adversity and hardship in travel that is significantly underrepresented in the content creation space. One way I know I’m more likely to enjoy a creator’s content is if they post about the challenges as well as the glories.

 Cancelled transportation, language barriers, price gouging, lack of supplies, unhealthy food, a void of familiar faces, guilt about sacrifices back home…

 While I went through one or more of the above challenges during my time in South Africa at the start of the trip, a thought occurred to me:

 I’m going to look back on this whole trip as though it were a fairytale, so I might as well act like it now.

 This thought did not appear out of thin air. I have repeatedly heard highly successful people stress the importance of enjoying the process.

 Rather than butcher the message, Joe Rogan put it perfectly:

 “It’s hard when you’re not where you want to be in life… you’re not satisfied with your position in life, it’s hard to think that way. All you want is that thing, but you gotta somewhere along the line figure out how to enjoy yourself. Somewhere along the line you gotta figure out how to go as hard as you can, but also enjoy it, try to enjoy it – because that changes the whole tone of the experience, and that makes you more successful.”

Writing a book, growing a business, building a house, earning a jiu jitsu belt…

Grand and noble goals, with arduous processes required for achievement.

How arduous? THAT is up to us.

Why do some people lose their mind when they get cutoff in traffic, but others don’t react?

We get to choose how we live our lives. We may be terrible at the exercise of that choice, but we can improve.

This is not to say that I don’t get frustrated or annoyed. I do.

But the difference is, I recognize the escape hatch from that ill-serving mentality – and I continue to reach for it. 

We should be building our version of a fairytale life. When challenges appear, remember the path we’re on.  

2. Alien worlds are a flight away

People’s fascination with aliens from far away worlds is more rampant than ever. My stance on it has remained consistent – there’s probably something out there, but unless they’re going to get directly involved in my life, I’m going to direct my attention where it serves my dreams.   

But for the tin foil hatters out there, what if I told you that an alien world was only a flight away?

Well… it is.

There is a wide variance in the applicability of that throughout Africa. Cape Town will not feel nearly as alien as a village in rural Ethiopia. But largely, the opportunity to see ways of life entirely different from our own are ample.

One memory sticks out:

Part of my adventures in northern Ethiopia included a visit to the Blue Nile Falls near Lake Tana. While my guide led me through the countryside fields to the falls, I noticed farmers hard at work. They were whipping their oxen to pull wood plows through the soil. Once finished, they returned to their mud walled homes, with their dirt floors, gathered around the burning fire that cooked their food, warmed by the livestock they kept inside.

In my part of the world, computers are becoming people.

 In other parts of the world, it’s the 18^th century.

 The best part of these alien worlds is their inhabitants – people. Even with language barriers, there is a sufficient relatability with our fellow man which permits us to learn about and enjoy others’ way of life.

 You think you’re satiating your mind’s curiosity scrolling Instagram?

 Try a trip to a faraway land – there’s nothing like it.

 My favorite author, Bill Bryson, put it perfectly:

“I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you only have the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.”

Enough said. 

3. Our blessings have a price

 The most obvious insight I had from my travels through Africa.

 We are all bound to focus our attention on our own ecosystem. Our home, neighborhood, city, and country. And that is a good thing! The greatest amount of progress we can make are in those elements nearest to us.

 Yet we can only learn so much in one place. Sure, the internet has enabled us to learn anything online… but some lessons are best learned in real life.

 What we’ve always had is difficult to fully appreciate – it feels more like an inevitability than a privilege.

 The ability to read.

 Born in a wealthy, democratic nation.

 Opportunities to earn income in a myriad of ways.

 Access to healthy, nutrient dense food.

 Means of learning via high quality internet access, or any book that exists.

 A passport that is near universally accepted.

 I was aware that all of the aforementioned were tremendous blessings before my travels. I even had a greater appreciation for them than most, as I’d been to countries where these things are lacking.

 Six months across seven countries opened doors to see deeper. Countless villages - some visited, some driven by – where humble is an understatement. Of the mentioned blessings, the only one that was present to some extent was the ability to read – in some cases.

 Three takeaways came from those experiences:

 Tremendous gratitude. The people I met and saw were just that – people. You or I could’ve been born there, fate is all that made the difference.

 Focused action. Idle gratitude toward the blessings and privileges at our disposal is unacceptable.  Possibly my most central ethos - make the most out of life. The spark that lit the slow growing flame within me was a quote I heard on a podcast in 2014:

“The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” – Henry David Thoreau 

HOW? How can anyone settle for that in this day and age, with the vastness of opportunities at our disposal. Awareness of the alternative lives we could’ve been born into only amplifies my sentiment.

We owe it to ourselves. That is the price. 

Generous service. What we dedicate ourselves to should serve others. It is one of our greatest evolutionary strengths – collective consideration. Maybe what we do is not aligned with what we would like to give back. In that case, we should take greater action to serve those that we feel called to. Personally, a balance between my immediate community and interests around the world are where I want to focus my contributions.

There is no right or wrong in how you decide to do it.

Gratitude – Action – Service

That is the debt we owe, and one we should pay with fervor.  

 4. Nature is in trouble

 Most people imagine a trip to Africa as something reminiscent of The Lion King, Tarzan, or a National Geographic film. Scenes of stunning natural landscapes and magical wildlife.

 Thankfully, these places exist. Whether it be the Okavango Delta of Botswana, Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania, or the Congo Basin rainforests of Uganda – they are arguably the most beautiful places on earth.

 But how long will they remain? The image many people have of pristine and unending wild spaces across the continent is a fantasy. There is one species’ proliferation that has created immense pressure on the natural world:

 Humans

 The average population growth of countries in Africa is the highest on earth. Each time I visited a national park in my travels, the pressure was evident. Villages and towns right up next to the protected areas, or in some cases, within. The “wild” we imagine is truly national parks and privately managed spaces. If there was a place left unprotected, humans would sweep in to plant corn and build homes.

 And why shouldn’t they? Try telling the impoverished grain farmer of northern Ethiopia that he has to move his entire life far away, to protect the indigenous monkeys and goats. It is a privilege to be in the position to express such passion towards the existence of nature, much as we might like to think otherwise.

 What to do then? Ask people to not have children? Deny them the basics of life that we enjoy far beyond? Expect them to live in ways we never would?

 A balance of some kind must be struck.

 When I was in law school writing my law review paper about international law and African elephant conservation, I came to understand the central factor of all conservation efforts:

 Land

 How much land is to be allocated, and how strictly will the protection of that land and its resources be enforced?

 You can have a national park that is rife with poaching, illegal human encroachment, and resource extraction – there are plenty. You can also have a national park that is well funded, professionally equipped, and integrated to benefit the local communities.

 While the people of the Western world can commit all the time and money they want in support (and they should, it makes all the difference), the decision ultimately falls to the sovereign nations these places lie within.

 It is a juxtaposition – to be happy for expansion of opportunity for people in that part of the world, while also troubled by the consequences it may have on the most beautiful places on earth.

 Go and see it now. If you wait, you risk your dreams never being realized. 

5. Seek the challenge

 When I decided to commit to six months backpacking in Africa, I had a sense for what I was getting into. The challenges that it would bring were welcomed, even sought. The way I saw it was that if I could pull this off, travelling anywhere would be easy in comparison.

 The challenge spoke to me. Physical, mental, and spiritual.

 While I was in the Drakensberg Mountains of South Africa, I went on the first proper hike of my life. Miami, Florida never claimed to be a mountaineering town.

 Cathedral Peak in the central Drakensberg Mountains was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever taken on. Ten hours round trip, up and through absolutely stunning natural landscapes. I embarked on this hike with my local guide, along with two other travelers. Both of them had hiking experience, including one of them that had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania a few months back.

 Well when it came time for the final push to the peak, one that we had to accomplish under time constraints, their experience didn’t amount to much. I broke ahead of them to get up the challenging final bit before the base camp – pushing myself as hard as I ever had.

Once I got to the top, I knew we wouldn’t have time to summit with how slow they were moving. I wasn’t disappointed for long, I’d never climbed this high in my life – it was an accomplishment in that alone. 

But I did get to thinking… Kilimanjaro was something I wanted to do, but hadn’t planned on for this trip. As I sat there, I thought to myself – now is the time. I’m healthy, free, and have the resources to make it happen. If this guy struggling to get to the base camp of where we were could do it, how hard could it be for me?

The plan was made – at the beginning of October, I would make my way to northern Tanzania to climb Mountain Kilimanjaro:

The Tallest Mountain in Africa

It took six days to get to the peak – near 19,000 feet or 5,895 meters.

On day five of a seven day climb, climbers arrive to base camp in the afternoon. Typically they’ll rest up and begin their climb at about midnight on day six. 

When I laid down for a nap on day five in the afternoon, I woke up an hour later with a fever, barely able to sit up. I felt awful. My guide and I agreed we’d leave as late as we could, 4:00am, to give me as much chance as possible at recovery.

As I sat in that tent, it was one of the most intense moments of my life. I couldn’t fail, I couldn’t walk down this mountain without reaching the top. I also knew I was unlikely to get far in the state I was in. I prayed for the opportunity – that I would wake up feeling good enough to give it a go.

A miracle it was – I woke up with the fever and ache lifted from me, ready to climb.

The most challenging endeavor I ever took on, and the greatest sense of achievement I’ve ever felt. 

“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.” - Theodore Roosevelt

That climb was the most formative of experience of my entire six month trip. People talking about breaking out of your comfort zone… this  was obliterating my comfort zone with a nuclear weapon.

I learned that I am capable of enduring hardships in every fiber of my being, and conquering to victory nonetheless. It exposed my willpower, grit, and inner workings like never before.

And then there was the feat of standing at the top, Uhuru Peak. The mountain in South Africa had been amazing, but this was an out of body experience.

Step by step, day by day, I walked to the top of the world. On the entire continent of Africa – from South Africa to Egypt, Egypt to Morocco, Morocco to Congo and beyond – no man stood higher than me.

Unbelievable

I am deeply grateful for the privilege.

It’s one thing to hear about how valuable challenges are in our human development. To be thrust into the most challenging feat of one’s life is another matter.

Take it from me – it’s worth it.

6. Choose to Believe 

One of my character faults is that I’ve traditionally been quick to call a confidant for their advice on whatever matter had arisen in my life. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, I recognized I sought the thoughts of others too quickly.

In the last year or so, I’ve made significant improvement in heeding the counsel of the best person suited to provide it – me.

Why did I reach out to those friends for advice over myself? I believed in their ability to guide me.  

So to seek my own counsel… I would have to believe in me.

I once heard a perspective on pessimism that significantly reframed my understanding of my own mind:

“In the past only the paranoid survived, but in the present only the optimists thrive." - Chris Williamson 

Caution was a critical factor in keeping our ancestors alive. We are their progeny.

But the world has changed quite a bit from whence we used to chase down mammoths. Even still, our internal workings are largely the same.

Another great piece of guidance I learned was to focus on taking advice from people living the lives you want to live.

And how many incredibly successful people emphasize the importance of belief? What does belief even mean?

Trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something

My mission is to encourage, inspire, and educate people on how to live they life they want. That means vastly different things for different people.

For some, the circumstances are largely right, but the mindset is not.

For others, a trade from of one “nine to five” for another is all.

For other still, building their own business is what they need (me).

Honesty about what’s required is the first step, and can often come from the mere acknowledgement that a change is necessary. 

Another good way of looking at it: 

“I’m not trying to send you out “on the road” in search of Valhalla, but merely pointing out that it is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to you by life as you know it. There is more to it than that— no one HAS to do something he doesn’t want to do for the rest of his life. But then again, if that’s what you wind up doing, by all means convince yourself that you HAD to do it. You’ll have lots of company.” -

Hunter S. Thompson, Letters of Note 

It’s a choice. To believe in yourself.

Throughout my travels, thoughts of doubt, fear, and worry have come. I am no different than anyone else in that.

Those demons have killed more dreams that failure ever has.

How to defeat them?

A multi-pronged attack:

Work – dedicate your time, energy, and focus to whatever it is you’re after.

Listen – to those that you aspire to be like.

Reflect – on where improvement or change is needed.

Believe – in working, listening, and reflecting, you are doing what every other person that’s ever gotten where they wanted to go did.

If you struggle to believe in yourself, then I’ll bet there’s a gap in one of the first three elements.

People often roll their eyes at cliches, but they’re nevertheless full of truth.

We only get one life, and the clock is ticking every second of every day. Take your own personal bullshit out of it – who do you want to be?

The person that goes for it, that take on the challenge, that keeps showing up, that strives for better.

Or…

The person that stays put in unsuitable circumstances, that lets fear keep them frozen, that never gets past a setback.

Be the person you want to be.

-

I appreciate each and every one of you. I will continue to write more and more as times goes on – it is both a medium I enjoy, and one that I believe brings value.

More to come.

Sincerely,

Jacob

P.S. I’ve started writing a book that I am FIRED up about. Don’t know when it’ll be ready, but I’m dedicating thirty minutes a day, starting today - NO MATTER WHAT.