Desert Men & Understanding Stress

Men of the Desert

Upon arriving to Morocco, one of the first things I noticed was a strange alphabet on some of the signs. There was Arabic, language of the people; French, language of the former conquerors… and a third.

Amazigh, the written language of the Berbers.

From what my brief research has revealed, the Berber people are a nomadic people of the Sahara Desert and its adjacent lands. Their history can be traced back to 2000 B.C.

Before the arrival of Islam in the 7th century A.D., Berber people had largely converted to Christianity (albeit recently considering the teachings of Christ didn’t arrive that much further back). Before that they practiced a polytheistic religion, as nearly all the ancients did.

As is typically the case, Islamic countries are not religiously diverse. Today, Morocco is 99% Sunni Muslim. Islam is not alone in its clearing out of cultures that precede its dominance, they are merely the most recent and “successful” group to do so.

There are up to twenty million Berber’s living in Morocco, the largest population of any country. With Morocco’s population at about forty million, they make up nearly half the total!

With the sweeping of Islamic culture across the land, the culture of the Berbers is not as evident as their numbers might indicate. I didn’t learn much of this until after I’d left the Sahara in the far south, where the original Berber culture is stronger.

I will attempt to meet some Berber people and learn more about their ways.

The W’s

When stress or anxiety rear their unwelcome head, I’ve found it better to understand why it is they have arrived.

If I can identify the reason for them, I am better equipped to undo them.

As I came upon this quote by the world famous Holocaust survivor, it changed my understanding of my mind:

Remember the elements of descriptive writing from elementary school?

Who - What - When - Where - Why - How

Frankl’s quote gets to the core of where I find most of my stress lies, and where I suspect many others’ do as well.

If I have a deeply meaningful WHY that explains why I am on a certain path, then I will be able to bear with any conditions - HOW - that arise.

My motivation, my purpose. The infallible fuel.

Though it’s not only HOW that creates chaos internally - WHEN and WHERE are near equally as disruptive.

For the sake of clarity, let me use my own circumstances to fill in the blanks.

WHO: Jacob Eric Templer, First of his Name

WHAT: Content creation, travel, adventure, helping others pursue meaningful lives using mine as the blueprint, and whatever other invariable creative means a person in this realm produces value.

WHEN: When do I get to a point where I make the impacts I envision? When do I bring in enough money to feel settled in this pioneer path? When will I “make it”?

WHERE: Where will I be when the WHEN takes place? Where will I be as a human being? Where will I be geographically?

WHY: I will not squander my life away to meaningless profession when I have been gifted blessings beyond most men alive today. I believe that for those fortunate enough to do so, we are compelled to pursue the roots that make us individuals, in a way that helps others.

HOW: How will I get there? How will I achieve what is necessary to make the impacts I desire? How will I make the money to sustain myself? How will I use social media to build the audience? How is this all going to workout!?!?!?

I know the Who, What, and Why. I don’t know the When, Where, and How.

Anybody that’s ever dared to do anything like me, or harder, has been in the SAME circumstances. The one’s that are willing to work hard, reflect, improve, and persevere, are the one’s that make it to the other side. The one’s that can’t live with the unknown crawl back to their discontented lives of before.

I won’t be crawling anywhere but into the proverbial foxhole - there’s no way but forward.

Sincerely,

Jacob

P.S. Best restaurant I’ve been to in Morocco, Top 2 of the whole trip - Dar Lalla Khadra in Meknes.