Understand Men Better: Thoughts of a Man

This is the beginning of a new year and you can see how everyone is amped and ready for a change; to start again, to do things differently. One looks at the previous year and looks at the good and bad of your environment and the decisions that were made to grow as a person and for the business. There is nothing harder than starting a business from the ground up and making sure that it doesn’t tank. To have people believe in this dream and support it the best way possible – it’s like magic. There is nothing better than living your dreams every day, but at the same time this will consume you to the end as well. Like a friend said yesterday, you need an outlet, a companion that understands your world and your ambitions. For her to understand that you are winging this life game and you are the most vulnerable person when she is around. That she defines and influences how you see the world and how, through her, you see the beauty of hopes and dreams of a new beginning.

Friends are having babies that look like them and entering a different world because it’s part of progression. It’s something else to see a man you have looked up to and known for the longest time being governed by a little person and to see the kind of love you have never seen in your friends’ eyes, a man in love with his son. Another friend whose life will change soon because he is expecting a child, has to think and act differently because of the baby that is coming, mind you – he doesn’t change for anyone but this person will change him forever. Another friend is asking you about the cars you drive because they are looking for a family car that will accommodate his family. Growth is something that is absolutely beautiful to watch, it inspires you to be better and try even harder to be a better person.

To building a legacy, to demand to be remembered by this world by virtue of your work and the impact you make in this world. To bring everyone up as you build this community that is changing the world. To give people opportunities to explore the possibilities of living their dreams, to finally listen to a voice that says you can do it and it’s possible. While everyone goes back to work and others are preparing to enrol into varsity to begin their adult life, I hope that you are kinder to yourself and your heart because in this world you have to take the good with bad, the wins with some loses. Make this year a magical one. Protect your space, show up even when you don’t feel like it, be kind to those around you and always dream bigger.

Photographer: Sthembile Sthe Nqcobo