By Christopher Rhoads III
All my friends and family know where I usually spend my time. They know that I am a workaholic when it comes to getting things done on the farm. Whenever I have a chance I will go home to get the next thing completed. In the process of trying to get the next thing done, I have skipped being with my friends. The result of me prioritizing projects and tasks has come at the cost of my relationships. Over time I have noticed that I have become more distant from my best friends. I found temporary comfort in the projects I worked on, I prioritized this temporary comfort over investing in long term friendships. This temporary comfort came at the cost of long term benefits of engaging with friends.
Even though I am not staying the whole trip, spending ten days with my closest friends away from any of my projects or chores has reminded me how much fun I have with them. The moments that brought us closer together were a wake up call for me, these moments were usually the ones that made us laugh, such as Kaden’s pants ripping apart during the safari tour, or kayaking with Garret and Chase where the three of us piled onto one canoe and tried to paddle towards the mangroves but ended up sinking and in the process of recovering the kayak we had a crab fight where we threw crabs at each other. Not every moment had to be funny to be meaningful, other times like the late night talks with Davis at Hakuna lodge or the long conversations with Mr. Pausic about philosophy helped create deeper connections. Moments like these made me realize that I need to maintain my relationships or else I would always stay distant from the people that support me and make me feel secure.
I saw the importance of connections in the small village of Niognani that we stayed in. The people there live without many of the material goods and modern things that we have in western culture, but this does not mean that they are less fulfilled in life. These people prioritize relationships over material wealth and work together as a community. The village garden is run by the women who donate portions of their profit to better the community. They have a saying and when translated it means “We are together.” The people in the village weren’t just Neighbors and friends, they were family. I saw this in action when one woman would manage the hoard of 20 some kids in the village like they were all her own. The connections and relationships I have observed in the village and made with my friends makes me realize how important relationships with other people are.
Moving forward I have made the decision to make changes to the way I spend my time, instead of going on four weekend long project benders I will split my time to make sure I include my friends in my schedule as well as having some time for my projects. In the coming weeks I look forward to the bonfires and kings dominion trips with my friends.
The Senegalese mindset has helped me learn a lot about myself and I think from now on I will be a little bit more Senegalese in how I choose to spend my time and resources. We are together.
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