Marv of all trades

Marv stands for Marvin; in case you were wondering, and it only sounds sexy when a lady says it. So this isn’t a threat but no man shall call me by this name.

If you have been my friend in the past two and a quarter decades then you must know this; I almost always come in handy in about every aspect of life, ranging from being an electrician, IT guru, chef, comedian (self-proclaimed), personal assistant and a sometimes a shoulder to lean on (I hate it). Not by choice but by circumstance. I am down to earth by nature, some mistake it for weakness but I hardly care anyway.

This attribute is beneficial in various situations but it also has its down-sides which I just happened to realize. I will start with the merits; picture yourself in a computer class that you just started attending, you are sitting next to a gorgeous lady/ good looking gent, then suddenly they try turning on their computer but it keeps on displaying an error message. Are we together up to this point? Okay, so you know the solution and you just stretch out your hand and at the tap of a button you save the day, a conversation kicks off and you score a friend or whatever.

Situation 2; You are walking past your crush's residence early in the morning then you notice she is standing, stranded outside in the cold. Concerned you pry to find out she lost her keys. You are not a bugler but you know how to handle padlocks. You saw it off and save the day.

Thank you so much, would you like some tea? She says.

Score...

Now to the downsides; knowing a lot of things denies you the opportunity to have a proper grasp of one major thing. Denies you the sentence - I am passionate about...

You know a lot of things but partially. I, like most Millenials, have a deficiency in attention span, I cannot focus on one thing for a very long time, it gets boring.

Question; Why am I ephemeral? I figured it has something to do with the need to fit in. To feel you belong in a certain hierarchy in the society you are currently in. In primary school I was the 'Yes man' always ready to risk it all; sneaking from home to go for silly adventures even though I knew the consequences were dire. In highschool holidays I religiously listened to Easy FM/ Kiss 100 and watched the latest movies so that I could have something to talk about with my squad. And in campus, well, I did everything I could to survive.

Madam Sophie, my class seven CRE teacher once told everyone in class to name their talents; majority said singing, dancing and playing football. I didn't know my talent but giving that answer could have earned me a heavy slap, she was a bitter woman and never entertained nonsense. I think I said dancing (I have two left feet) but to date, I have never really figured what my talent is. Who feels the same way?

In my thoughtful thesis, I distinguished types of people in a social setting. The first kind is the one who attracts people's attention because they know what they are talking about and they speak it with passion, let's call him/ her the Geek. Number two is a person who agrees to everything said just to show they can relate, thus they deserve a position in the squad, let's call him/ her the Respondent (for lack of a better term). Number three is the Joker, they always find ways to make anything and everything funny. Lastly, number four is the Observer, never knows anything, they are actually in the squad to get informed.

Funny enough is, these positions shuffle as time goes by. The Observer moves ranks to become the Geek when they bring in fresh info that benefits the gang. A Geek might be demoted to Respondent or Joker to an Observer when jokes are set aside. I figured that I blossom in most niches when I am a Joker or Observer. What kind of person are you?

Andrew Kibe, known for his blunt, uncensored facts said that - we all make friends to satisfy certain needs; you don't have a car, you find a friend who does, and when you buy your car that friendship is likely to slowly burn out. He finally made me understand why as kids, the dude with a Brick Game had many friends but when it broke the number drastically dwindled.

So does this mean that when you are a person of many trades, you have an added advantage? I mean, you can do more than one thing so if they stop needing you for one thing they'll need you for the other. Not bad, right?

The last reason why I think I am a person of many trades is; I like having alternatives. Options. That if I fail in one thing I don't necessarily have to start over, I have a backup plan where I can divert my focus to as I try to do CPR to dying dream. This direction in life slows down growth but ensures progress.

I am split between choosing to focus on one thing and pushing several things at the same time, which is overwhelming at times. I hope to soon I find a niche which I best thrive in before it's too late.

Speaking of split attention, I recently started a YouTube channel called Earth Dailyke where I post random undiscovered Kenyan youth with amazing talents and other general entertainment videos. To my surprise it has done really well, it has attracted over 2000 subscribers. Also recently, Hand to Mouth, a story from this blog made it to the Daily Nation. I was very happy. 

To conclude: Being a person of many trades does not mean that you are a lost cause, I like to think of it as; being on a constant mission to discover the extent of your capabilities.