A Man Must Be Prepared
A man must be prepared. For most of my life, I wasn't.
I was the person who paid the bill (electricity, rent, internet 😔) on the final hour. I ironed my clothes only when I was already heading out the door. I didn't finish assignments or submit forms until the deadline was staring me in the face. I wasn't sure if I was lazy or just irresponsible, but I knew I was living on the edge of a deadline.
I’ve been working to change these habits for a while now, but the events of the last few days made me realize I need to be much more serious about it.
I wrote my first blog post about a week ago and I wanted to write more. I’ve been using my free time to learn electronics. My freelance work was also going well. As a goal, I’ve been saving up some money to upgrade my seven years old PC. To me, the computer isn't just a gadget, it’s my livelihood. Upgrading it was my primary goal.
But the situation around me has shifted.
The gas situation in the country has become a crisis. People are waiting in lines two kilometers long, spending eight hours in the heat just to get a few liters of fuel. If the pump runs dry before it’s your turn, you simply have to try again the next day.
This fuel shortage, combined with the summer heat, has caused the demand for electricity to skyrocket. We are now facing five to six hours of load shedding daily, and I fear it will only worsen as the heat peaks. For a freelancer, this is a crisis. If the power cuts every thirty minutes, I cannot work. Suddenly, buying an inverter and a battery has become as vital as the PC upgrade.
The final blow came yesterday morning. I woke up and found my phone was dead. It wouldn’t turn on or charge. I’ve been using this phone for 6 years and it is my access point for almost everything. Fortunately, a repairman managed to get it running again, but he told me not to rely on this phone anymore. I use what I have until it no longer works. But now, a new phone has been forced onto my list of priorities.
This series of unfortunate events made me realize:
Life doesn't care about your plans. It only cares if you are ready for the unexpected. A man must be cool-headed and disciplined with his resources, whether it is time or money. Being prepared is about not wasting time when things are calm, so you can survive when things are chaotic.
I am setting new, stricter goals for myself. I’ve made a list of every task I’ve left undone and I’m clearing them out one by one. I don’t want to wait for the next deadline; I want to be prepared for the next storm.
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