Not Every Season Is a Saving Season

In Kenya, saving is almost sacred. From the moment you earn your first salary, there’s an unwritten rule: save as much as you can, because you never know what tomorrow brings.

Jobs vanish overnight. Prices go up without warning. Rent can double, and so can your transport costs. Holding onto every coin feels like the only logical thing to do.

For many of us, that habit becomes a way of life. We are constantly preparing for the next emergency, the next layoff, the next unexpected bill. We save, we tighten our belts, we delay the things that bring joy — because it feels safer that way.

But what happens when life changes — when you move out, earn a little more, or finally start living more comfortably — and your mind still refuses to leave survival mode?

When Survival Turns Into Stability

A few months ago, I moved out of home. My rent more than doubled, and my expenses went up in every direction. My savings dropped drastically, and suddenly, I was doing the math for every small expense — including a Pilates class that felt both necessary and “too much.”

It felt wrong to spend that kind of money on something as “non-essential” as exercise or wellness. I kept hearing that little Kenyan voice whisper: “You should be saving that.”

And yet, for the first time in years, I was sleeping well. I could walk to work. I was eating better, breathing better, and actually feeling peaceful.

It took me months to realize that I wasn’t being reckless.
I was simply entering a different kind of season.

There Is a Season for Everything

We talk a lot about saving and investing, but we rarely talk about the seasons of money — or the seasons of life.

There are seasons for accumulation, and there are seasons for capacity-building. Sometimes, the best investment you can make isn’t in a savings account. It’s in your health, your peace of mind, and your ability to function well in the long run.

These other forms of capital compound just like money — quietly, and often faster.

Financial capital — the money you earn, save, and invest.

Health capital — your physical and mental well-being; the energy you bring to each day.

Social capital — the trust and relationships that open doors when you least expect it.

Knowledge capital — what you learn and how you grow; the skills that make you adaptable.

Reputation capital — how people remember your work ethic, reliability, and integrity.

You can be “broke” in one form of capital but rich in another. And if you nurture these other kinds long enough, they eventually convert into financial stability anyway.

The Fear That Keeps Us Saving

Of course, it’s not just about money — it’s about fear.
In a country where job security feels like a luxury, of course we hold our money tightly. We’ve seen too many people lose everything in a blink.

We’re not paranoid — we’re cautious.
But sometimes, we carry that caution too far, even when life finally gives us a little breathing room. We don’t know how to stop bracing for disaster.

That fear becomes so familiar that comfort feels suspicious. We call rest “laziness.” We call balance “wasteful.” We forget that stability is also meant to be lived.

Redefining Wealth

Wealth isn’t always a number on your M-Pesa balance.

Wealth is a quiet morning walk before work.
Wealth is sleeping through the night without church noise outside your window.
Wealth is peace, time, and energy to think clearly again.
Wealth is Pilates, or yoga, or that coffee you enjoy slowly instead of gulping down in a matatu.

When you stop seeing these things as indulgences and start seeing them as investments, life begins to expand again. You realize that living well is also part of living wisely.

Maybe This Isn’t the Saving Season

Maybe this season isn’t about massive savings or aggressive growth.
Maybe it’s about learning, healing, and finding your rhythm again.

You’re not wasting money by taking care of yourself — you’re laying the groundwork for the next version of you: stronger, calmer, and more capable.

There will be another season to save, invest, and grow wealth. But right now, maybe the goal is simply to be well enough to enjoy the life you’ve built.

Because not every season is a saving season —
and that’s perfectly okay.

Daniel Arap Moi — The Shadow and the Shepherd: A Deep Dive into Kenya’s Second President

If Jomo Kenyatta was the founding father, Daniel Toroitich Arap Moi was the long-reigning stepfather — sometimes protective, often punitive, and almost always enigmatic. He ruled Kenya for 24 years, the longest of any president to date. To some, he was the gentle teacher, Mwalimu , who kept the nation from tearing apart. To others, he was the architect of a surveillance state, a master of patronage and fear, the man who perfected repression through calm. This is a portrait of Daniel Arap Moi — not just as a ruler, but as a man shaped by modest beginnings, colonial violence, and the hunger for order in a chaotic time. Early Life: The Boy from Sacho Daniel Arap Moi was born on September 2, 1924, in Kurieng’wo, Baringo, in Kenya’s Rift Valley. He came from the Tugen sub-group of the Kalenjin community. His father died when he was just four. Raised by his uncle, Moi’s early life was marked by hardship, discipline, and deep Christian missionary influence. He trained as a teacher at Tambach ...

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Some pain does not leave a mark. Some exhaustion does not show in the face. Some people are carrying weights that have no name, no diagnosis, and no outward sign. We are used to recognizing suffering only when it can be pointed to — a bandage, a crutch, a cast, a wound. Something we can see. But the human interior is its own world, and often, the heaviest struggles live there. The Quiet Work of Holding Yourself Together There are those who walk into a room smiling, contributing, present — and yet they are holding themselves together one breath at a time. Not because they are pretending, but because they have learned to live with what would overwhelm another person. Some battles are fought inside the mind: The slow grey of depression The relentless hum of anxiety The sudden, unbidden memory that takes the body back to a place it never wants to return The deep fatigue that sleep does not cure And yet, life continues. The world moves. The dishes still need to be wa...

Know Thyself: The Quiet Power of Naming Your Nature

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” — Carl Jung We live in a culture that equates good intentions with goodness, and ambition with ability. But very few people in Kenya—or anywhere—truly know what they are made of. We can name our qualifications and our dreams. But ask someone their vices or virtues, and they hesitate. Worse, they lie. The Danger of Self-Unawareness In Kenya today, many of us are wandering through life making choices—big, small, and irreversible—without truly understanding who we are. We end up in jobs we despise, relationships we shouldn’t be in, or positions of influence we aren’t emotionally or ethically equipped for. And at the root of this dysfunction is a simple truth: we don’t know ourselves. This is not a spiritual or abstract dilemma. It’s a deeply practical one. To know oneself is to understand your vices, your virtues, your weaknesses, and your strengths—not in a vague sense, but in detail. Let’s ge...

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