The Talkative

Over time, I have learned some life ethics that weren't part of me before, and I have realized that the older we get, the more exposed we are.

I have been someone who fancied discussions and would always try as much not to miss out on jokes-related ones. I will happily contribute to the debate and laugh till I am exhausted. With time things began to change.

I get to learn the art of keeping quiet, having more silence than being outspoken. I think I have been trying to use my time more to think than to just have fun.

Since I have been a blogger I realized that most of the time, I am always thinking about what content to create and even though serious discussions are going on I would feel reluctant to contribute rather than focusing all of my energy on the content creation.

Blogging was still way easier with little or nothing to lose, though there were times when I made the sacrifice of dividing my attention. There have been several times when I would lose all of my write ups just because I didn’t pay attention.

I have written close to 1000 words before. When I lost my attention in a discussion with Mum. I selected all of the contents instead of clicking on “copy” I clicked on delete. Then all of my write ups disappeared.

I reacted to the situation but Mum couldn’t understand what I was going through. The pain of getting to start my writing all over again, the inspiration that came when I was typing might be no more. I nearly gave up on rewriting that content but I tried to make up for it.

Every so often I have been trying to master the art of focusing on my content and not diverting my attention. It was like a recipe for disaster to me. So when I am done writing I can fully contribute to any discussion at length.

That was just a preamble. Not until I became a livestock farmer. When I was having my training, my boss would always tell me not to divert my attention from all I do. Because I might lose a lot from it even in just a few minutes.

Qudus! Let me tell you something about this hatchery business.

Yes sir. I responded with all my attention.

There was a time I lost over 20 thousand of my fingerlings due to not paying attention to details.

How did that happen, sir?

Qudus! Just try paying attention when you are working on the farm.

Okay, sir. I nodded in response, though I was yet to understand him well.

I finally got to experience the reality of it when I started working on my farm. It was when I started small with just about 10 fish, they are big enough to take on oxygen and sustain themselves without water for about an hour plus. But not much longer than that unless they won't survive.

There was a time I had to drain the water in the pond, I opened the outlet and then drained it all. My siblings came to join me since my farm was just in the backyard of our house.

We started discussing and laughing. I got carried away with the discussion till the water got completely drained and the fish were in the pond without water for about 30 minutes.

My sister tapped me. Bro! Better go and check your fish!

(My heart skipped immediately trying to think far about the consequences of my action.)

My thoughts were that someone might have just come in and stolen all of them.

I raced down there and counted it all. They were all intact. I opened the water inlet and then the water began to fill up the pond.

I was still caught up in the ongoing funny conversations between my siblings so I just ran back to join them there but tried as much to calculate my time so the water wouldn’t overflow and waste.

While I was smiling only if I knew the consequence of my action I should have been crying. The pond takes about 3 hours to fill up. I already started filling up for about two hours and deep into the discussion.

Mum shouted my name Abdulqudus! Come here!

Eeeh. Like seriously! What could be happening to me today? (Questioned myself) as I quickly ran to her.

Look at you! You have been fetching water in the basket since.

My eyes got wide open! I believed the water should have almost filled up. But it was just a little above the outlet.

You didn’t close the water outlet when you opened the inlet, Mum responded.

Oooh. My bad. I must have wasted all of the water I planned to manage on the fish. It would cost me an extra expense to fuel the generator and start pumping another water.

Only if I wasn’t so freaked out about the discussion, it wouldn't have cost me a waste of time and money. A few seconds to be focused and close the outlet taught me a great lesson.

I was just grateful it wasn’t the hatchery’s section; it would have cost me even more. Since then I have tried to master diverting my attention elsewhere while working on the farm.