Every time I visit my village I find some of my primary school classmates who got into alcohol. There are these particular two, who always come to see me immediately they see my car stop. They only have one mission, get a  ksh 100 and disappear. They have a common script when asking for this money. They say ” Wagithi, guku no kung’ara ndukinjikie kanyamu” meaning Wagithi, here there is only thirst, give me something. These guys will look for odd jobs every day to ensure they get some money to drink. They are willing to do anything to get their daily dose. I think these guys are addicted to alcohol.

Just like drug/alcohol addicts, most of us are addicted to our salaries

1. When the month is past half like today, you start anticipating and longing for the salary. This is the same way the drug/alcohol addicts look forward for the time when they will access the drug. The thirst is real. I remember when my dad used to smoke and I was small, he used to say that he could smell sigar that was being smoked 5kms away.

2. Once an addict takes the drug, they get high just like when you get that message from your mobile banking that the money has hit the account. Some unusual excitement gets into you. Some unusual confidence can be noticed by anyone who is close to you. If you do not have a spending plan for your money, you are likely to spend it all within the first week.

3. The more you get used to the drug, the more in terms of quantity you need and the more your life revolve around the drug.The money is never enough and you try to work harder in order to get more to satisfy the increasing thirst. Your job begins to take priority over everything else, be it family, your leisure time etc. You enjoy the predictability of your income, you cannot imagine not having a regular income, you are in a comfort zone.  It is no wonder that many people would not accept a commission job yet it is the most rewarding because your effort= your reward.

4. I noted that when drug addicts go for rehabilitation, the rehabs do not withdraw the drugs suddenly. They keep injecting some doses of the drugs and keep reducing gradually. Complete withdrawal would cause withdrawal or even in worse case scenarios death. This is similar to a salary, if it is withdrawn abruptly, the person can easly slip into a depression. Handling a job loss is very difficult for majority of people. I always say that the day you started that job is the day you start preparing to loose it. This is because you can resign, you can be fired, you can be disabled or retire. Either way you will loose it…..prepare.

5. Drug addicts cannot build wealth, this is because every coin they get goes into buying more drugs. I think this is true with the salary, given that it is fixed and even when it is increased, expenses increases or lifestyle goes up to accommodate the excess money. Some men when the salary is increased they get another woman to help in keeping him high. This mean, no surplus is left to build wealth.

6. The drug addicts get to a point where they know they should stop but the habit has taken complete control of them, they keep saying how they will stop just to get back to it the next day. This is similar to a salary, you keep saying you will start your business, you actually know that you can do very well in business but you have no courage to follow your dream. You end up spending the rest of your life hoping and wanting to start that business. At retirement is when you want to begin that business when you have little or no energy. It is no wonder then thar most people die within the first 5 years after retirement. You begin a business with your retirement package, you have no energy to learn new tricks, it fails. Of course not all of us will do business, but for those who feel or know are called in that direction, when you feel it is time to move, just move you will learn by and by.

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