A nature and health nerd of many parts.
I am a retired teacher living in Ghana, West Africa, and the father of three terrific males. The eldest is 21 and in medical school, and the others are 19 and 18. I have written several short stories — three of which won a national award when I was in my early twenties — but have never finished any long-form writing. A play and three novels are still on the shelf. Perhaps the short form is the genre for one accustomed to writing in fits and starts.
Over the last few years, since I decided to pursue this path, fiction has taken a back seat, and my writing has shifted to my passions—nature, health, fitness and wellness, and natural health. I read National Geographic Magazine extensively in school, never missing any edition, and today it is my favorite TV channel.
Self-discovery has taken almost an eternity for me, mainly because I’m a multipotentialite. In other words, I have several interests and several natural gifts, all of which I excel in. I had a flair for football(I mean soccer), captained a local first-division team, and dreamed of playing at the highest level, but somehow, that ambition fizzled out.
A two-time national quiz champion, I also draw and paint well, was the best artist in one examination class, and will earn good money from drawing and painting if I decide to. I can sing like a pro, and friends wonder at my ability to mimic musicians from several genres. I love music with a passion, though I don’t play any musical instrument.
Then there’s writing. A few times in school, a teacher read my essay to the class. During my time at the teacher-training college, I was one of the best actors (if not the best — many of my peers thought I should have been awarded the coveted prize of best actor in an annual inter-house drama competition).
Enough of gifts and multipotentialities. The point I’m making here is that gifted individuals and multipotentialites often find it difficult to focus on one future career path as they’re spoilt for choice and have so many options that they may become paralyzed in a multidimensional mire of indecision.
In the end, I settled for teaching — which I’m told I do very well—while still holding on to my dream of becoming a professional soccer player, and later abandoning the green turf. Teaching has been an exciting and thoroughly enjoyable vocation for me. Mathematics and science in junior high school, while doubling as the sports master, and later, geography in senior high, and a quiz coach to boot before I retired.
Marriage and kids in between, a bachelor’s degree and a master’s in the bag, writing once again is where I’m switching my focus now, as I hinted, leaning towards health and wellness.
Talking of health, I encountered a series of prescription scares recently, in which I got confused as to whether or not I had taken a drug, another time asking myself whether I had taken a drug twice. This prompted me to create the PDF, a Prescription and Medication Tracking Sheet.
[Download the Prescription Tracker PDF Now]