Uninformed & Unsolicited Thoughts on the State of Mind & Mental Health of Innovators in Tanzania

Jumanne Mtambalike yesterday said something and it struck a nerve it registered in my mind along these lines of: " digital creatives/innovators/incubates sometimes go totally crazy". And it is true we do lose our marbles at times and scum to depression, mental breakdowns, and sometimes even physical pain that can result in hospitalization & doctors will spend days & find no actual diagnosable illness. And this happens frequently and sadly for us we know & but don’t know the root cause all in one. Which in turn leads some complex turn of events depending on the SCALE OF THE EPISODE.

These highs & lows often come at the worst time of one’s career or/and delivery process. I will make reference to 3 popular 'people' to try & explain, Moses, Jesus, & Mohamed.. These were all Innovators " Messengers" they came with the appropriate "Technology" that the masses needed at the time to solve/transform whatever societal imbalances on pain. How I know, look at the institutions they have created ?and their Balance Sheets, look at the influence they command, look at their customer base and potential subscribers. In 300 years, JOBS, Gates, & maybe Musk or Bezos, or Zuck ?will command the same status call them "Digitally Devine Prophets" - time will tell how the AI/ML will view these people in their realm as in the true sense these will be the APEX GODS of the Future Nations that will form the Meta-Verse will become a subset of our Solar System something between Heaven /Hell /Earth /& Ones imagination created to be visualized in Ones & Zeros for the world to see.

Now I am sure & safe to assume based on human nature as these were men in the unpublished books of?Zipporah, Mary, and Khadijiah, Sawdah,Aisha,Hafsah, Umm-Al Masakin, Umm Salamah, Zaynab, Juwayriyah, Umm Habibah, Safiyyah, Maymunah, Rayhana & Maria;?these Messengers wept & expressed their frustrations to the women mentioned. But most importantly they confided in them of how people & the establishments of the time didn’t believe them, how they were resistant to the change & new ideology, and how stupid they were for being so rigid.

Let us shift gears to a movie called "Sonic the Hedgehog" & Crazy Carl in the end Carl wasn't crazy. Just as Moses, Jesus, & Mohamed have in todays world been exonerated ?of their straight jackets and said mental states. Lets make reference to Wakanda Forever, I watched it yesterday with my hands folded. Here you have a society where technology is embraced at its core & still the users closest to that technology are resistant, while others only wish they had it. Unlike James Bond where you have Q a mere employee of the ”Establishment”, ?here you have a Princess who is the Mad Scientist and by the end of the Movie (spoiler alert) she becomes the Ultimate Super Hero & I Guess Ruler of the most powerful nation in that world. So in such a nation or world what role will Crazy Carl Play vs in our World where it is ok to crack jokes about how we dress or state of our hair. Believe us it isn’t a fashion statement, we just don’t have time to put ourselves together as we battle the lag between our brains and the other mediums that we need to use to explain to y’all what we visualize and manifest in our heads. If the slow motion of what we think blows your minds imagine the raw format and a full hotwired dump.

Work Life Balance doesn’t start to explain the paradox that creatives face in their minds. We can’t switch it off, but we can switch the world off so we can focus on understand the message we are to deliver to you. The barrier of communication is sometimes your inability to digest & there is nothing more frustrating than painting someone a picture and they simply cannot see it and it is right there.

I sat over coffee this weekend with a person I have know since 8th Grade who we were attempting to structuring a new telecom company, & for the past few months I been telling him it cannot work unless we crack the Tea Shop. He was getting very angry, frustrated, somewhat impatient and I could see it. So we sat and I walked him in and out the bends and paths and then finally the entire section of forest slowly and key sound bites of the ?conversations we had with stakeholders and where the pitfalls were.

In the end he said two things:

" Why didn’t you say it " & " that's why that product hasn't taken off in Africa"..

I said to him:

" I did, you weren't listening, nor were you ready to see it, and more so were clouded by the potential revenue vs aligning your expectations with maximum threshold of your money being tied up. ?You would have gotten frustrated after 12months because this isn’t a Pig Giving Birth, its it is a MuthFEN ?Whale with Twins"?

He leaned back and said :

" Fcuk"...

So the mental health of creatives & innovators has everything to do with wear & tear, and how quickly we can recover from disappointment.?Just like human babies we birth products & services and sadly you guys kill them. We face grief of loosing our babies and sometimes we walk around with their bodies around our necks, pockets, and hard drives looking for ways bring them back to life. There is no honorable funeral for innovations, products, and services that in some cases we have spent years nurturing only from them to be scrapped and put into the trash. The is no wake, funeral, or even "arubaini (40days days typically given after someone passes for family & friends to go back to normal life)", you merely are meant to report back to your desk as if nothing happened and start developing something else that will fill in the revenue hole of what you promised the world.

Some of are blessed with a Healthy Libido of Ideas and as much as we have our favorites, know how to Family plan, others are only given that one child or maybe two. Some of us lay eggs in other peoples nests and are ok with another raising out younglings and we keep moving from company to company, client to client, and person to person, while others spend years weaving a nest and then find the right partner to invite in to raise a family.?There are those who are “ many “ who simply are sperm donors and just bang out ideas for a quick thrill and joy ride never really focusing on the ramification and stigma it creates for others in the field. But in the end when we sleep our greatest joy is watching our manifestations in our minds take shape and change the world.

Imagine Moses with his 10 Commandments & he got down from the mountain and even his own family called him crazy and straight jacketed him in a hut and feed him through a window.

Imagine Noah and all the animals refusing to board the ark.

Imagine Jesus walking on water and they stoned him to death & called him a witch.

Imagine Mohamed coming back from the cave and being classified a mad man.

What would the world look like without these messengers & innovators?

As a creative I often refer to this section of the Koran- Surah al-Kafirun:

Say: O disbelievers! I worship not that which ye worship; Nor worship ye that which I worship.

And I shall not worship that which ye worship.

Nor will ye worship that which I worship.

Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.

Quran 109:1-6

Let us part or agree to disagree peacefully as you cannot see what I see and I cannot force you to see what I see, therefore do not chastise, censor, ridicule, or sling mud at us for what we see to be real; as I will not condone you for not having been given the ability to see what we see, as your blindness only God can lift that vail. But Time will tell as we have planted our seeds within you and they will grow.

So yes what is seen in more cases than most is the grief as a result of pain or frustration we as Parents or Owners of the innovation face seeing our creations sick, dead or dying. If you view us as Parents to these "inanimate object" then maybe there will be more empathy beyond saying " you can just improve on it or just come up with a better idea or do something else, or get job and some experience".

Context & Thanks: Hubs Curriculum Validation Session Promise Mwakale