By David E. Aoll

You think you’re walking this life alone — a single player in a private game. But life’s trickier than that. There are coaches calling from the sidelines, rivals making moves you don’t yet see, and quiet allies shifting pieces in your favour without you knowing. The board doesn’t reset after each turn. It remembers every risk, hesitation, and leap. And so will you.

Heraclitus once said you can’t step into the same river twice — not because the water changes, but because you do. Every decade, the river will carry you somewhere new.

20–30: The Opening Game

You’re stepping into adulthood with equal parts ambition and dread. Everything is new — first apartment, first real pay cheque, first time you realise the rent is due even when you’re sick.

2002.The dealership floor gleams under fluorescent lights, the air heavy with polish and fresh leather. The modest sedan waiting for you isn’t just transportation — it’s independence on four wheels. As your pen scratches across the finance papers, your pulse drums in your ears. Each signature feels like both a key and a chain.

Two years later, 2004, you stand at a crossroads. The Kenya Revenue Authority Graduate Trainee Programme offers a path of service — an invitation to join the guardians of national revenue. Yet, an international multinational dangles six-figure numbers that glitter brighter in the moment. You choose the latter, convincing yourself it’s the wiser play, while whispering silent prayers that one day, God will open a door for you to serve “the punter” — the everyday taxpayer — with the tax passion you can’t quite shake.

You’ll stumble — hard — and more than once. But you’ll learn that mistakes, as humiliating as they feel in the moment, are your first honest teachers. Aristotle was right: “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.”

What you carry from this decade:

• Fail early and without shame — those lessons stick the longest.

• Independence is exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure.

• Your time is your most precious currency. Guard it fiercely.

• Where you begin matters less than how relentlessly you keep moving forward.

And just as you start to believe you’ve figured out the rules, the next decade reminds you the board keeps shifting.

30–40: The Middle Game

Your 30s will strip away some illusions and replace them with calloused wisdom. You’ll think you’re hitting your stride — then life will surprise you with a sudden left turn.

That “generous” salary? It melts under the heat of rent, utilities, and the emergency repair for that car you once admired in the showroom. Friendships will deepen if you feed them; they’ll vanish quietly if you don’t. You’ll learn that saying yes to everything leaves no room for the things that actually matter.

But there will be moments that make the grind worthwhile — like the day your name is called for the Dr. Manu Chandaria Award, recognising not just your technical skill but the grit and late nights behind it. Or when you step forward to receive ICPAK’s national awards for top CPA Section 5 and Section 6 candidates — tangible proof that you could not only play in one of the toughest professional arenas, but master it.

It’s a slower, steadier decade. Less sprint, more marathon. You’ll start craving quality — in people, work, and how you spend a Sunday afternoon.

What you carry from this decade:

• Focus on less, so you can go deeper.

• Keep investing in your mind, health, and curiosity.

• Presence beats promise every time.

• Resilience grows in the long, unglamorous stretches between big wins.

Epictetus once said, “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.” By your late 30s, you’ll begin to understand exactly what he meant.

40–50: The Endgame Approaches

By your 40s, the board is crowded with pieces you’ve moved — and a few you wish you hadn’t. You’ve taken hits and learned to stand back up without ceremony. You no longer waste as much time proving yourself; you’re busy shaping the life you actually want to live.

And one day, the door you prayed for years ago opens — the call to serve the taxpayer directly, aligning with KRA’s vision “to be a globally trusted revenue agency, facilitating tax and customs compliance”. You find yourself living the values you once only read about: integrity, professionalism, equity, and trust. It’s more than a job — it’s the merging of your skill with your sense of civic duty.

You start letting go — not as surrender, but as skill. The weight of outdated dreams, grudges, and impossible expectations starts to lift. Success stops looking like a trophy and starts looking like a day where you wake up without dread.

Mortality isn’t just a line in a poem anymore — it’s real. And with it comes a sharper sweetness to ordinary mornings, to shared laughter, to the way sunlight falls through the kitchen window.

What you carry from this decade:

• Patterns will keep repeating until you actively rewrite them.

• Peace arrives when you stop wrestling what you can’t control.

• Boundaries are gates, not walls — you decide who gets through.

• Wins mean more when they’re shared.

• The clock is ticking, so savour the moments that matter.

Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” By now, you’ve examined yours — and chosen to live it deliberately.

The 50-Year View

Looking back, I see you — clumsy, determined, sometimes terrified — and I want to tell you this: you were never moving alone. Every nudge, challenge, and unexpected kindness shaped you.

Courage wasn’t about being fearless; it was about acting while fear sat in your pocket. Mastery didn’t come from chasing everything — it came from staying long enough to know something deeply. You failed, adapted, forgave, and tried again. That persistence became your quiet superpower.

If I could send just one truth across the years, it would be this:

The board is still alive with possibilities. You are still in the game.

No pawn moves alone.

Walk well,
Future You

Happy International Youth Day!, today, we celebrate Kenya’s young people — bold, ambitious, and ready to shape the future.

References

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2. University of Nairobi. (n.d.). Dr. Manu Chandaria Award – Recognition for outstanding academic performance in business and accounting. [Award record].
3. Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). (n.d.). ICPAK Annual Excellence Awards – Top CPA Section 5 & 6 candidates. [Award record].
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