This week, let's look at a story from the African tradition.

A story about the things we start... and what it costs us when we never see them through.

Let's dive in...

In a small village far away, there lived an elder.

He was known throughout the village for his beautiful songs.

For the stories woven inside his songs...

Songs that carried the memories of the village itself.

And he had one song in particular... his most precious one...

That no one had ever heard in its entirety.

He had never taught it to anyone completely...

Until he began teaching it to a young boy in the village.

A boy who had a gift for music and a hunger to learn.

They would sit together in the evenings.

The elder singing a few lines... and the young boy repeating them back.

But the boy was young.

And naturally, he had many other things pulling at his attention.

Some evenings he would go to the elder... and some he wouldn't.

Some weeks he would practice diligently.

And there were times when the song would slip to the back of his mind.

But the elder never pushed the young boy.

He just waited... patiently... for the him to return.

And he always did... for a while.

But as time passed, his visits became less and less frequent.

Until one day... he stopped coming altogether.

For the young boy... the song always felt like something he could come back to later.

Then one morning... a sad piece of news came in...

The elder had passed away.

The boy, now much older, stood at the elder's door...

And felt something he hadn't expected.

He felt grief... but also something he hadn't expected to feel.

He remember that he only knew half a song.

Half of something that had taken a lifetime to create.

Half of something that could never be completed now.

He tried to remember what came after the part he knew.

But the rest of the song... was gone with the elder.

And that was the moment the boy understood something…

Something he wished he had understood sooner.

He realized that some things cannot be left unfinished...

And what we leave unfinished... may not always get a chance to be finished later.

We've all started something with that spark... haven't we?

That feeling when you first begin something...

The excitement, the vision, the absolute certainty that you'll see it through.

And then somewhere along the way... life just happens.

The task seems to feel harder.

The progress seems to feel slower.

The excitement that felt so real when you began... just fades away.

And we often tell ourselves we'll come back to it.

We tell ourselves that we'll come back to it when we have more time.

When we have more energy... when motivation finds us.

But here's the thing about motivation...

It's never something that is going to come and find us.

It lives in the meaning we attach to the task we're doing.

Motivation lives in the joy of being in the feeling, the feeling you feel when the task is completed...

And the moment we lose sight of why we started...

The task tends to become just another thing on a list.

It becomes difficult. It becomes optional.

It becomes something that's easy to postpone.

And honestly... it happens to all of us.

There are many reasons we leave things unfinished.

And everyone finds their way back differently.

But one thing worth trying... is returning to the moment you started.

And that's the question worth asking yourself this week...

Not "how do I find the motivation?"

But "why did I start this?"

And that's when you have to go back to that moment... when you started.

To the spark, the vision, the feeling you had when you first began.

Because that's what can get you to the finish line.

And when you find it again... everything becomes a little easier to see through.

That's all for this week. I hope this story reminded you that the things worth starting... are worth finishing.

Thank you to everyone who's been replying and sharing your thoughts.

Your feedback means more than you know, and I genuinely appreciate you taking the time to let me know what resonates.

If something in today's edition moved you, made you think, or reminded you of something you needed to hear, hit reply and let me know.

And if this story reminded you of someone… share it with them. Some things are worth passing on.

If you missed last week's edition: You Know What's Right for You

See you next Sunday.

— Manifest Chronicles | The Mindset Behind Change