About Me — Michael O. Nkansah
A geography teacher of many parts.
I live in Ghana, West Africa. The father of three terrific male children—two teenagers and one twenty-year-old. 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 circumstanced to write 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, I had my essay read to the class by the teacher. During my time in 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 spoiled 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 today, geography in senior high, and a quiz coach to boot.
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.
I’m already enjoying it thus far, and I guess that’s the important thing.
Isn’t it?
