S.N. Lazarev About His Fate

I remember when I was working as a tour guide in Sochi.  

I had everything.  The pay was good.  I worked in beautiful surroundings on intesting tours and had good company. I had no problems. 

One time we went on a 2-3 days tour of Ritsa lake. We saw the Circassian waterfalls, we climbed a mountain, I remember being stung by a bee there.  Then we stayed overnight at the bottom of the mountain.  When we reached Ritsa lake the next day, we went to a café for a bite to eat.  It was here I remember being in shock by what took place. I asked the guy for some kebabs, the guy was Georgian and in his middle thirties.  When he gave me kebabs, he looked at me and said: ‘Leave your job’. I said: ‘I don’t understand, do you know what my job is?’. He said: ‘Yes, you’re a tour guide.  You should leave your job. It’s not the job for you. You’ve got a different fate’. 

I shrugged my shoulders and said that I would think about it. But I couldn’t forget it.  When my uncle came to visit me a month later, he said to me: 

‘Aren’t you bored of working here wrapped in cotton wool?’. I said: ‘No, I like it’. 

Then he said: ‘Do you want a real job in construction based in St Petersburg?  A serious job. Where you deal with renovations, grime and problems and you will live in a dormitory?’. I said: ‘Ok, let’s do it’. 

So, I went to St Petersburg and I realised I didn’t want to go back.

If I had returned, I would never have written the books I wrote and I would not had achieved everything I have done.

In which case scenario would I not have gone to St Petersburg?   This would have occurred if my logic had become too important.  Looking at the logical answer I would have surmised  ‘you’ve got everything - a good job, money, surrounded by beautiful nature.  Why lose everything in pursuit of the unknown?’ 

However, I believed in my feelings more.  I followed these feelings and this is what resulted.