So This Is What Freedom Looks Like

I think that one thing deeply ingrained in the African way of child upbringing is the common clause, “What will people say?!” and for many of us who just did as we were told most times, that sentence translated into a self-consciousness and an anxiety-filled adulthood.

You walk into a room and you’re wondering what everyone seated in it thinks of you.

You want to speak up on a subject and you have an opinion that’s not quite popular, but you hold back because you don’t want to seem rebellious.

You want to take pictures in public, but you just cannot play around with the poses you saw on Instagram because you’re worried that everyone will stare.

Can’t you see? You’re letting other people live their lives through you. You’re not living.

The day I took the decision to stop caring so much about other people and what they think of me is the day that I made one of the most liberating decisions of my life. I realised that living my life and making decisions based on the opinions of some other imperfect individuals was a self destructive way to live because who says that even they know what they are doing?

Do me a favour. When those thoughts come to your head when all you’re doing is being yourself, kick them out of your head HARD.

Hembafan from MANI