A Moment to Reintroduce Myself to Me

Let Me take a moment to reintroduce myself to Me. 

You see I had lost touch with who I was, 

and so this moment I have spared so that I can get to know Me, again. 

Let Me take a moment to reintroduce myself to Me. 

You see I was a girl who'd figured Me out, 

till into the picture crept him 

and her,

and them, 

and those guys too..... 

Let Me take a moment to reintroduce myself to Me. 

You see they told me all sorts of things about Me, 

and sadly for Me, I started to believe them. 

It was then that I lost touch with who Me was.

Let Me take a moment to reintroduce myself to Me. 

You see who I am is dear to Me,

There really is no I without Me.

Let me take a moment to reintroduce myself to Me. 

xoxo

Chido Dziva Chikwari

In the past year I went through a lot of things that literally broke down my self esteem. I mean it got to the point where I had lost the confidence to speak out in public ndichizviti, "Ko ini ndingataure kuti chii zvangu." None of this came from within but it was founded merely on what people had said to me and about me. It was founded on how society viewed things, not me.  Because of this I began to see myself as a second rate citizen and went as far as to consider that maybe I was everything people had said; stupid, worthless, amounting to nothing. 

It took me a while to get over all those feelings and sometimes it takes a good friend to remind me to snap out of it. I've had to have countless stern conversations with myself and a lot of it circled around reintroducing myself to me. I had to purposefully relocate Chido outside of what society said and how society defined my circumstances. I haven't got it all figured out yet and but I've come to the realization that only I have the power to be the author of my own story, the way I see myself comes from within and only I have the power to change that. 

I believe there are a lot of people among us who have lost their identity to what society says. There are many people who have begun to conform to what is the norm or what is deemed "acceptable"; be it the way you dress, the way you talk (the language you use), the things you believe to be right or wrong or even the dreams and ambitions you have for your life. These changes happen on a daily basis and oftentimes subconsciously. More often than we care to notice our surroundings shape who we become. It is for that very reason why you need to have a strong sense of self. 

"Who are you? 

What do you believe in and why? 

What's acceptable and what isn't? 

Where are you headed?"

Those are really tough questions but oftentimes it's being aware of the simple things that matters. When the world wants to feed you their opinion about why doing a degree in psychology is a bad idea you need to be able to remind yourself why you chose that path to begin with and where you see your life going. 

When the world tells you that your biological clock is ticking and that it's worrying that there is no boyfriend in sight you need to be able to ease the pressure on yourself and zone in on how you know marriage isn't your end goal in life. There is no need to rush or settle.

When you graduated three years ago and you are working a job that's far from what you imagined or earning what some may call 'peanuts' you need to be able to tell yourself that there is nothing wrong with you and that our journeys are not the same, right now may be your incubation period. Focus on what's important, hard work and keeping the dream alive. 

I don't know what different scenarios people are faced with but my story remains the same...You need to have an idea of what you want so that you aren't swayed at every turn. You need to have an idea of who you are so you don't change like a cameleon in different social settings. You need to have an idea of who you are so that you aren't a Yes man/woman. Take the time to reintroduce yourself.