The picture on the right was taken on my matriculation into the university some 26 years ago.
I remember my hands clasped as I sat down to take this picture(at the stern insistence of my late father,God bless your soul, Bolakale), palms dripping water like I had a tap open over them and I was shaking so badly inwardly,which I hid so well.
That day I felt like the worst human being on Earth ,even on a day that was meant to be a major milestone, because I felt I was ugly and didn’t deserve to be in the midst of all these beautiful ‘deserving’ kids being welcome into such a prestigious institution like the University of Lagos(UNILAG).
I felt like fish out of water and had tried to avoid coming to this ‘shakara’ school😁 at all cost ( you can read about this in one of my early posts ,’No retreat….. No Surrender’).
My matriculation day was one of the toughest and most humiliating days of my life as at least all the other self loathing,self ridicule and rejections were on a smaller scale, but this day ,my labels and limiting belief of not being good enough kept staring me smack in the face in the middle of a mammoth crowd .
Getting emotional as I write this even,but the point this post is driving at today is,
‘ I rose up out of the ashes of those limitations, labels,self loathing ,self ridicule,jeers and sneers and pity when I got on the road of SELF DISCOVERY and gradually started evolving and still evolving into the bold ,beautiful, vivacious and fearless woman in the 2nd picture ☺️.
I am throwing it back today and bringing it forward for ANYONE who feels life is over ,just because of a situation or circumstance that might have happened in the past or even recent times.
Hear this,
Your past doesn’t define you,it’s what you decide to do with it ,that will now define you.
Head high,chin up,eyes focused ,heart intent and go for your dreams because they are VALID irrespective of what anyone else has to say.
How can I move on from my past hurts/circumstances, you may ask?
📌Learn to accept whatever happened in the first place
📌Learn to embrace the hurt/rejection
📌Learn to love yourself 💖
📌Learn to believe in yourself
📌Learn to embrace the fact that ‘ you are unique’
Always remember,
YOU may have a ‘BUT’, irrespective you are ENOUGH just the way you are 💪🤗.
Hope you got value from this post.
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