Tenacity to Purpose

On the 20 th of December 2017, I earned my Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Therapy. It was a long and eventful four years, and when the day of my graduation finally came I felt as if it was a dream. I won’t lie to you, there were moments when I felt like the end was going to come, but I just wasn’t sure if I was going to make it. There were long stretches of time where I would just wake up and go about my day with zero enthusiasm for anything. Now that I am a graduate, from the best university in Africa, I don’t know which feeling is greater. The feeling of gratitude or the feeling that this is just the beginning. On the afternoon of my last exam, I sat on my couch with the adrenaline from finishing finally wearing off. The feeling of “this is the end” finally rested in my mind, and I sat there trying to count all the things that I was grateful to God for. If I had to go through every year from 2014 to date, I would need another four years to document it all. But in th...

From the time that I was little, I have always found myself in leadership positions. Most of these positions were not by choice, I would be nominated or just given a position. Even as an older sister to my siblings, that was a leadership position that I didn't necessarily apply for but I got anyways. I won't lie though, I love being a leader and I definitely get it from my dad who has always been a great example. Throughout the years though, I became more and more reluctant to take up leadership positions because let's be honest, kids can be mean, and nobody wants to be friends with the class captain (a.k.a snitch of the class, a.k.a teacher's right hand). Over the years I have realised that as much as you try, you cannot run away from yourself. You cannot run away from your gifts, talents and the roles that you were born to play. There may be seasons in which you do not use them as fully as you did in the previous seasons, but I can you tell you that if you were born...

Like little children we hid in the kitchen, next to the cutlery box. We were looking out the window, watching the trees dance in the wind. We didn’t want to look at each other in the eyes because that would Just be asking the tears that were already dancing on the corner Of our eyes to RSVP and come to the party. We were numb. We took turns catching our tears before they reached our chins. We comforted each other like plane crash survivors, each with Injuries of their own but just enough strength to reach out and rub The other’s back. The numbness was quickly fading away. The adrenaline rush kicked in and coping strategies rushed into our frontal lobes. This is what we do. We distract ourselves with to do lists and plates Full of food when life demands that we feel p… When life demands that we feel pa.. When life demands that we feel pai. When life demands that we feel pain. In an attempt to be strong for others we fail ourselves. We force ourselv...

I have come to realise that as people we get used to substandard love and treatment from those around us. This can be in friendships, in relationships, even in working relationships with colleagues. Humans are flawed, that’s just how it is. In my own life I have realised that you never stop learning how to love others well, and you never stop learning how to be loved well. I have noticed that once a person has had a bad experience with someone either mistreating them or not showing real love, they tend to have a hard time being on the receiving end of good treatment and true love as a result.  This change, is not as a result of not being able to spot the difference between good and bad treatment. No. It is as a result of not seeing themselves as worthy of receiving that love, and also being afraid that this new and good treatment will not last. There’s that thought at the back of their minds that this treatment is too good to be true and cannot be maintained. We get so used to...