LINDIWE

  2020 tried but we bad, you can’t kill us. If this year has taught me anything it’s that we must really appreciate everything we have regardless of where we wish we were or where we wish we could be. The way life has been life’ing this year has really highlighted my personal growth and cemented more of what I want to aspire to in this life. We have loved and lost. We have mourned. We have grown. We wish things could have happened differently but despite all of this, we are still alive. The little things really go a long way and we are so so blessed to be in the positions we are in; food on the table, a roof over our heads and loved ones around us. I know this isn’t the same for everyone and I hope and pray God shields and guides those who have been hit with hardship this year. I remember before I graduated, I was like yep, I’m gonna move here, gonna get a job here, gonna do this and this, but they say when you make plans God laughs and that could not have been any more applicabl

It’s a shame that society has – in some ways – taught us that men can’t show emotion; socialisation has taught men that bottling everything up is essentially the only way to keep it moving, which in turn has led to men and boys finding other, unhealthy forms of therapy.   As I’ve mentioned before, African households are not, (generally speaking), households which are open to conversations surrounding mental health and most definitely not open to conversations surrounding the mental health of black men and boys. From experience and observation, this dismissal of discussion can very often mean that men don’t feel it safe for them to express their feelings towards something or someone without the fear of being judged or criticised for being too ‘sensitive’. I feel as though the Black community are often very quick to dismiss any real conversation about Black men and mental health and a lot of the time I find that incorrect assumptions are made before any progression for conceptualisatio

  It is what it is. Shit happens and then you die, but what matters is how you live your live in between. Sometimes shit hurts, sometimes we lose people, sometimes we can smile about the small things in life. It hurts to lose friends, break up with your significant other or coming to terms with things you thought you’d never have to deal with. In some ways what’s most painful is that it’s inevitable; it’s part of growing pains. Eventually we all learn to live without the people we thought we could never live without. We meet new people who make up for the pain we once felt. I try and find lessons in everything that happens to me because as I've learnt in this life, I can't come and kill myself for things I can't change. I know sometimes nature just naturally runs its course and you grow out of doing certain things and or people and eventually God will put new things and new people in place of the past, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less painful or difficult to move on fr