My Journey of Self Discovery - Chapter 1: Overcoming the Enemy of Self Doubt!

In my two decades on earth, I have definitely had/seen my fair share of ups and downs. But if I could go back and rewrite history, would I change it? Definitely NOT.

Because all the adversity I've had in my life - challenges and obstacles, have strengthened me.

                   “Adversity causes some men to break and others to break records.”  

                                                        William Arthur Ward

And the greatest transformation of my life is an embodiment of this principle…

I was never the popular or cool kid at school. I was very shy, timid and in many ways a NERD. I wasn’t the star pupil either; I was just smart, doing really well without ever becoming the best. And then there were issues like beauty, status and image which I had to deal with especially in my teenage years.  Life at that time seemed like a popularity contest - one in which I was failing on so many levels.

This created a longing in me to be accepted, to fit the mold of what I believed was cool or en vogue.

I didn’t realize what many of us fail to see: we are all born to stand out but we spend so much time and energy trying to fit in.

Thankfully, I came to this realization sooner rather than later. ..

August 2006, I am seated in front of the radio after just hearing that I was first in my school at the national exams. I was still trying to digest the news when I heard my name as the top female performer in Cameroon…

In that moment I embraced my love for learning, I owned my NERDITY, I said NO to the enemy of self doubt and I said YES to self confidence and belief - even in the seemingly impossible.

In the seconds that ensued, I was able to look at myself in a new light for the first time - to see that I was capable of extraordinary things.

In that moment I came to a realization…one which led me to do arts in high school despite popular opinion that I should become a doctor, one which led me to the African Leadership Academy in Johannesburg South Africa instead of University College London and one which has led me to pursue my passion for social entrepreneurship and to Watson University.

This realization is what Marianne Williamson beautiful expresses thus:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others”.