Nabuguzi. Kiwanuka
This journal is a letter to my younger self. It won’t be an emotional one that starts with “Dear…” but a draw back to the person I was. I do not want to give my younger self advice to be any different from who she was. The stages and phases of that person, even in the days of gloom, have proved to be necessary to the person I have turned into. Of course, some things that I had to carry on my shoulders in silence still jerk my tears, but I am also grateful that my feet are no longer stuck in that mud.
When I started working on this journal, somewhere around March last year, my focus was to advocate for the children the past podcast guests were. I think I chose to first bury my own experiences because I feared that tailoring stuff around my story may make it impossible for other people to relate, but the truth is that, in the guests’ stories – even with how different the facts are – is a younger version of myself that didn’t know better.
Nothing about:
- Setting boundaries,
- Understanding emotions,
- Identifying Stressors and Healthy Coping Strategies
- knowing my worth
For the exploration of strengths and weaknesses, I tried, but was never really big on my strengths. In fact, I often overlooked (downplayed) them and looked for something else to learn.
A career and success plan? I also tried because joining boarding school made me realise that there were really rich parents – something that my mother wasn’t. I asked my friends often what jobs their parents did.
Had I explored a journal like this, I wouldn’t have found myself in a friendship that led me to a psychiatric prescription and later in life catch myself contemplating suicide over a love relationship.
Looking closer at these book covers, I’ve noticed that they represent 3 phases of my life. The tomboy, the one trying to be more girly and the one who learned to appreciate my African roots – all while battling emotions I couldn’t name.
The journal is for the current teen, and it goes out at UGX. 65K and Kshs. 2699.
MoMo Pay-198023 | Airtel Pay-4358501 OR Kenyans and the world over Order via Nuria-Your Store.
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