Skip to main content

Little Voices

                                                                  
   “Little voices singing to me all day long
    Singing me beautiful songs of impending doom
    Singing me along to death;
    Beautiful tones of a thousand insecurities”
    VEE

They are always there, those voices; the ones that tell you the girl laughing across the room with her friends is laughing at you, the ones that tell you to slit your wrists because no one would care enough to notice anyway. It’s been long since I posted anything on this blog and it’s because of them. It’s really loud in here and they kept telling me no one would like whatever I write and I listened, I always listen to them, to whatever they have to say; when I stand in front of the mirror and tug at my extra skin, or when I attempt to answer a question, or when I fall in love.


And I know I’m not alone. Well, a lot of other people don’t get it, sometimes they say we’re needy or we just want attention and when we get distant, they get mad and say we’re grumpy for no reason. So, you let them believe whatever because how best can you explain seeing things that are not there and feeling you’ll never be good enough.


The sad part is you try to shut them out with music, therapy, daily affirmations and all but they never really go away. You’ll feel good for a while when you listen to something like Bird set free by Sia but it all  comes running back when you listen to Everything I wanted or Listen before I go by Billie. Dealing with mental illness is almost the same thing as being handicapped or blind but people don’t acknowledge that because it’s not something they can see.


The thing is I’m not here to tell you how to deal with it because I also don’t know how to. I’m as stuck as you are and if I knew how to, I’d be screaming it on the roof tops by now. The essence of this post is to let you know you’re not alone and you’re definitely not crazy. And to others who are not suffering from mental illnesses, the least you can do is to be kind, know when to talk and when to listen. And, also, try to understand that we’re trying to bring ourselves out of this mess. It’s not easy but we are really trying. Be kind and enjoy the rest of your week!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

LET’S TALK ABOUT BEING DIFFERENT

Being different springs from subtle things; it might be wanting to eat your hotdog with ketchup instead of the traditional mustard, it might be wanting to stay indoors to binge watch a Netflix series instead of going for a girls’ night, it might be wanting to play chess with your old neighbor when your friends go out to bar to check out hot girls, it could also be wanting to read really dark books instead of the “Billionaire boss romance collection” Staying different is a very hard thing in this world that glorifies normalcy. You have to try once in a while to explain why you read those books or why you listen to those songs or why you’d rather be alone, but no matter how hard you try to explain, they just don’t get it. Being weird and crazy and eccentric is all fun until you start getting left out, your friends stop calling you out even to your favorite shows because you’d rather show up with baggies and hoodies than strapless flashy blue gowns. You start asking yourself questions...

Against the Patriarchy

It is really sad that the average womxn has to spend most of her life pleasing others and she is not expected to take credit for this in any way. For centuries now, men and even boys have been given the upper hand while womxn are continuously treated like minorities. They are constantly taught shame and made to feel guilty for the body they didn't even ask for in the first place. So they tell them to wear clothes that cover them all over while men are allowed to shamelessly walk around in their boxer shorts. Womxn are told that having sexual desires equals being slutty but fathers keep buying condoms for their sons on the basis of "boys will be boys".  The entirety of the life of a womxn is planned and directed towards being a good wife and a good daughter in-law. Basic life skills are accustomed to a particular gender and the average man grows up to be entitled, needy and dependent because he has been told that it's only a womxn duty to do all the cooking and cleanin...

GROWING UP WITHOUT LOVE

There is always a vacuum in all of our hearts that we wish could be filled with the presence of someone or even people. And most times we wish that this space could be filled by our parents or by our siblings. This is not something we really experience as African kids especially teenagers. We seek comfort in the arms of strangers and we look for love in empty spaces because our parents don’t show us that. As a child, I didn’t know much about family bonds because no one showed me how it was meant to be. I got gifts; there was always a fancy dress for Christmas and nice shoes for my birthday. But, there was no connection whatsoever. Acting like a teenager is not something that is allowed in an African home. We are not told that we are good enough or that we can express our anger and fear. And so, as we enter our teenage years, we start to draw back, we start to put strains in the relationships we have with our parents most especially. Also, because we are not told that we are important...