In response to this week’s discover challenge –  I would like to share with others a piece of advice I received from someone back in high school.

“Stop running from your shadow”. She called me alone to say just that short sentence to me which I pondered on for a pretty long time without actually accepting the truth behind it.

Back in high school I was someone I would say was POPULAR without a particular reason, I just didn’t get it, I never understood the logic behind my popularity. I was a very simple, level headed lady in school, I loved to be alone but unfortunately for me people loved me, they wanted to be friends with me, they wanted me to lead them, guess what I hated all these with a passion 😏, I felt it was too much of a burden for me to carry, all I wanted was my peace, just a few friends, study and go home to my best friend (Television).

It was that way for me all through my years of studying, and until I got my first job, it was still staring right into my face, people wanted to be like me, listen to me, do as I do, seriously I never understood it. Until I met someone else again who told me to just be myself and face my fears. I sat myself down to review the path of life I had lived and was living, I realized that I had been lucky, I would have lost a lot due to my insecurity and shadow fear 😊😊

Now I can face my fears, I can face responsibilities, I realized I didn’t need to be best of friends with all these people but to be attentive to their feelings, now I talk to them, I listen, I don’t mind if they wish to do as I do, I love making people smile. My colleagues love to dress the way I dress, up to my hairstyle, and really I have more confidence now, I encourage them, I give them tips on dating and fashion, I have also learnt not to take things personally due to my emotions. The benefit of all this is that it has opened doors of opportunities for me. My accepting my shadow has promoted me to an upstanding individual. I’m blessed that it wasn’t too late for me to come to terms with it.

My piece of advice based on my pervious experience is to never run from your shadow.