A Determined Black Woman

  The title of this blog post is a double entendre and we are going to explore both meanings. Firstly, it means embracing the actual colour of your skin. Secondly, it means embracing the fact that you are a black woman, no matter your skin colour.   For years, being black was shunned upon. Being black and dark in skin colour was even worse. Our ancestors walked through hell for us. They endured endless humiliation about their race, skin colour, hair, how they spoke & body features. The sad part is that all of this is still very much prevalent in present day South Africa. It might not be at the same extent, but it still does exist. 27 years later and we’re still subject to such discrimination.   We cannot control how and what other races think about us, but we can control how and what we think about ourselves. What we’re not going to do in 2021 is inflict self-hate because of other people’s opinions. We are BOLD. We are BEAUTIFUL. We are BRILLIANT. We are BLACK...

I am not sure if we’re still allowed to say ‘Happy New Year’ in February. Growing up in a black community means saying Happy New Year till about mid- February. So, Happy New Year my fellow Determinists. I hope you are all well, rested, vision boards are up and ready to take on the year. Living in a pandemic is something none of us had ever experienced before. It was and still is foreign. Trying to achieve the goals we had set for ourselves at the beginning of “20plenty” was an extreme sport. Some succeeded, some didn’t and that is perfectly fine. Being here, today & having survived 2020 is THE GOAL. My deepest condolences to everyone that lost a loved one last year, COVID-19 related or not. May your hearts be at ease.   Apart from losing so many I knew and loved last year, it is safe to say I had a good year. It was difficult, but good. I only had one goal at the beginning of last year and that was to pass my 2 nd year at University and I did just that. Adjusting to Onli...