O jewa ke eng?

Social media works hard at making the world everyone’s oyster.

I learned about a southern Africa language, Setswana, spoken in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. Wikipedia says about 5 million people speak the language, but thanks to Twitter, a certain phrase has broken borders and is familiar to over 5 million people.

O jewa ke eng?

For a 240-character enabled platform, this 14 character tweet has appeared in different threads, and revealed a very important truth. Mental health is assumed to take care of itself.

I didn’t count how many threads, or versions sprouted from that one question, but the honesty and sadness in the responses alarmed me.

O jewa ke eng? What’s eating You? What’s troubling You?

First time I saw that tweet and learned it’s meaning, I read it in a soft voice. Like the one enquiring really cared what response came, and was not moved by the façade that aal izz well.

I bet it hit a good number of people in the same way, hence the reactions under the tweet.

So often, we assume that our family (this is beyond blood and name ties), our tribe are also living their best life and forget that we all have access to the same life. Typical nature of life is to have ups and downs… at the downs, it eats at us, and one known effective remedy is care.

Self care.

No need to be looking outside, for something that can be internally generated. The mind and body is not like the universe that finds a way to purify and renew self. It’s a conscious mental activity.

It’s in words of positive affirmation.

It’s in exuding great vibes.

It’s in protecting your personal space. In this era of social media and being easily accessible, you consciously build walls to preserve your privacy. It can be as simple as protecting your accounts.

It’s in managing the content you consume. No knowledge is a waste they say, but don’t be a dumping ground for content creators.

Find joy in little things. Eat ice cream, and lick the trickles down your hand. Snooze while getting a pedicure. Lie in the dark and have conversations with yourself.

The replies to O jewa ke eng proved that we are walking about with more baggage than necessary. There’s hardly a chance that you will be able to fix what’s done and broken.

Own the sadness and overcome it.

This too shall pass, only if you let it.

Peace & Happiness (always),

Jemjem

Not all wounds are visible.

I am one of those people who see depression as a far-far destination. Like how does something this minor break you so bad.
But I forget sometimes and have to remind myself, “Slippers get size”
If anyone says a matter is hurting them, instead of disproving this, perhaps we can try to find ways to offer relief? maybe?
Faith found a way to explain why as plainly as possible. I thought I’d appreciate the effort and spread the much needed awareness.
Bises.

Phaytea's Pulse

You can never really tell where it hurts….

Over the weekend, I read about the case of a man who told his driver to stop abruptly on a bridge, after which he got down from the vehicle and plunged into the lagoon immediately . He was reportedly taking a call when this happened. He was a doctor.

I screamed!!!!

This is just one out of the numerous cases that happens around the world. We hear about some and others are blown away with the wind. This is an intense piece for me as I cannot begin to imagine what transpires within those nano seconds before ……. (dark space).

August Alsina’s song ‘Nobody Knows’ comes to mind. Nobody really knows the pain behind that smile…..

We only see the surface and assume we are all fine. The flashy cars, picture perfect lifestyle, fancy job titles, pictures of vacations and lunch at…

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