Inspired by some strong ladies and women around me, including some books I read, especially GRIT by Angela Duckworth, I thought it was time to move out of my shell and reach out to the world to improve the well-being of adolescents. This resolution birthed live chats on Facebook and Instagram via Adolescent Health Hub.

For those that knew me very well back in my secondary school days and university, I dreaded standing in front of the class to talk, raising my hands to answer questions (even when I knew the response so well) or doing presentations. Just kill me right away rather than tell me to present. I stuttered when talking, and out of fright at times, my grammatical construct became messy and awful!

For someone who preferred to write rather than talk, it was a dreaded undertaking mixed with many self-doubts, uncertainties and little negative self-talk! Are you sure you want to start doing this? I asked myself repeatedly. You know you are very shy and timid, the voice kept ringing in my head. Moreover, who will you invite for the live chats? After all, you are not even an expert in this field, so why not just forget about it? You want to go and ridicule yourself, right? I could continue with that pessimistic self-talk that kept popping into my being.

But I chose to ignore it entirely (though the voice still keeps popping up) by immersing myself in the long-term vision and with the resolution that I needed a growth mindset. And also to move out of my comfort zone.

I started sending google forms to those who might want to feature to talk about any aspect of adolescent health. I gradually kick-started the live chats via Facebook and Instagram on the adolescent health hub platform. For those who followed the initial live chats, you might have noticed some awkwardness and shyness at the onset of this journey. After the initial ones, I almost wanted to give up, and that small unrelenting, and sceptical little voice jumped out again. Didn’t I tell you this was a bad idea in the first place? See what you have done to your integrity!

But I have remained firmly committed, and intentionally, I have not deleted those initial videos on the platform so that people can see that we aren’t all made up and perfect when we embark on our journey to success! Let them see the transformation, the growth, and the personal struggle and be motivated.

I have decided to continue this journey to expand my comfort zone and touch more lives meaningfully.

What have I learnt? Courage is not the lack of fear but your ability to control it. To grow, we need to take deliberate steps to leave our comfort zones, and by doing so, we expand our reach, learn, make mistakes, and get better. With constant practice, baby steps, self-appraisal and nudges and constructive criticism from our loved ones, that paradigm shift ensues, and exponential growth occurs right before us. It is an arduous journey, but one worth exploring for the benefit imbued.

And in doing so, you don’t even know who you might be inspiring alongside!

Lastly, I will conclude with one of my favourite quotes by Marianne Williamson “OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS NOT THAT WE ARE INADEQUATE, OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS THAT WE ARE POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE. IT IS OUR LIGHT, NOT OUR DARKNESS THAT MOST FRIGHTENS US. WE ASK OURSELVES, WHO AM I TO BE BRILLIANT, GORGEOUS, TALENTED, AND FABULOUS? ACTUALLY, WHO ARE YOU NOT TO BE? YOUR PLAYING SMALL DOES NOT SERVE THE WORLD. THERE IS NOTHING ENLIGHTENED ABOUT SHRINKING SO THAT OTHER PEOPLE WILL NOT FEEL INSECURE AROUND YOU. WE ARE ALL MEANT TO SHINE, AS CHILDREN DO. WE WERE BORN TO MAKE MANIFEST THE GLORY OF GOD THAT IS WITHIN US. IT IS NOT JUST IN SOME OF US; IT IS IN EVERYONE, AND AS WE LET OUR LIGHT SHINE, WE UNCONSCIOUSLY GIVE OTHERS PERMISSION TO DO THE SAME. AS WE ARE LIBERATED FROM OUR FEAR, OUR PRESENCE AUTOMATICALLY LIBERATES OTHERS!”

 Dr Dr Fatimah Odusote

First published: August 22 2020