Excerpt-Hope Rising by Ratidzo Mutizwa
......Guard your heart. It's the part of you that defines you. It is your soul, your spirit, your fire. Our being is what gives us that sense of fight, that inexplicable joy and that deep sense of emotion we often do not even know we possess until it spews out everywhere. As such, it is of vital importance how we handle our spirit, our soul. The human spirit is often broken by exposure to hurt, abuse and shame at the hand of others. Too often we encounter those life altering moments that break our being and either convert us into something else or stop us dead in our tracks for better or for worse. A few examples. Having a coach who believes in a particular athlete has been cited as one of the greatest catalysts for professional athletes who go on to break records. The encouragement converts often cable but unaware athletes into superstars. Constant discouragement, emotional abuse and negative pull-downs from a partner, teacher or mentor has caused many individuals to abandon certain careers and focus on smaller more achievable goals that guarantee they don’t mess up.
Cases of mental and physical abuse similarly often have an impact on those directly affected. Guard your spirit- guard you mind and heart. Guard what you accept to influence you. Don’t become prey to the actions of others or even events that lie out of your control. Guard your heart. Be careful what you allow people to say to you about yourself, be careful what they do to you. If you can see that someone is on a warpath to tear you down in a subtle but persistent way do not continue to allow him or her access to you. They are fully allowed to continue tearing you down in your absence – its none of your business. Seek a safe space because You matter- Guard your heart.
This article is posted in honour of 16 Days of Activism against gender based violence.
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