My journey of becoming a writer; Winny Shokane

Firstly I learned that “not everyone is as comfortable as you are expressing your true feelings”.

I am not a natural self-disclosure at all, it took me so many years to realize my childhood dream of becoming a writer. Partly because I was afraid to write about my life in general and that people will judge me because I come from dusty streets of Joppie Village under the leadership of Headman Mavabaza & Daniel “Magomani” Baloyi, yet this was the subject i was drawn to.

Eventually my drive to write grew stronger that my fear after I’ve learned that “every journey has a secret destination of which the traveller is unaware of”, and I’ve never looked back and when time goes by I really got used to it. And really, it’s a, small price to pay for freedom of saying what you think and believe in.

Today i want to share this with our fellow citizens out there, because I often hear about people who burst in to life changing ideas but decline to share them and get help. Some have a feeling of being “called” to do certain things but not qualified, some dislikes the spotlight. Or maybe they fear others judging them and their work or maybe they are uncomfortable with self-promotion. Or perhaps they are afraid of failure as I was? Or being judged of their success? So listen, people will always talk, at some point you might feel discouraged; and in every journey of success there will always be questions of which some won’t get to reach your ears, but the thing is….Those ideas are worth sharing.

People fail because they think more about failure before they act. There have been times in my life before when I’ve gotten this deep-seeded sense, knowing it was time to change, time to move, time to act; and i stood up from that comfort zone. Few years back, when I started writing people started talking all the bad about my journey that it won’t even get me anywhere, “yes they were right with their thoughts because they knew more about my upbringing not the person i grew to be”; coming from underprivileged family did not stop me from thinking big about where I want to be in life. Life started to happen, things started to come together, most of my pieces of writing won many hearts and prizes on bigger publications like Daily Sun, Drum Magazine and Sowetan.

Sometimes our next step feels huge; and sometimes small. No matter the size, we can make it through life without facing a hurdle that need to be crossed. Often the things we are afraid to do are not only meant to make us braver, but they’re intended to help encourage others along the way.

I want you to know that I don’t tell you this story to bring any attention to myself, but instead, it is meant to encourage you as we all have a story to tell that could make a difference to someone along the way of life.

Article by: Winny shokane