Uganda Olemwa

A while ago,a journalist friend asked,”why don’t you write commentaries, I love your perspective and writing”. In my head, I was thinking, like really. I was almost becoming a journalist on job about 7 years ago , I used to do a Radio Talkshow and write opinions as well at the time, I wanted to write about everything that is happening in the world/ country. Nowadays I have taught myself that I don’t have to opine on everything. Uganda Olemwa is a hashtag used to ridicule the Social Political Happenings. Some folks have given the Uganda Conversation a break. I think starting now, I should formulate my theory with the underlying assumptions. I’m reminded of the concept of Self preservation and it is the reason you will be reading less political commentary from me. As earlier written, let me flirt with expressive writing and we see . Commentary can be depressing, wanting to write about everything or becoming the world expert on topical issues sometimes taking a break is good for the mental health. There are emerging social issues like vaccine access which are more fulfilling to write about. I have joined the cynical kind who say, Uganda olemwa.It is no hope no change in my country for me.I have better things to vent on than National Issues.

One of the hardest things I’ve learned and mastered over the past few months is self-preservation. I used to struggle with focusing on my own well-being, because I couldn’t differentiate between self-preservation and selfishness. I felt guilty about even wanting to withdraw from participating or writing about social ills facing our country and continent. It felt wrong. Self-serving. I wanted to help everyone everywhere, to write about every issue everywhere, to participate in every protest everywhere…

But as I grow older, I am beginning to value the importance of not being in a perpetual state of being active in everything. We take on so much that we don’t even realise when our backs are being broken. We fight so hard that we never pause to inspect our own battle wounds. We are afraid to want to prioritise ourselves because we were taught that we must always place everyone first, that to make ourselves a priority in our own lives is an act of selfishness.

And yet it’s so important that we take care of ourselves, that we create our own little paradises where we can go to find our own peace, even when the world around us may be bleeding . Because the truth is, we can’t change the world – we can only change the spaces that we occupy…