The day I Confirmed How Good A Braider I am:

When I saw those “lines”.

To start off, live in Hong Kong; a well known city for a great variety of foreigners.

Among my clients are Tanzanians; they like calling cornrows, “lines”. I kind of imbibed it, I like so much how it sounds, hence why I used it in my subtitle_ a typical way of directly translating words from one’s local dialect to English! I do that a lot, lol.

I always knew I was a great braider, as I do get such compliments from people who see my work, and from my clients as well.

But for some reason, I still felt need for extra confirmation. I didn’t even know why; you know that way you feel when you write great stories or articles but still feel like other people’s writing stand out in better ways you are not even able to explain? Right.

That’s how I felt, even after over ten years of experience with braiding.

Fortunately, that completely changed this day that I met this guy on one of the busy streets of Tsim Sha Tsui, where I couldn’t tell who’s head I was looking at but overwhelmed only by the striking beauty of his braids, and how well they were braided. It was then that I told myself in my mind, “there are braiders, and there are braiders!” if you understand what I mean.

In a flash of this moment, sadly, I said to myself, “girl, you’re no where to be seen in this braiding industry”. I thought; exceptional people do exist in this field, but I obviously would never be among!

Little did know that those were my own hands, I mean my handiwork; I made his hair a few days before this very special meeting, only that I couldn’t recognize him at that point🙄, for my sight was captivated by the beauty of these braids.

You needed to have seen my head wiggle amid the crowd so I could clearly see these nicely done braids. It was after we moved closer, towards each other from opposite ends that I realized it was Francisco! He is one of my most loyal clients, I needed no confirmation that it’s my work.

However, this time I thought I needed to get absolute sure, so I complimented his braids in admiration; he responded, “it’s your magic!” . Obviously, I at this point recognised the pattern I made for him.

That moment, it felt like I had won a gold medal!

I felt butterflies in my belly!

I got the very confirmation that I always had but never accepted.

In summary: most times we are too hard on ourselves that we fail to appreciate how great the talents, and natural abilities we posses are, the way we should.

Now, in your writing journey, I would like you to learn from this experience in my story, that you believe in yourself much more than you do.

You have yourself first, as your confidence. Once you appreciate yourself well enough, it becomes more easier to appreciate people’s compliments towards you.

Thanks For Reading…