Being You Has Its Privileges

“Being me has its privileges.”

The above line is one of my favourite lines from a movie and was spoken by one of my favourite movie characters, Albus Dumbledore in the movie Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince. The lines were utter to Harry Potter on the Astronomy tower as a response to Harry's statement, "sir, I thought you couldn't apparate within Hogwarts”, to which Albus replies in his usual self-confident self, “well, being me has its privileges.” An impressive skill from a half-blood.

I wish I could say that of myself growing up but I wasn't like the other boys or kids. I never was the finest in the room (even though they say beauty is subjective), nor was I the smartest or the tallest. I was the kid with a strange name everybody pronounced wrongly and I came from a below-average family.

Do you know what that means? It means you get picked on and bullied by bigger boys like Ajaka. Many of these boys will be your classmates. It also means you get rejected by girls whose boyfriends or crushes aren't half as smart as you are. If I saved a dollar every time a girl tells me, "I can't be with a short man", I'd be a rich man in dollars by now. Story for some other day.

I remember crying home to my mother one day to change my name or better still, give me an English name (my dad gave me just one name at birth. LOL. Another story for some other day). Who names a child Tamara Etariemi? I wanted an English name like my younger brother. But indeed, Tamara e tari emi, God did love me. He gave me a smart woman as a mother who helped me fight my self-esteem issues.

Being me came with nothing. And I wanted to earn the right to speak like Albus. Or so I thought.

As the years went by (and they did rather quickly), I realised that being confident in one's self and ability is what matters more than what people think of someone. It always takes people a while to catch up and you can't blame them. The system is designed to keep many blind and you have to earn those strides.

For instance, the Warriors core didn't have a top 5 draft pick. They have one top 10 draft pick. From a natural standpoint, they are not the kind of team to win multiple championships but they had an overwhelming belief in themselves and their abilities. They had faith in who they were, what they could do, what they had to offer, and they were confident about it. They didn't let their draft numbers be the judge of that. Now, they've won 4 championships in 8 years (not without help though- piece for another day too).

Confidence in one's self is paramount to surviving in this “shithole” that's called life. In exuding confidence, sooner or later, one realises that "being me has its privileges" because despite what people have to say, you have something to offer.

Confidence in one's self and ability is the first step in dealing with low self-esteem. It is accepting who you are, having self-pride and being confident in your own skin knowing that you have a lot to offer the world.