Inspiration

I get a lot of emails and facebook messages from people who tell me that I inspire them with all my fashion work or something that I’ve written somewhere and I’m the last person to have own-toot-blowing tendencies so these emails are always very difficult for me to respond to because I’ve never done things for other people, so I struggle to know what to say, though they are much appreciated. I also get a lot of requests from magazines and media about my career and as much as I’m also a journalist, I usually have to answer the age old what inspires you question. And each time, I look for what’s keeping me up at night on that particular occassion.Tonight, it’s Lady Gaga’s live show on M-net. I forgot it was going to play mostly because I’m working and have the TV on as background noise but someone on Twitter reminded me that it’s playing.

I light up inside when I watch this girl, and I think that qualifies for something or someone inspiring me. A few years ago, she was on crappy reality shows hustling and never knowing when her break would come and in such a short space of time, she’s the biggest star in the world, and deserves all the credit she gets. When she talks between songs, it’s so clear that she is surprised by her own superstardom, which means she’s down to earth. Why am I writing about this? Because three years ago, like her, nobody knew or cared who I was, not that I’m a superstar. I was hustling like a street rat, at some point homeless and moneyless (my poor mom doesn’t know this) and living off the kindness of friends and the brutality of life. I always knew I was going to be fine though because against all odds, I had a vision of who and what I wanted to be.

Not to say that I’m there yet, but dreaming about nice things goes a long way. My friends still laugh at me because I like really nice and expensive things that I can’t afford, but I am controlled by the need to have it good, with good people and good things around me, a nice life with nice things. Everybody can have that if they want, it just depends how much they want ir. A friend of mine moved to Cape Town this week to start a new life. He only knows one person, has no job but he has gone to fulfil his dreams. He is super smart so I’m not worried that he will “make it”, all that matters is that he did this for himself. Goodluck Mla!

Now for my inspiration...