My name is Sonia Brown from Nigeria. I'm in my twenties and I love writing. My passion for writing was probably triggered by loneliness. Yea! I grew up in a lonely environment as I had spent my childhood living with my grandparents in the village.
We lived in an ostracized building and I hated staying there. My mum gave birth to me while she was unmarried so when she got married to another man she couldn't take me along with her. They lived in the city while I felt abandoned at my grandparents house. Initially, I tried relating with them but my grandma was so strict. She would punish me for every little mistake I made. I missed my mom alot and each time I wrote a letter to her so she could come pick me up, she never showed up.
Living with my grandparents came along with its challenges. Aside the loneliness which resulted to depression, I had to deal with fear. Yes! As a child, I often heard strange voices that made me feel our house was haunted. Many times, I tried sharing my fears with my grandma but she didn't believe me and told me that those ghosts only existed in my imagination. When my mom visited, I shared my fears with her but she also didn't believe me. They had concluded that I was only cooking up stories so I could relocate to the city. I remember contemplating on suicide but I'm glad I didn't give in to those thoughts.
As time went by, I found a friend who listened and believed all that I said. She loved me so much and we became inseparable. That friend was my diary. I had named her Cheryl. Day and night, I wrote down all my thoughts and listened as she spoke to me through a gentle and consoling voice. She was more of an imaginary friend. I remember each time I looked into the mirror, I saw her smiling at me. Being friends with her helped me develop my writing skills and I wasn't feeling lonely anymore.
Actually, Cheryl was replaced when I fell in love with Sam. I was sixteen then. I was so addicted to him and he often kept me busy with his speeches. He was such an excellent orator. Sam taught me how to make friends and share my ideas. All of a sudden, the once shy girl became an extrovert. Well, at that time my environment had changed as I had moved to college and there were many lovely people around.
I studied Behavioral Psychology in college and currently work as a counselor. My passion is to reach out to kids and young adults going through emotional distress. Are you aware that a good number of people who look happy and successful actually feel a great emptiness inside? To fill up the void, they resort to social vices such as drunkenness and drug abuse but still don't find happiness. This has been the cause of increased suicide rate amongst young people.
As a Psychologist, I give my clients tangible reasons why they should live healthily and happily. I love discussing relationships and I love weddings. Yea! I haven't turned down a wedding invitation in the past.
What are my beliefs?
I believe in love and freedom. We only have one life to live so each day should be enjoyed to the fullest. Be happy, show love, be free, and be strong. Whenever I encounter life's challenges, I don't let them weigh me down because I know they aren't meant to last forever.
How did I hear about Steemit?
Well, a friend told me about it sometime last year so I decided to sign up so I can make a positive impact on my audience. I look forward to following great minds and learning from them too. Finally, I hope to make new friends and enjoy the time spent over here.
Hi Sonia, welcome to steemit.
Steemit is a vast platform with so many knowledge, good people, exceptional people, professionals, etc.
Just try to interact and socialize with people, share ur stories ur skills, opinions, ideas, etc.
You'll sure enjoy your stay here.
And oh! try running around and understand how things work here. Ask questions and you'll get feedbacks.
Once again, you're welcome
Hello @soniasblog
Its a good thing to have you here on Steemit.
We have a wonderful community here, were people from all over the world fit in perfectly.
Your introductory post made me sad in a way, but overall i got to know you better and am happy.
Welcome to Steemit... i'll be looking out for more of your post :)
Happy Steeming
Hello sweetie and welcome to the community ♥☺
Thank you so much.
Welcome! you have quite a story!
Thank you...
Hi Sonia how are you? Really nice intro, i love it - and welcome on Steemit ! I’m a new steemit user as well and would like to connect with other cool steemians, artists and musicians. I’m posting music tutorials and other things related to music (and bitcoins:p). I’m the founder of the free music school communicasound. I'm really pleased to meet you. So i give you my vote, follow you and i will be happy to read your next posts in the futur. If you want, you can do the same and follow me. It’s important to have a family in Steemit :) Greetings from Paris. Peace.
welcome to the era of freedom
Welcome to Steemit! I hope you get everything you want in your career and from Steemit. Ive found SteemFollower to help with gaining more likes on your posts. https://steemfollower.com/?r=11483
Welcome to Steemit and nice intro post. Thank you for giving back to the world with your profession, we can always use more doctors in this world.
I am also a new user and learning how steemit works. Follow me @byzantinehash and upvote my intro post if you like it.
If you are interested in crypto currency be sure to watch for new posts. I just made my first post on a series I am about to begin: https://steemit.com/cryptocurrency/@byzantinehash/easy-to-mine-cryptocurrency-series-volume-1 don’t forget to upvote if you like it.
Thank you
Hey smashing pumpkin girl, I'm Oatmeal Joey, and you are beautiful and smart and lovely and cool and I grew up in a broken home and my parents divorced but there are rainbows at ends of storms and we are light in a dark world and I agree with you and I believe in love and life and freedoms and choices and destiny and joy and laughter too in the mist of mysteries and adventures and beauty.
Nice to meet you.
Welcome @soniasblog
Glad u are here... u'll surely make a lot of friends :)
Thank you
Welcome sonia.. glad to read and know about your younger days. Cheryl, sam and grandparents. 😀
@soniasblog, You are such a lovely person, inside and out. I'm so sorry that you had such a difficult and lonely childhood. It must have hurt a lot that nobody would believe you as a child. Even though you went through all of that you came out victorious because you have used your childhood experiences to give you compassion and understanding which you are sharing with others in need. Yours is not a wasted life, but a vital source of freedom and change. I applaud you for being a woman of such strength and courage.
I am seeing this article too late to upvote and resteem it, but I will include this article as one of my daily post promotions for the @mitneb Curation Trail Project. It will be featured in the @mitneb Curation Trail Project Daily Report for 22 FEB 2018. Thanks for already joining my Discord Server. I'm following you now.
Cheers!