THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
We begin today the serialisation of Vienna, Austria-based writer Sarah Udoh-Grossfurthner’s new book Who are you, if you are not YOU? Over the next 12 weeks, we will publish extracts from the book, her 12 tips on how to become the best version of you.
Sarah introduces her book:
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Introduction
Living authentically is the most significant value we can add to our lives. It is akin to celebrating Christmas, or any of your other favourite holidays, every day, complete with a one-of-a-kind, lovingly wrapped present.
But authenticity takes courage: the courage to be unapologetically YOU.
Many of us would like to live that way.
We want to live true to ourselves, to be authentic. But we don’t. Why not? Because we are afraid of what others think if we suddenly refuse to conform and stop being what they expect us to be.
We want to eliminate all that peer pressure, ignore what others think, and just be ourselves. But we have lived too long in the shadows of our fears, allowing them to shackle us, to hold us back. And because of that, many of us are secretly unhappy, despite appearances to the contrary. We are afraid to admit this, even to those closest to us.
We lack confidence and inner joy.
We feel unable to move forward or backwards because of the emotional baggage we carry: emotional baggage put upon us by ourselves, by our family or by cultural and societal norms and family expectations. But most especially, by ourselves.
And now we feel stuck, spectators in a life that’s a far cry from what we envisaged for ourselves long ago when we were young, carefree, stupid maybe, but not afraid of dreaming. Certainly not afraid of dreaming to “become.”
We are well and truly shackled, and we know it. And we don’t know how to get out of it.
Or so we believe…
What if we could lose those shackles and live our authentic selves?
Have you ever wondered what that would feel like?
This pocketbook gives you the tools to do just that: to become your authentic selves, with no frills, no pretences, no apologies.
The 12 Tips are designed to help you overcome fears, gain confidence and find inner joy.
Enjoy!
From me, with love,
Sarah Udoh-Grossfurthner
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About the Author
Sarah Udoh-Grossfurthner is a Nigerian-born writer of poetry and prose whose work covers the highs and lows of the human heart. Her publications include BUT HE CALLS ME BLESSED: When the Unbelievable Happens to Believers; THE OLD WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO DIE; JUST AND ORDINARY GUY; PATHWAYS OF LIFE, as well as a feature in TIME magazine. Sarah’s poem “Mirror Image” was converted into the theme song for a Nigerian breast cancer awareness concert organised by Betty Irabor (publisher of the women magazine Genevieve) in 2005. Sarah is also the co-editor of Payback and Other Stories, an anthology of African and African Diaspora short stories spearheaded by the University of Vienna, African Studies Department. Sarah holds a BA (Hons) in Diplomatic Studies and MA in Professional Writing from University College Falmouth, Cornwall.
The author is also the creator of: From Fearful To Fierce, a memoir of a woman, who was abused, bullied and told she was worthless and would never amount to anything. Find out more about From Fearful to Fierce at https://linktr.ee/Sudohgrossfurthner
Sarah, a mother of two ‘super-awesome’ (her words) children, lives in and writes from Vienna, Austria.
