Ozonḓu Chronicles: Busy Being Strong

Namibians are tired.

Not the kind of tired that sleep fixes, but the kind that comes from carrying life quietly. Carrying bills, expectations, families, broken relationships and dreams that keep being postponed.

And what makes it even more striking is that it is only February. We have barely returned from the holidays, the schools have just reopened, the year has just started finding its rhythm, yet the exhaustion is already creeping in.

We wake up early, fight traffic, queue at banks, stretch salaries and still show up smiling like everything is fine.

Somewhere along the way, being “strong” became our personality.

Men are expected to provide even when they are drowning. Women are expected to hold homes together even when love is missing. If you complain, you are told others have it worse. So you swallow your pain and keep going.

But constantly surviving is not living.

We have normalised struggle so much that peace feels foreign. A calm relationship feels boring. A soft life feels unrealistic. Chaos has become familiar, and familiar has become comfortable.

So we stay in jobs that drain us.

We stay in relationships that hurt us.

We stay in situations we have outgrown.

All because starting over feels scary.

Yet some of the people who exude peace are the ones who choose not to be normal – they are the ones who chose change.

The woman who left a toxic marriage and rebuilt her life. The man who walked away from a job that was killing his spirit and started again. The young people choosing peace over pressure.

Strength is not only enduring.

Sometimes strength is leaving.

Maybe the new Namibian dream is not just survival, but stability of the heart, mind and home.

Because life is already hard.

Love and daily living should not make it harder.

Until next time, this is Ozonḓu Chronicles.