They say love yourself because no one will love you better than you, but in this case there’s a young lady named Tumelo who lacks self-love.

Tumelo is in deep pain, as pain has been a part of her life. She has faced far more painful upbringings than anyone she knows. She has lost too much, not even to mention the loss of her dear mother and her beloved little sister at the age of five years old.

Tumelo has had failures and disappointments in her lifetime. She has fallen thousands of times and keeps on failing to stand up. Life has pounced her down, but she has managed to stand still with her head held high as a rising moonlight in every afternoon.

She hates the world for failing her. Each night she sheds tears and moans inside her brain. Nothing has had an upright ongoing in her life. Despite her achievements academically, it does not fill the void of a mother’s love.

Tumelo is raised by a family that reveals the worst of her. A family that is in charge of every tear Tumelo sheds in her sleep. She stays with a family that does not have love for an orphan.

Each and every day Tumelo endures all types of misery. She is repeatedly told how useless and worthless she is by her very own family. She weeps every time when such words are spoken unto her.

No one feels her pain or even tries to give her motherly love that is filled with warmth and care. She desperately needs help and seeks the truthful warmth of being loved on the inside. Her case is very saddening for my own thoughts to bear.

It pains her to see how her peers treat their parents, whilst she would sacrifice everything she has just to have parents like everyone else. She aspires to be happy and to have a family that loves, cares and supports her throughout her life.

Tumelo has passed matric exceptionally well, but she endures the pain of a gap-year, an unplanned one. Her family constantly throws rocks at her, yet she has no shield to protect her other than herself.

She has no parent, no sibling or even a friend that can help her through life journey of suffering. She’s floating in her own teary river. She has a care free father who is forever absent in her life.

Nothing makes sense to her. She doesn’t understand the term “love” because she has never experienced it throughout her childhood. She has never felt the warmth of love throughout her life journey.

She’s one tough lady that still lacks self-love, self-esteem, self-respect, self-empowerment and self- discipline. Her family sees her as a ruthless and disregarded child that doesn’t respect culture and elders. But they fail to understand that you are what you attract. If they had respect for other people, Tumelo wouldn’t have had a hard time implementing respect towards them. After all, she is what they made her to be.

They forget that they’ve made her the way she is, they’ve moulded her in self-doubt and insecurity. This family has made a monster out of Tumelo; they have devalued her soul by millions of insults.

In short, I conclude that this family has presented past, present and likely future misery in her life. There’s no changing that, as they’ve destroyed an innocent soul throughout its lifetime of living. They’ve also killed her fighting spirit for the near future.

Tell us: Do you believe the words of someone else can influence the way you see yourself?