UDAAN 2- Session 3

July 24,2021

 

UDAAN is a virtual program created especially for youths of different mindsets and backgrounds. We aim to create a safe space for youths where they come together to share their emotions, feelings, experiences and stories. This space helps them to grow as individuals by creating a platform to be themselves, talk about their issues and find solutions to their problems.

UDAAN is facilitated by Lokopakar. Lokopakar is an organization dedicated to youth development. We currently have 4 programs: Strength TogetHER, UDAAN, Margadarshan and Episodes.

On July 24, we had a session on "Self Love is Not Selfish" moderated by Ms. Nishma Gautam. Nishma is the co-host of Pothi Baseko Podcast dedicated to stimulate dialogues on socio-cultural perspective. As a proud feminist, she likes to discuss feminist discourses in her podcast and her blog articles. She is also a prominent debater of Nepal who has won several national tournament and represented Nepal in world championships and other international tournaments as a debater, adjudicator and a coach.

 

We had four speakers for the session.

 

-Our first speaker shared an inspiring story of her growing from shy kid to confident person. She was bullied for her grey hair. Her friends used to poke her telling her about an old lady which eventually led her thinking she wasn't enough. As the phases in her life she realized that being different was not her problem but the ones who saw her different were. She shared that now she is confident in herself and her hair.

 

-Our second speaker shared how he converted others' jokes into his strength. He was made fun of for his stage fright during a speech competition. He took them so seriously that he practiced for the next competition looking in the mirror. He says that he can deliver any kind of speech in a mass. He said that loving oneself and working on self development is the best way of enjoying life.

 

-When everyone sees your weakness, work on your strength. The first sentence of our third speaker made us realise how much she was and how much she was confident in herself. She says that loving oneself is the greatest way of developing. Once in her school drama, she was appointed to the role of Gautam Buddha. Due to the attire of the set, her skinny body was made fun by her own friends. This became her greatest nightmare and she started dieting to gain weight. Also mental pressure led her to degrade her studies and self-confidence. At last she said that she realized that her body was her greatest gift. and no one can make it look useless.

 

-Our fourth speaker shared her journey from being ashamed of her misplaced teeth to making it her weapon to work hard. She is now a very proud and confident girl and says that self-love changed her way of living. Once she was even afraid to approach people and mass. She even made space with friends in her class. She was furious about her misplaced teeth. But now she says that people judge her by her capability and not by how her teeth look.

 

After hearing all of us, our moderator made us realize the importance of self-love and how it should be the weapon of every one of us to overcome our fear and failures. She even shared her stories about her being familiar to some of our stories.

She said some people equate self-love with selfishness. But that’s not true.

When you think this way, it becomes hard to take good care of yourself. Delete that limiting belief from your mind. The good news is when you love yourself fully you feed your soul and become the highest version of yourself.

It feels natural to take good care of your body, mind, and spirit.

Love begets love so you’re drawn to give to others. You have the energy to give and in turn, giving energizes you.

 

We were very happy and fortunate to listen to her and each other. The program successfully ended with the presence of about 20 participants. Looking forward to more wonderful sessions. Written By - Aashish Baraily (Chapter Coordinator)