Living Beyond Anxiety: My Journey Back to Myself
Charlotte Mugabe 9 September 2026 There was a time when anxiety became the centre of my life. I never imagined that something I had heard people casually talk about as “worry” could become so overwhelming. For me, anxiety was not simply feeling nervous or stressed. It affected my thoughts, my body, my confidence, my relationships…
The Psychology Behind “Main Character Syndrome”
Stella Moll 9 September 2026 What Is Main Character Syndrome? Picture yourself walking down a busy street with your headphones on, music playing, convinced, just for a moment, that your life has a soundtrack. Everyone around you becomes part of the scenery, and you are at the centre of the story. Welcome to “main character…
The Biggest Condom Is a Dream: Inside a Nurse-Researcher’s Search for What Really Shapes Teen Choices
Thabisile Gumede 7 September 2026 When Marthie Hauptfleisch sat down to analyse the responses of hundreds of Grade 11 and 12 learners for her Master of Nursing Science research, one number stopped her cold. Almost every young person in her study understood the basics of sexual health. Yet only 27% reported using contraception. The facts…
Book Review: Living Beyond Anxiety by Charlotte Mugabe
There is a particular kind of silence that surrounds mental illness in many African churches – the silence of believers who are suffering but afraid that naming their struggle will be read as a failure of faith. Living Beyond Anxiety speaks directly into that silence. Charlotte Mugabe, founder of the Botswana-based platform “All Things Anxiety…
The Library of the Self: How Books Became a Path to Healing
Thabisile Gumede 4 September 2026 On 30 August, ten women gathered on a sunlit veranda at the Mazisi Kunene Museum in Durban, mats rolled out beside stacks of books, for an experiment Zenzele Book Festival founder Andiswa Mpulo had been carrying in her heart for years: what happens when we treat reading as seriously as…
The Day I Realised Life Was Worth Living
Kgomotso Molefe 1 September 2026 There was a turning point in my life that I will never forget. I had reached such a dark place that I attempted to end my life. I was alone and became unconscious for hours. The people I lived with could see that I was very unwell, but nobody took…
Who Are You Without Your Trauma – Exploring Identity After Healing
Stella Moll 26 August 2026 There is a strange silence that can arrive after healing. For so long, your story may have been organised around what happened to you: what you survived, what it cost you, and how you learned to keep going. Then, slowly, the crisis quietens. The memories remain, but they no longer…
Ukuzivocavoca Njengoba Ukhula
Thembelihle Zwane 24 August Kungazwakala sengathi utshelwa nsuku zonke ngezinzuzo zokuzivocavoca nokuthi kungakusiza kanjani, ikakhulukazi ekuphileni isikhathi eside nangenjabulo. Kodwa iqiniso ukuthi njengoba ukhula, umzimba wakho uyaguquka. Ukuzivocavoca uneminyaka engu-30 kungase kube ngokuhluke kakhulu kunokuzivocavoca uneminyaka engu-50. Njengoba ukhula, ungase uqale ubone umehluko phakathi nangemva kokuzivocavoca – ekuguqukeni komzimba, izicubu zomzimba, amandla, kanye nokulingana kwawo….
Uyini Umqondo Wokuzibophezela?
Thembelihle Zwane 20 August 2026 Yini ocabanga ngayo lapho uzwa igama elithi “ukuzibophezela”? Kwabaningi, leli gama lidala umuzwa ongemuhle, lapho uzizwa ucindezelwe ukuba wenze into. Mhlawumbe uzizwa ungathandi ukuyoqedela umsebenzi othile, lokho okuzibophezela okuye kwaguqulwa kwaba yinkinga. Nokho, njengengxenye ebalulekile yomphakathi, ukugcwalisa izibopho kwabanye kungaba nenzuzo, hhayi kuphela kubona, kodwa nakuwe. UJuliet Wakefield, isazi sesayensi…
How I Discovered I Was Living With Depression
Kgomotso Molefe 19 August 2026 I grew up in an environment that was deeply toxic. As a child, I watched my father physically abuse my mother. Sometimes my siblings and I were too frightened to help her. There were nights when we hid in a room, terrified he would come through the door and hurt…
