Permission to be human, please. People, when did it become so scary to make mistakes and change our minds and admit our flaws? I didn’t notice this so much in South Africa, but in the US I am constantly surprised by the resistance to admit that we are not perfect.

Listen, having flaws is as difficult as you make it. It can be absolutely terrifying, or it can be tolerable. It can even be, if you are like me, hilarious. A few months ago I was having a pretty difficult day: I was talking to one of my friend and she kept gently calling me out for being “mean” to myself. After my bad day, I thought back to what she said and realized that I lovingly disagreed with it. Replaying the voice notes I sent, I heard myself talking about my actions and thoughts that day and then making (honestly, hilarious) jokes about them. Not being mean, just admitting that I wasn’t my best that day and then being super funny about it. I think about that day every time I meet with a client who struggles with having flaws. Often it’s not even a flaw, it’s just something that their parent’s wouldn’t like or something different from what their Instagram algorithm is telling them is “normal”.

In a fantasy scenario of my preferred future, I wish for everyone to calm the fuck down and not take themselves so seriously. There is already so much fear in this country and in the world without us adding fear of not being “perfect.” My true belief is: if more of us allow ourselves permission to be human (i.e different, flawed, and if you are like me – hilarious), more people will feel brave enough to feel that permission too.

I’ll go first: Hi, I’m Steph, I am 35 and 75% grey. I have a belly and sometimes really don’t like my body. I am missing one of my back teeth and I feel embarrassed about that. I love my job, and I sometimes feel like an imposter when I look at all of my idols in this industry. I really want to start a podcast, but please see above (the impostor thing). I really miss my home country all the time. I am not particularly proud of my house, but I am proud to have house. I love music and I wish I was blessed with a singing voice (I am not).

And I am really funny

Ok, the end!