I’ll start by saying this: it was my birthday on the 18th of July.

 

I think I started celebrating right from the beginning of the month — if not the end of last month. And honestly? I’ve been unapologetic about it. This spin around the sun has been intense, illuminating, and at times deeply confronting. There’s a lot to reflect on, a lot to give thanks for, a lot still to dream, affirm, and manifest.

 

They say you are nobody until somebody loves you. I don’t know who said it, but I’ve been sitting with that phrase. Turning it over. Questioning its implications.

 

There’s a school of thought that says we shouldn’t need anyone’s validation. That wholeness should come from within. That we must be #Unshakable in our truth — whether the world claps for us or not. I believe in that. Deeply.

But I also believe this: There’s something profoundly human about being loved out loud. To be celebrated not for perfection, but for presence. For showing up as you are — tender, flawed, healing, real. For simply surviving. For still trying. For spinning around the sun one more time.

 

This birthday, I felt it. Not performatively — but in the marrow of my bones. Love poured in like a tidal wave. Messages. Prayers. Gestures. Photos. Laughter. Care. The kind of love that makes you pause mid-text and place your hand over your heart. The kind that brings tears to your eyes, not because you’re sad — but because you’re seen.

 

And that’s when it hit me: This is what worthiness feels like. Not perfection. Not applause. Not metrics. But love that meets you exactly where you are — and stays. Love that doesn’t ask you to shrink, prove, polish, or perform. Love that says, “You… just like this… are enough.” We spend so much of our lives trying to earn our worth. Through achievements. Beauty. Hustle. Obedience. Silence. We contort ourselves to be easier to love.

 

But worthiness isn’t earned. It is remembered. Reclaimed. Re-rooted. And perhaps the loudest declaration of self-worth isn’t a speech — It’s allowing yourself to be loved without resistance.

 

That was my gift this year. Not material. Not flashy. Just presence. And proof. Proof that I am loved in abundance, not because I tick boxes, but because I show up with a heart wide open.

 

And maybe that’s the secret: To be loved out loud reminds us that we were never invisible to begin with. In the past, I have doubted myself. I have wondered if I was too much. Or not enough. But now, I’m learning this: The people who truly see you will never make you feel hard to love. And so — I made a decision.

 

For a long time, I gave certain people grace. I told myself maybe they do love me, but… Maybe they’re just not good with words. Maybe they’re busy.

 

Maybe they don’t know how to show it. But here’s what I know now: If you ever have to wonder whether it’s love — it’s not.

 

If your instinct is screaming that something is off — something is off. If you have to shrink yourself to fit into someone else’s idea of love, it’s not love. If you’re constantly making excuses to explain away confusion, disconnection, or silence — it’s not love.

 

The people who love you will not make you feel unsure. Stick with the ones who make it easy to be seen. Stick with the ones who hold you in your fullness.

 

Stick with the ones who love you out loud. And in return, I’ve made a vow: If I love you — you will know it. You will feel it. You will hear it. Because love isn’t something I hide in corners anymore. It’s too beautiful a feeling to whisper.

So here I am, standing in my enough-ness. Not perfect. But so enough. And because I recognise my own self-love now,

I can detect the absence of love like a change in temperature —and I no longer negotiate with scarcity.

 

The people I choose. The spaces I stay in. The energy I exchange — all of it is filtered through one question: Does this feel like love? And if the answer is no, I walk away. Without guilt. Without justification. Because worthiness means never begging for what should flow freely.

 

And as for this journey I’ve been on — this voice I’ve been growing, this brand I’ve been nurturing… it is not fuelled by algorithms or gimmicks. It’s slow. It’s steady. It’s real.

 

The voice of #Unshakable is rising alongside me, not in a rush, but with reverence. It’s being built not for virality, but for legacy. Not for hype, but for impact. For truth that lasts.

 

For strength that echoes. For a message that may live long after I’m gone. And that, too, is worthiness. To believe what you create matters. To trust that it’s enough — because you are.

 

So here’s to those who remind us of our worth when we forget.  Here’s to the messages, the prayers, the “you matter” moments in our lowest hours.  Here’s to the mirror moments when we whisper:

“I may not have it all figured out… but I’m still here. Still worthy. Still enough.” Here’s to love — the kind that doesn’t just tell you that you are worthy, but helps you believe it.

 

‘See’ you next week.

Sally Chiwuzie
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IG Handle: @unshakable.is.a.state.of.mind