MUNA: A Woman’s Quest for Discovery

Who is a woman? This is one of those questions that has continually baffled the human race. The reason being outside of the fact that a woman is the female gender, the dictionary seems to not be able to offer any additional insight into who a woman is really.

You have most likely heard the jokes, all those lines in movies and real life that proclaim that women are the most complicated beings who ever lived. Science seems to support this theory with statistics like women are more prone to emotional display than their male counterparts and so on. It now becomes this great mystery because we can not just comprehend how they think and why they do the things they do.

I got started on this topic after listening to a recently released single by Munachi Blessed called Muna. The song basically chronicles a woman’s journey in the world and her fight to ensure that nothing defines her except herself. In a world of stereotypes and expectations, it can be a really gruelling battle.

From the moment you can tell your left from your right, you begin to hear all sorts of things about yourself that you had never initially considered. A lady doesn’t do this and a lady doesn’t do that or a lady must not act a certain way and so you find yourself having to contend between two options. You either conform to society’s expectations or you rebel and do the exact opposite which if you think about it, is only a way to get back at society and not actually living the life that you really want.

But, there’s a third, less-trod upon path, and it is where you decide to be the woman you want to be (a line straight out of the song I might add). The world tells you “If you can’t beat them, join them” and this creates a mentality that the only way to survive in the world is to conform or react by fighting. The truth is no one wants to live their life doing the opposite of something simply because we are running away from conforming. We want to get to choose how our lives would look like because at the end of the day, we are the ones that are affected by our choices.

So, when Muna says “no let anybody tell you who you go be”, it resonates with me and I’m sure with every woman too. It’s exhausting trying to live up to society’s standards and even maybe more exhausting trying to fight against it. I rather just be me. I sometimes would jokingly say to my friends “this is me today, take it or leave it” but I think it’s something that we should all say and mean.

Today feels like a really great day to live life fearless and on your own terms. This isn’t saying that you have a license to live your life anyhow, it just means you get to choose a life that isn’t defined by anyone else but you. I think knowing this raises our sense of responsibility to realise that we alone are responsible for the outcome of our lives. I know I don’t need to emphasise about how our lives are in God’s hands, we have the Spirit of God in us and so when we live a submitted life, it’s easy to make choices that are aligned to His will. In essence, our outcome will always, always be good.

I sign off with the opening line of Muna, “Beautiful woman, You’re so fine, Don’t care about wetin anybody tell you…”

Song credits: Produced and Directed by Odihi Productions, Performed by Munachi Blessed . https://youtu.be/cmVyMNugtJw

Photo Credit: Karl Magnuson on Unsplash