Happy New Year!
Shamelessness is seen as a negative trait in people, it is labelled as embarrassing and awkward but to hell with that. Being confident is defined as ‘having strong belief or full assurance’, ‘sure of oneself; having no uncertainty about one’s own abilities’. Shameless on the other hand is defined as ‘not ashamed, especially about something generally considered unacceptable’, which is quite true to be honest but the word unacceptable goes a long way and is mainly judged based on peers opinions and social norms.
Shamelessness is a step up from being confident in my opinion, it is the two combined. You can be confident about who you are and what you do but it doesn’t mean you’re not bothered about other people’s opinions; flaws and insecurities can still creep in when you’re just confident. On the other hand, when you are shameless you walk with a certain swagger, you command a presence (whether brash or quiet), you act as you wish when you wish and your skies don’t turn grey. To be shameless can take a level of vanity and that’s looked down upon but when you know what you bring to the table, does it really matter?
If I was my own audience, I would say I have achieved a level of shamelessness but that did not come over night, school was a huge foundation for me as it is for everyone. I got to a stage when I got into college and thought you know what, I am amazing and since then I never looked back. People might say things I did back then were quote unquote weird and different but I really just needed to break down those walls and be Kwam for a minute. Even now, I pride myself on having the ability to be myself at every possible moment no matter the people around me. After all I am my fathers child.
So 2016, aim for the act of shamelessness, what I say is if you’re going to do something then you might as well be shameless doing it. It won’t be pretty and the feedback might sting but take it all in and bomb on em.
I hope they understand, that we really understand, that they don’t understand.
Hak Gway
POTS 