True llife Story: Loving Self Less Because Of People's Opinion

Chibuzor's Words 

My name is Chinyere,  for some stupid reason I didn't like my name as a  child,

I grew up in a very toxic environment where pure love hardly exist, everyone always picked on me, for one thing or the other,  I spent most of my days thinking that something was wrong with me, I felt abnormal.

It's either I talk to much or I am too slim or I am too fair etc..

At the age of 8, One of my relation (let's call her Ada) once said tome, "I hate you"! 

I asked her "why"? She replied because all the people by the name Chinyere, I have come across are liars, thieves,  promiscuous etc.

I smiled and left, but something died in me, from that moment, I hated my name, there's this negative vibe I used to feel at the sound of my name and wanted to change my name soo badly that I started going for the baptismal class and did my baptism. 

Was Baptism the solution?

Baptism wasn't the solution as everyone was used to my first name and they kept calling me Chinyere.

At the age of 16, I was at a church in Cote d'ivoire and an Ivorian asked me what is the meaning of Chinyere? 

 I replied "Dieu m'a donné" meaning "God gave me"
The Pastor replied wow, what a beautiful and meaningful name,
I was shocked that someone loved my name.

As I was heading home,  my head was #turningoninown#🙄
The translation I did changed my life, I started loving my name and wanted people to address me with it.
I taught all my non igbos how to pronounce it.

As I get older, I realized that People's opinion don't really count if you don't keep it with you.
My name is Chinyere,
I am not a bad person,
I love my name.