Her petite frame and young age mask a spirited lass who has witnessed and coped with many of life’s storms. Xlibris author S’kay Magagane has learned to go with the current and not against it – seizing the day no matter what life throws at her.
Inspiring others with her zest for living and writing, the South Africa-born author self-published with Xlibris her memoir It All Begins with You: A Breath Each Day is a Chance at Hand in 2011.
S’kay’s Xlibris Blog contribution may only give a snippet of her story, but her brimming optimism will touch hearts.
Revealed by the storm
It was the year “two thousand and turn” as many in my home country called it. I felt it was a year when I should expect a huge return on how I led my ways the previous year. It was seven years after I had been diagnosed with Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the Great Imitator. With all the excitement of the New Year and future anticipations, I went on to add a subtitle to the already named year. I called it ‘Year twenty turn: taking back what’s rightfully mine!’ As days went by, I came to realise that the Mimic Star had grasped me by my heel.
As the year went along I was taken aback by the turn of events that actually turned out to be a reversal of my thoughts towards the year. I slowly turned a huge grin into a frown. When I was around people, I hid what seemed to be a year of utter frustration behind a smile. While South Africa was preparing and waiting to host the mega FIFA Would Cup in excitement, I was spinning through a huge tornado! The twister did not just bring forth turmoil but brought with it a splendour I never fathomed as a possibility even when my own father pointed it out to me two years prior.
Truthfully, I was your typical nerd—I just wanted to hide behind a tower of mathematics and science textbooks, loving the thrill of being authentic while finding solutions to “problems” I naturally found to be exhilarating. As mentioned above, my father once let me in on his frustrations on spending on the fields I found comfortable in and the certainty that I had on ruling out literature as my major. Daddy had seen the potential in me. Me; a writer..? I could hear the world laugh at his discernment. Yes, finances had really raised his blood pressure to the rooftop. However, two years later, I was stupefied as his words played out. This was rather alarming. I found myself in utter confusion, writing an autobiography had me yelling ‘this is selfish!’ at my sister Gee-Leigh and my cousin two pages after my mother named my 15 A5 pages a pamphlet. All I had learned in school played out in building up a book. This was when I found writing to be the most effortless, fun and rewarding task for me. Now, almost three years later, my book reached shores I didn’t dream possible.
I was on a role to write the lessons life has taught me. This was to count it all within joy all that I was going through! Seven years after being diagnosed with Lupus, I realised I was more doubtful of creative writing than the disease named ‘The Cruel Mystery’. I then decided to become the needed change rather than the problem.
Read more of S’kay’s inspiring article on the second part of this blog.
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