We were lucky to catch up with Kwame Daniels recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kwame, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I developed my confidence by not engaging with self-worth. I don’t assign a value to myself and I don’t believe that I deserve things. I think things happen in my life and I receive them because that’s what’s simply happening. If I get an interview, it’s not because I deserve it, it’s because I was noticed.
So, when my work gets recognition, I don’t think that it’s because of deserving. I think it’s a sequence of events that happen because I work hard. I have confidence in myself and my work because I know I work hard. I’ve honed my skills. I know how to speak.
I supposed you can call my self-confidence faith in myself, really. I have faith in my own excellence, resilience, and ambition. I think self-esteem is really breakable, as a concept. I try to be seated in knowing who I am and have faith in my abilities rather than a shakeable belief in my own valued heights. It took me a long time. I’ve been told I wasn’t good enough for art school and I believed it. I’ve had abusers twist my sense of self. But I got out. I read my cards to align myself, I cast stones to see my path, I meditate, I drink in sunlight. I try to know who I am. I think knowledge of self will carry one far.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am a poet, which doesn’t pay well and doesn’t get much press. [laughs] But I love what I do. I think people view poetry as this really inaccessible medium but the thing about all writing, all literature, is that you have to develop the skills to interpret it to appreciate it. Fiction is the same way; romance, scifi–you as a reader have had to develop an understanding of how the medium works to engage with it. And I think people forget that they’ve had to work to understand things, so poetry seems intimidating.
I like to think my writing is accessible. I try to be clear in most poems, to not be obtuse, because I believe poetry is a form of communication, a kind of dialogue with a reader. I can’t term my work as special but I think my purpose as someone who intentionally communicates has some distinction.
I might have a new book coming out soon — a lesbian space mermaid on a journey to find and understand home. I think it’s lovely.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think this might be cliché but — 1. perserverance. I simply don’t give up. Ever. I keep pushing. Sometimes to my own detriment, but I keep going. Don’t give up. Shit sucks sometimes, but don’t give up.
2. the drive to learn. You, as an artist, creative, entrepeneur, whatever have to be willing to learn and bend when new information comes along, otherwise you won’t grow. You have to be willing to accept that things might be different from how you know them to be. You’ll need newer and more skills the further you get in your career — be open to them.
3. rather than “adaptability” I’ll say, “willingness to change.” Part of what’s helped me get this far was that I recognized what parts of me were detrimental to my process and I worked to change them. I didn’t become a different person. But I nudged who I was in a direction that suited my purposes. I didn’t lose who I was. I didn’t betray myself. But I did change. I looked hard at where I was harming myself and built safeguards against that.
That’s my advice.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
When I’m overwhelmed I go out. I take a walk, I sit in the sun, I visit the library. I get out, out of my cloying surroundings, away from how shut in I am, and I get away. Sometimes a change of scenery can help. I meditate, I self-soothe with gentle touch on my arms, I drink tea. Sometimes the ritual of preparing something for myself eases the tension, sometimes it’s the time it takes to prepare something. Different kinds of overwhelm take different things.
I think exploring what works for you is important. Don’t be afraid to try something unorthodox.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kwamesounddaniels.com
- Instagram: @the.okra.winfrey
Image Credits
the portrait of the artist is by Iya Jackson
