Introducing:
The Self love Monologues Podcast
My Story
My name is Maruva Shamu and my story is one of survival. It is also a quest for significance - impact - and purpose - which I now know is to inspire resilience.
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I was brought into this world by accident and yet ended up being loved on purpose. It all started in 1989 when I was conceived by a pair of careerists in their early 20s, one being a businessman and the other a nurse. The birthplace was Harare, Zimbabwe - nine years after the country's independence. The story goes that my name "Maruva' - which is short for "Maruvaenyika" - was also rooted in a strong intention. The name itself means "flowers of the world," and my grandmother chose it because she wanted a different fate for her grandson. She decided that I wasn't going to enter this world bearing the mark of a bastard child (which I was). In other words, she chose a different legacy.
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I suppose that legacy is what saved my life when I was struggling with suicidal depression in the fall of 2018. I had carried a death wish for almost 18 years because I could not find peace, beauty, and strength in my identity as a queer black boy. However, the real credit goes to a question that kept me up at night - which was: "what do I love the most about myself?"
The answers weren't there at first. All I could see instead was another question - "am I ever going to be good enough?" But with time I found the answers, and then ended up developing a self-love language that has sustained me to this day.
This is why this show exists. It is my gift to anyone seeking a love that comes from within and stays within.
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I hope you find healing here.
-Maruva
Episodes
Confession 1:
Death Wish
Confession 3:
I Am Brave Enough To Be Alive
Confession 2:
A Coming Out Guide For The Repressed Immigrant
Confession 4:
Resilience Is My Constitution
Confession 3:
My Black Girl Magic is Mine To Keep, And Not Yours To Judge
Confession 6:
Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Am I A Fraud?
Confession 4:
Resilience Is My Constitution
Episodes
Death Wish
I Am Brave Enough To Be Alive
Women Are Better At Everything
The One Where The Father Doesn't Want To Run Away From Parental Responsibility
Career Envy
Meet The Host
Sexual Freedom For The Queer
True Love Miniseries Part II:
Lessons On Love
A Coming Out Guide For The Repressed Immigrant
Resilience Is My Constitution
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The Wound Is The Place Where The Light Enters You
The Lonely African
You're Bleeding Out Right Now, So Why Are You Running?
Bestie
Dear Grandma: A Coming Out Manefesto For The Queer Black Boy
True Love Miniseries Part III:
The Breakthrough
My Black Girl Magic is Mine To Keep, And Not Yours To Judge
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Am I A Fraud?
Are You Really Growing As A Person If You're Not Fucking Up?
All We Ever Have Is Now
Why Do I Love Myself?
Shame
True Love Miniseries Part I:
The Search
Season Two Finale:
A Single Mother's Atonement
Season Three Premiere:
Who do you become, when everything your own is taken away from you?
Wisdom corner
"We spend so much time being afraid of failure, afraid of rejection. But regret is the thing we should fear the most. Failure is an answer. Rejection is an answer. Regret is an eternal question you will never have the answer to.
What if? If only? I wonder what would have?
You will never, never know and it will haunt you for the rest of your days.
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TREVOR NOAH
Born A Crime
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