‘Finding Me’ intrigued me. Not only did reading though Viola’s story give me a weirdly necessary assurance that I am doing better at things life and should learn to constantly pat myself on the back for a good job done but also took me waaay back to the days when life as is (currently) was once a blurry dream and out of possible human reach.
It so happened that as I was scrolling the last few chapters, her latest movie “The Woman King” premiered. The brave fighter, General Nanisca took the day! Her character and story in the movie comes close to what she’s generally experienced in life - a story of a young girl rising from nothing to something great; to the Woman King -Nanisca.
It’s crazy how we find it easy to judge some of these celebrities and think “….yup! They’re shining as they are now because they’ve had it easy!” The lenses with which I look at them was somewhat changed after reading Viola’s story; which she wrote with so much rawness, vulnerability and courage. She talks about her many instances and source of childhood insecurities as a result of the condition and environment her family had to live in back in the day; the ‘rat infested house with parents constantly warring’ stood out, being picked on in school and called ‘Ugly’ countless times till she believed it, carrying the black tax burden for years after she somehow makes it into Hollywood and much more.
Her journey to finding herself amidst the chaos that was, trying to heal from childhood trauma from Central Falls, Rhode Island and trying to make a name for herself in Hollywood are some of the things she couldn't imagine would ever be a thing of the past. She sits in big rooms with big people, cue Oprah, and still has to convince that little girl inside her that "You belong here! It's not a dream.'
She finally made a name for herself alright and it’s been a journey of healing, learning, re-learning, unlearning and bucket loads of therapy, she says. In a number of ways I saw myself in her story and for moments, while lost in her words, it felt like I was reading a different version of my story: a story of resilience, redemption and constantly making progress despite life’s various punches.
Reading this to the end made me feel so accomplished; one of my best reads in the year actually and I’d recommend it to anyone that asks without batting an eye! Undoubtedly a 10/10 for sure!
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