What Are Your Insecurities?

That's what I asked baby boi this morning. As a man who seems to be the epitome of a black superhero, I had to wonder if he had any? He's always so strong, positive, and on point all of the time that I remember wondering if he was human. He texted me today and said, "I'm sure I do. I think I just don't let the control me." As always, he delivered a perfect answer. He added, "Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes that's bad. It's good to let your feelings out." Bingo again. As African-American people, we often don't see weak, black men. (Excluding the ones that are just plain trifling that you and I see all the time.) Throughout the decades we, as a people, have had to toughen up. We are thrown so many injustices, racial and otherwise, that we really have no choice. But the fact of the matter is that our black men do have insecurities. The reason I'm bringing this up is because I read a comment from an African-American man this morning. "Sometimes a man might walk around acting as if he's Superman, but he's not, and he knows it. We have insecurities just like women do. Men wonder, Am I good-looking? Thin? Successful? Smart? If want you want is a man to really love you and truly trust you, do whatever you can to help him understand that he can talk about those things with you and not be seen as less of a man because of it." There was another article called "Fear Factor" in Essence last month that spoke to the many but secret anxieties that keep us women from being who we truly want to be. The most common ones were "If I let myself shine, people will hate me", "I won't have enough money", "I'll be rejected in love", "I'll end up alone", and the one that most resonates with me "I don't have what it takes". The article is an interesting read and I would recommend it to both women and men.

So here's a bare-it-all question for you. What are your insecurities? You don't have to answer in public if you don't want, but do you recognize them and know how to overcome them?