Candice Klein-Mutendi
Lately I’ve been going through a metamorphosis or attitude adjustment, if you like. It all started with my bipolar diagnosis soon after my daughter was born (we initially thought it was post-partum depression). Then I lost my cushy job at the SABC (through a series of comical errors which still make me cringe to this day). Suddenly I was in the wilderness and permanent jobs were few and far between.
So I ran away from journalism with my tail between my legs. Ended up at the Africa Evidence Network in a sea of academics, punching way above my weight. I was out of work for a year, sinking deeper and deeper into a depression with a manic episode that landed me in public hospital (YIKES! Is all I care to say about that). I was working out in the gig economy and I got into a verbal tussle with a petrol attendant and two rapey policeman.
Finding My Balance
My doctors adjusted my meds and for the first time in years I’m starting to feel like the real me. This time I don’t get into every fight I’m invited to. I’m measured and calm. Thoughtful and kind. Way less arrogant than unmedicated me. Like my dad would say “I’m balanced, I have a chip on both shoulders!” LOL I’m loving the new me. So now to the name change. Hubby comes from a prominent family in Zimbabwe. His grandfather started the ZCC there in 1950-something-or-the-other. But he was estranged from his family because his mother (my monster-in-law) was a jilted bride.
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I yearn for my days of Klein, when I was at the peak of my career at the SABC. I lament how it all ended in smoke and ashes. So the Klein in Klein-Mutendi is harking back to an era of greatness. And the Mutendi is setting my eyes on the future. No longer will I bear the surname of the captured, well off paper at least. I intend looking into making it official but I have a feeling that Horror Affairs will live up to their honorific.
And that’s the story of my metamorphosis. Now that we got that out of the way, bruin-ous, let’s live life to the fullest, in full mental health.
