Diva KC | layout editor

My greatest inspiration in the world is my larger-than-life, unbelievably strong mother.

Of course, there were times when I didn’t think this way. I’m looking at a younger version of me with short hair parted down the middle, a new sense of style and ideas of the world. Like most rebellious teenagers, I found many things to be unfair, uncool and mundane, and my mother’s constant drive for something more felt pointless.

I was suffering, couldn’t she see it?

Trapped in a body, in a mind I no longer understood, in a world she brought me to without my choice, why should I listen to her? Her endless worries, motivations and advice never quite reached me.

As I grew up and ditched the idea that not caring about your family is cool, I saw her clearly in all her 4 foot 11 inch glory. A powerhouse of a woman who stood by me with endless faith and belief. It still baffles me.

How can a person believe in you more than you believe in yourself?

At 26, with little education or money to call her own, she was saddled with 2 kids: My sister, a 9-year-old, and me, a tiny bundle of responsibilities. In a desert of opportunities, she raised us, opened her own business in Nepal and then abandoned all she had built for a greater challenge and opportunity — the United States of America.

In an unknown land with limited knowledge of the language, she rebuilt her entire life. To say I admire her would be an understatement of the profound impact she’s had in my life, beyond her role as a mother.

As I grow older and have come to understand the severity of the situations she went through, I see more and more of her in me.

Life isn’t particularly kind to single mothers. Survival requires grit and perseverance. Amongst this chaos, taking her own self-encouragement and transforming it into something beyond herself adds a layer of challenge. As an astrologist and life coach to people in Nepal and Nepali communities in the U.S., she has this fascinating ability to make you believe in yourself. Anything that might have once felt beyond you suddenly seems within your grasp. There is a simple comfort in what she does, providing hope and faith.

Her relentless desire to extend help toward those who need it through the skills she possess inspires me to do the same. There is fulfillment in providing kindness and hope to those around you.

The eyes I see with, the hands I create with, the legs I move with, the heart I love with, the mind I think with, there are parts of mamu in all of who I am.

So if I were to sit across from the moody 14-year-old Diva, what would I say?

First of all, ditch the haircut and the salon; there is better out there.

But most importantly, listen to your mother. She knows her stuff.

Hold her closer because you won’t always get to come home to her every night and eat dinner. Look into her eyes and face as long as you can. Hear her stories, her opinions and sit with her.

Why? Because she’s your impossible-to-believe-exists mother, and she knows that life is unfair. But remember, you have her to encourage yourself through it. You’ll survive, you’ll make it through this.

You are her kid after all.

Diva KC can be reached at kcd@duq.edu