The Light We Carry: Inside Michelle Obama’s Book to Recognize Your Own Light

“The Light We Carry” through that, the former First Lady of the United States, has once again alight the light especially in the lives of younger generation, letting people know that they are not alone in the struggle to discover one’s self, everyone goes through that process, but what makes the difference is to recognize that you carry a light and never allow it to go off. It is wake up call for the change makers not to despair on the road to discover your purpose in life, when it gets tougher you can only get stronger, you have to build through that darkness and allow the light you carry to alight and overshadow any uncertainties.

Just like Michelle Obama, everyone has their own setbacks and the challenges you have to go through to come out more refined, she talks about anxieties, low-grade depression and self-doubt, but what keeps her aloft about overcoming the uncertainties include the family and friends[ a special group of women she calls her Kitchen Table], also hobbies particularly knitting, which shines light on power of small actions and gestures which is pivotal in building momentum to allow yourself for reset and restore. This gives her the grit to cope with those uncertainties and continue to shine her light against all odds.

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Talking about her fears which she describes as “comfortably afraid” using it to steer the wheel rather than allow it to eat her up. Her fears and worries could have aborted the course of history, which would have marred President Obama, from making history, after he had offered her the final verdict whether to launch his campaign. “It’s strange to think that I could have altered the course of history with my fear,” she expresses. It is always going to be there to stand in your way, but if you can see through the light you carry, you stand to be the change maker.

It is no difference with Mrs. Obama, women pride on their looks, she acknowledges that she worries about her looks which she tagged “angry Black woman” with constant question of “Am I good enough?,” in the atmosphere where colour and masculinity are predominant trend. She recalled that her father often told her, “No one can make you feel bad if you feel good about yourself.” Capitalizing on the words of her father, “It took me years to absorb my dad’s maxim more fully into my own life. I grew into my confidence slowly, in fits and starts. Only gradually did I learn to carry my differentness with pride.” More also, Obama also appreciates her mother’s role in her life “What she offers is perspective and presence,” she continues “… someone who can quickly banish my fear…”

“The Light We Carry” shows that you are not alone in this journey, only survivors can stand to tell their stories, there is great power in sharing stories it can resonates with many people who have traded that path but had faced obstacles on the way. Michelle Obama uses inaugural poet Amanda Gorman on how she overcome her disabilities to driver her point on overcoming uncertainties, and the first black woman to be nominated at the Supreme Court- Ketanji Brown Jackson, she acknowledges her sense of judgment “a mental wall between herself and the judgment of others.”