Zanele Nyembe
Bio
For the ones who stay strong in silence—I see you. I write what others are afraid to say out loud. If you've ever felt invisible, abandoned, or quietly powerful, this space is yours.
Stories (23)
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What Happens After You Burn Out?
There was a time I didn’t know what burnout looked like. I thought it would be obvious frantic breakdowns, loud cries for help, emotional explosions. I imagined fire and smoke and obvious signs. But what no one told me is that burnout doesn’t always roar. Sometimes, it vanishes quietly, like smoke slipping under a door. And if you’re the strong one, the responsible one, the giver you don’t even realize your fire is out until you're shivering in the cold. I didn’t know I was burning out. I just thought I was tired. Then I thought I was weak. Then I thought I was broken. What I didn’t know is that I was empty.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
I Forgot How to Receive Support
I don’t remember the last time someone asked how I was doing not in the polite, passing kind of way. I mean really asked. Eyes holding mine, voice steady with care. I’ve always been the one on the other end the safe landing, the anchor, the one people call when their world collapses. I didn’t mind it at first. It gave me purpose. It made me feel… worthy. But somewhere along the way, I forgot how to receive support. I forgot how to say “I’m not okay.” Because strength, for me, became silence.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
They Called Me Brave. I Called It Survival
They called me brave. They said it like a compliment like I was a warrior, like I had conquered something, like I should be proud. And maybe I should’ve been. But what no one saw was the shaking hands I hid behind closed doors. The quiet sobs into my pillow at 2 a.m. The way I’d rehearse my “I’m okay” like a script before stepping into a room full of people. Because being strong didn’t feel like a victory. It felt like survival. Like carrying a world that no one else could see.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
Being Needed Made Me Feel Worthy
There was a time when being needed felt like love. The more someone leaned on me, the more I felt like I mattered. If they called me in crisis, if they needed comfort, advice, support I was there. First in line. Always available. Always showing up. And with each time I was needed, something inside me whispered: See? You’re not invisible. You’re valuable. You’re loved. But I didn’t realize I was slowly trading pieces of myself to feel that way.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Confessions
I Cried in the Shower So No One Would Know
There are moments you never forget. Not because they were grand or loud, but because they broke something quietly inside you. For me, one of those moments happened on a random Tuesday evening—under the sound of running water. I stood in the shower, trembling, my face turned up to the stream like it could wash the ache out of me. The water hid the tears, and that was the point.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
When You’re the Shoulder Everyone Cries On
There’s a certain type of quiet strength that no one notices until it’s gone. You carry everyone. Their heartbreaks. Their breakdowns. Their secrets. You become the safe space, the lifeline, the listening ear — the shoulder they all lean on. You smile and nod, offering comfort like it’s endless, like it costs you nothing. But deep down, it does. Every time. Because the one who holds it all together is rarely held. And that... is exhausting.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
What Healed Me Wasn’t Therapy, It Was Truth
Healing didn’t come to me like a lightning bolt. It didn’t announce itself with fireworks or come wrapped in pretty affirmations. It wasn’t a moment. It was a slow, stumbling, often uncomfortable becoming. It started with stillness. Not the peaceful kind. But the kind that makes everything inside you loud.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
No Longer Available for Half-Love, Half-Truths, and Half-Healed People
There’s a version of me I no longer recognize. The girl who waited. Who watered dead things. Who stayed in places where her spirit starved, just to feel like she belonged somewhere. She lived on crumbs and called it connection. She mistook pain for proof that it was real. She kept showing up for people who never truly saw her. And for the longest time, that felt like love.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
When Loving Him Meant Losing Me
I used to believe that love meant fighting. Fighting through the pain. Through the tears. Through the disappointments. I thought that if I could just hold on long enough, if I could forgive one more time, if I could believe in him a little harder, he would change. He would finally show up the way I needed him to. He never did.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
The Strong One Always Breaks in Silence
There’s a certain kind of person in this world, the one who is always strong. You know the type. The one who holds everyone together. The one who smiles through heartbreak, listens without interrupting, and gives even when their own heart is threadbare. I was that person. The strong one. The one people counted on. The one who always answered the late-night texts, offered to help, stayed longer than expected, forgave faster than deserved.
By Zanele Nyembe8 months ago in Motivation
