‘There Is A Difference Between Depression And Anger’-Waje Shares Her Experience
Written by MaxFM on July 31, 2018
37 year old Nigerian Singer and Vocalist, Aituaje Iruobe known as Waje recently revealed that she went through depression and further disclosed how she overcame it.
According to the singer whose stage name, ‘Waje’ is an acronym for “Words aren’t just enough”, a depressed person is quite different from an angry person; though a depressed person can express such depression through anger.
The mother of one made this revelation in a recent interview she had with a media network. She said:
“The thing is, many times when people talk about depression, I always come from the angle where there is a difference between depression and anger. A depressed person does not even know that they are depressed, they will give every reason to think that they are not in that place. When you are depressed, you don’t want to eat, you don’t want to go out, your life stops literally.”
““I have come to realise that being someone in the limelight, you have to guard your territory, I have been in that space where… I wouldn’t say mine was depression, mine was anger management, it was a kind of depression but the only way I could express myself was through anger.”
Waje further revealed that even when her career was doing well, she realized she had anger issues and she only viewed herself through the lens of outsiders.
“I remember that time, that was the year we got signed as Glo ambassadors so actually my career was doing really good. I just released my album, I was nominated in four categories in World Music Awards every year, money dey come. But I had anger issues, why because I just didn’t see myself the way I wanted to see myself. I saw myself through everybody’s eye. I would look at you and whatever you tell me about me is what I would accept.”
“I remember one time I was so angry, I didn’t want to break my because na me pay for the tv, I broke my phone, can you imagine holding a phone and bending it like literally bending it, you can imagine the rage for being able to break a phone.
“I have come to realize that you have to guard yourself, you have to understand what is going on around you. You are in the limelight, there is Waje and there is Ebele, Waje is now, we are having this interview, Ebele is when I enter my house, don’t come and tell me anything that is happening in social media and add to a headache that I already have. The only thing a depressed person needs is your time and love, not your judgment, not telling the person that he has to pray and trust God. Trust me the person knew about that before they went into that state”, she added.
Talking about how she got to realize there was a problem and there was need to work on it, she said:
““I changed my environment, the people I hung out with a lot. I changed my friends, I started looking out for friends that would tell me things to boost my ego. The truth is that your friend is the person that would tell you the truth about you. What is the truth, the is that you beautiful, you are amazing, you are peculiar, you are unique, you are strong, you are bold, false, yes but that doesn’t take anything away from you.”
In conclusion, Waje added:
“I started spending time with friends who would lift me up, a lot of it had to do with Uzzy because I was working with Uzzy at that time, half the time out sections would be Uzzy talking to me, he was like my sponsor, he was like my therapist. We would have conversations, sometimes it was just me talking he would not even give me any answers. And then I go to this Present House, Pastor Tony Rapu, I started going through that detoxifying and I was going through discipleship, it was just a personal thing for me. Thank God I was able to recognise love when I found it, because those that really love me, it was in their actions, not the mouth”.
