How to be a diva

By Njoki Karuoya

 According to multiple-award winning Beyonce Knowles, a diva is the female version of a hustler (hustla is the way she puts it in her platinum selling single, Diva).

According to the urban dictionary, a ‘hustla’ is someone skilled at turning a profit, no matter what the enterprise.

According to everybody else, a diva is a bi**h who is so into herself that she doesn’t see, nor care how her words and actions affect others, as her goal is to please her desires, needs and wants to the exclusion of everything else.

And as interesting as that is, what is very clear is that divas are successful women who often get what they want.

Perhaps its something in our nature but, many people are afraid of going after what they want or desire with all the energy they’ve got.

They sit in little corners and pray and hope that God will see what is in their hearts and inspire someone to handpick them from the crowd and give it to them.

From husbands/wives, to career promotions and material possessions like cars and houses, we are afraid to show others that we are actively pursuing our dream, lest they don’t come true and you become the laughing stock to all those to whom your voiced your dream to and they see you didn’t make it; or lest people around you start talking badly about your pursuits (as and when you achieve them) and attract their wrath, which in some communities includes witchcraft.

Sob stories

And when people achieve what they have aspired for so long, they hide it away from the prying eyes of their neighbours, friends, families and relatives, because they either don’t want to attract their envy (which again could result in witchcraft) or their neediness, which translates in all these people constantly knocking on your door and calling for handouts, with one need/emergency after another. Their sob stories never stop.

Ultimately, what this does at the end of the day is denying the achiever the opportunity to enjoy all her achievements. Where women are concerned, for instance, displaying the marks of your success in the form of a nice big car (like a guzzler), a nice suburban house in an upmarket area, wining and dining in the finest restaurants, your fashion and décor style, an upgraded social circle and so forth, could, according to some wags, lead to that woman lacking a suitor, as men would be threatened by her success, and she would then become a spinster.

So, such successful women try to downplay their success and intelligence just so they can attract a man’s affections, which, truth be told, will not last; because if a man is threatened by success, nailing him now because you’ve downplayed your success then unveiling them later will only bring trouble in the union, and eventually it will break down.

Green-eyed monsters

Green-eyed monsters will always exist and hiding your success will not reduce their presence nor their venom. The green-eyed monsters lived among God’s angels as well, and that was way back during the time of Creation, so why short-change your lifestyle?

And that’s where divas differ from everyone else. They have figured out that people will always be the same — the way they behaved in the days of Adam and Eve is the same way they behave today, the only difference being technological advancements; but the modus operandi (MOs) remain the same.

So, divas set goals for themselves then set out to achieve them. Their missions and visions are clear, and with a clear focus (that haters generally tend to snipe at because they lack the courage to summon the same drive), they gun for the prize. And guess what! They are all successful and living it up; and everyone else runs around them to ensure they are comfortable in the hope that their light falls on them.

Look at all the achievers that people tend to call divas — and they are all over the place; from entertainment, to the business world and the Christian world. They have fans and haters in equal measure (in some cases, more fans than haters), but they choose to focus on the good and ignore the bad, and the result: More dollars in their bank accounts, grand personality status and heightened social presence.

So what would you rather be? A mouse or a tiger?

Choose the tiger. Be a diva. It’s a good thing… and fun too.