Forging my own path, by Isha Sesay
Meditative Story
WaitWhat
4.6 • 3.2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Writer Isha Sesay is happiest when she is caring for others; it’s a lesson she learns from her mother while growing up in Sierra Leone. But as an adult, there’s another lesson her mother teaches her, in quite another way: that even the most caring and giving among us must learn to receive help too. It’s through both giving and receiving that we become whole.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | No. No one is invisible to my mother. |
| 0:28.1 | Radiating energy and warmth, she's drawn to supporting those who at this moment can't stand on their own. |
| 0:36.0 | I feel a glow of pride for her. |
| 0:39.8 | I can see how helping others regenerates her. As a young student, Isha Sisei is happiest when she is caring, looking out for others around her, supporting those who need her help. It's a lesson she learns from her mother, and it's a theme that plays out |
| 1:12.8 | in her adult life now, in her podcast, the accidental activist, and in her book, beneath the |
| 1:20.2 | tamarin tree, a story of courage, family, and the lost schoolgirls of Boko Haram. But there's |
| 1:27.1 | another lesson her mother teaches her, in quite another way, |
| 1:31.1 | that even the most caring and giving amongst us must learn how to receive help too, |
| 1:37.4 | and the importance of both giving and receiving to help regenerate us. |
| 1:43.7 | In this series, we combine immersive first-person stories, breathtaking music and mindfulness prompts |
| 1:49.1 | so that we may see our lives reflected back to us in other people's stories, |
| 1:53.5 | and that can lead to improvements in our own inner lives. |
| 1:57.1 | From Wait What, this is Meditative Story. |
| 2:02.9 | I'm Rohan and I'll be your guide. The body relaxed. |
| 2:29.7 | The body breathing. |
| 2:33.6 | Your sense is open. |
| 2:36.0 | Your mind open. |
| 2:42.4 | Meeting the world. |
| 2:55.6 | I'm seven years old and perched on the brown and white sofa in our living room. |
| 3:00.2 | I face the window and settle into my favorite activity. |
| 3:05.7 | Watching people. |
| 3:11.4 | Oh. activity. Watching people. The sun dips, |
... |
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