“I believe there is power in words, power in asserting our existence, our experience, our lives, through words.”
— Jesmyn Ward, The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race (2016)
21 Podcasts I’m Loving Right Now
I fell off the podcast train for a while but it's safe to say that I'm BACK! 🎉
Most of the ones I listen to fall in one of three categories:
Just for fun
Business
Wellness/Mental Health/Self-Improvement
What's especially fun for me is to go back and re-listen to favorite episodes to see if my perspective has changed throughout the years. I usually get another gem or two too!
Don’t Let Them Steal Your Joy
If there’s anything I’ve learned as a Black woman in the US, it’s that our joy will always try to be snatched but we have to fight to keep it. We have to protect our mental by any means necessary. We need to find the good moments in some particularly crappy bouts of days in order to stay sane.
What I've Learned About Grief So Far
I was fine. Nothing was wrong. I was having an incredibly productive day. And that's when it came back.
I did my best to hold back the tears because again, I was having a really good day, but I ultimately surrendered. I'm batting zero against my waves of sadness and I knew I just needed to let it flow. The bad moments will always pass. Even though it really sucks when you're in the thick of it.
Before You Try To Act Like It’s All Good Today, It’s Not + Storm Resources
So while yes, glory to God I am returning to some sense of normalcy and I am okay, we cannot continue to operate in this rush to return “back to business”. Cancel the unnecessary meetings. Let people breathe. That work can wait. Many families, particularly Black and brown, and suffering catastrophic levels of damage that aren’t just a short-term fix. I anticipate insurance companies screwing over people of color when they make claims and many people are displaced. The work is just beginning and it’s time to saddle up and raise hell.
Dear 2020, I don’t hate you.
As I have spent the last few days cleaning like a crazy woman because, #BlackTraditions, I was extremely appreciative that I finished last night so that I could truly focus and reflect today. Instead of thinking about all that didn’t happen, went wrong, or what I lost, I’ve been trying to think about some of my favorite highlights.
To Everyone Mourning a Loved One During the 2020 Holiday Season
It is hard. It is incredibly hard. I don’t share the ugly moments I deal with daily because who wants to hear that? Unless you are in my immediate circle… or my therapist, you have no idea how I am dealing. But please, do not make assumptions about someone’s healing process because it is a lifelong journey.
“For such a time as this…”
Well friends, the day is here. The day we have waited for since Midterms 2018. Election Day 2020. I have been feeling so many feelings and trying to process my thoughts while not spiraling because elections remind me of my godfather. I distinctly remember him taking me to Springside (a school) to vote with him and sometimes lil’ me even got to hit the voting button even if I wasn’t supposed to. I remember how since he had three TV’s in his bedroom (yep), CNN was always on one of them. So here I am, decades later, in my own fight with my community to help our people get out the vote.
3 Things On My Mind As I Celebrate My Birthday
Well friends, it's my 31st birthday! Happy Quarantine Birthday to me and so many others. Who knew things would turn out this way, right? But I am whole, healthy, and feeling all of the love in the early hours of today already. I'm grateful. I'm blessed. I'm also feeling a tad reflective.
So what have I learned about myself, leadership, or the world during the last 365?