Take Your Time And Grow
You owe yourself the very best...
I'm guilty. I'm guilty of minimizing the gifts, skills and talents I've been blessed with. I'm guilty of shielding my desires for the promotion, growth and satisfaction of others. I'm guilty of saying yes and harboring the energy of no. I'm guilty of being who others expect me to be instead of who I am. This was me circa 25 to 30 years old. I thought I was demonstrating strength and humility but I came to learn that I was breeding fear. At the time of this post, I am 39 years old and you will no longer find me dumbing down what I add to this world for the comfort of others. I will not shy away from the unique callings on my life because someone deems them trivial or can't see the value I add. I'm showing up whether you like it or not and your comfort (or discomfort) with my prowess is not my concern.
We have to jump into the world and start living. And when we fall, we have to find our strength to go on. We don't have to ignore what we feel and we reserve the right to process at our own pace. But once we've regrouped and the fog has cleared, we must actively find the will and motivation to manifest and work for a life that invigorates our soul.
Check out my feature in VoyageATL where I share a little bit about becoming passionately and fearlessly me. -Love & Light!
Village Vibes-Growing Together
Sometimes you have to give up...
I've said it time and time again, 2018 was undoubtedly one of the most transformative years of my adult life.
I've always celebrated my wins, but this past year forced me to celebrate my losses, or what I call lessons.
That may seem odd to some, but it has often been the most challenging experiences that have brought me to a place of deep appreciation and growth.
In an article featured on one of my favorite develpmental inspo sites (thrive global), the writer takes a different approach. Sometimes we have to cease our panic to "get things" and start evaluating what we might need to give up. I recently shared with my instagram family that I'm done "waiting until", and this piece speaks profoundly to how important it is that we focus more on what we posses within to achieve true success and happiness. Again, success looks different for everyone, but whatever that may be--it is universally a place of satisfaction and accomplishment in some regard. [Read the article]
We're Losing Our Minds...
The addiction no one wants to talk about...
"Because on the spectrum of our current stimulation, books simply cannot compete. When a society stops absorbing books, you are dealing with a scarily malleable population. " -Alex Wolf
Have you had the opportunity to check out ATTN4$ (Attention for Sale)?
If not, you definitely need to get into it. As a relationship builder and strategist, people are my business, and in the business of people and making sure I carefully assess needs and help with goal setting, I don't have the leverage of skimming requests or simply double tapping their foreheads to gather the information I need. I have to pay attention, ask questions and constantly seek information.
Social media isn't a bad thing and people aren't dumb. But we are psychological beings and the world changes with our behaviors. I'm not knocking it, but who ever thought we'd be living in a time where double taps and emojis would become the standard the standard? Or the measure by which we display or don't display our intimate relationships determined whether we were happy or not? The season 2 premiere of grown-ish (yes! I'm a full on adult who LOVES this show) even played into how we've become so jaded by labels that the real thing isn't even our REAL thing! To bring you up to speed, Zoey spent her entire summer apart from Luca (who was in Paris) and once they returned to campus--they seemed even further apart. And why? Because Zoey was more concerned with becoming the next "hashtag GOALS" instead of enjoying actual companionship with her partner.
Our consumption of the real world mirror's Zoey's in many ways. We're so obsessed and preoccupied with the appearance of a thing that we've almost completely lost the appreciation for joy in real life.
Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), our quest for immediate gratification and urgency to appear as though we "feel good" (whether we actually feel good or not) has taken over our need and desire to actually seek depth. We're not reading books; and you can forget about a traditional magazine or blog as we've known them! We don't care to gather good and resourceful information. Research and theoretic study have become blah and the clincher?? We avoid interacting with people IRL and gone are the days of "What's your number and email?" It's now "What's your IG handle?" LOL! I'm guilty! In a weird way, we're starting to deviate from the process of core innovation and this is alarming. We are addicted to the faux satisfaction provided by the many avenues of social media and like Alex, I have no plan and no real solution to reignite our interest in reading a book or having a long and intimate conversation without the interference of a "ding". Like many of you, I enjoy what social media for many reasons, but I constantly wonder where we're headed...don't you? Check out ATTN4$ here
Photo: Alex Wolf, Author and Entrepreneur taken by DIAHANN WILLIAMS as featured in Forbes Magazine