Articles
On Parents and Chasing Dreams
The people we love - particularly parents - love us in their own way, even if not in the way we need them to. They are doing the best they can and they often mean us well, even if it seems sometimes like they are trying to deter us from our dreams. See, they can’t see what we see in our dreams at night; the cant feel the passion and enthusiasm we feel. They’re not like us. They don’t have our desires, our need for something more than we can explain. Their love and need to protect us...
On Overthinking
Do you ever have moments where you overthink? You’re going along just fine, then it happens. Your mind decides to be your own worst enemy, because it’s simply not enough that you have external detractors. It just has to have a stake in the game too! They say we’re our own worst enemy, and I’m inclined to agree. In the moment when you’re about to dare and do something big in comes doubt with a million reasons why you shouldn’t. It can be tough to silence the thoughts, but sometimes we just...
On Creating Balance
These past few weeks I have been working to find balance. Which is to I say I have been trying to ensure that time spent sightseeing is equal** to the time spent working (I do that too. Remember there is no sugar daddy so I still have to work to fund this dream), and the time spent doing nothing aka relaxing. **as close to equal as is realistic I thought balance was hard when I worked a 8-9 (who am I kidding!? It was never a 9-5.) but without the usual rigors of that life I am finding...
On Differences & Similarities
I saw her walking with a friend outside the temple. They were both striking, bald and dressed in white head to toe. I stared (discreetly of course) and thought to ask for a photo but I hesitated. Ten minutes later inside the temple, the game has changed and she is now staring at me (struggling to be discreet, she is a little more obvious than I was), nudging her friend and smiling. Eventually, she musters the courage I did not and asks for a photo with me, grinning widely. She is thrilled that...
On The Divine
Do you believe in the divine? Do you have one of those stories, where just in the exact moment that you needed it, the universe sent you a stranger with a message that felt like it was written specifically for you? Have you ever been saved by grace manifested in a person? I'm not talking about religion. I am talking about that time you were at your lowest or most desperate and had no hope of salvation. Then grace sent a stranger (or friend) whose act of kindness saved you. Literally. You can...
On Pushing Through
Last week was an honest to goodness struggle. Hardest since I’ve started on this journey. For reasons unknown a cloud of doubt descended and made itself welcome in my space. For the entire week I was sure I had made a mistake coming here, doing this. A sense of dread followed me around making a mockery of my every move. Failure loomed on the periphery while fear whispered all the while, ‘I told you so.’ I who have always felt like a stranger in my own home, suddenly longed for the comfort of...
Why Black Panther is More Substance than Hype
I can't quite put into words the feeling I felt sitting in the theater and seeing a movie - a major movie; a movie that was well written; a movie with a good plot, subtext, context, and inspiration; a movie that was so full-bodied and heavy - that represented me. It featured people - not a person, people - who look like me; a cast that was not made up of the one token black man or one token black woman. It was a black cast. Yes, there were a few white characters, but they were relegated...
5 Life Lessons from a 5K Run
Last week I did my first 5k race in 10 months – the Sigma Corporate run put on by Sagicor Jamaica. I was out of shape as I have divorced my gym instructor and put my gym membership on hold (I’m going to cite irreconcilable differences here), so it was an admittedly tough race. Nevertheless, I persevered and made it to the finish line. Not only did I finish, but of the 100 entrants for my company, I ranked 4th of all the females (we had about 75 females). **Insert cheer of excitement**After...
Saying YES to Life
Before you say yes… Before you say yes to life you will instinctively want to say no (unless you’ve trained your brain to say yes, which, let’s face it most of us haven’t learned to do yet). Fear will cozy up under your arm claiming to be your best friend while whispering into your ear all the reasons why yes is a bad idea: You’re going to look stupid. Everyone will laugh. You will not live this down. You will most certainly fail. Who exactly do you think you are to pull this off? Who told you...
We are More than that Which is Wrong with Us
We’re all inadequate – every last one of us. We’re all not ________ enough (insert your own personal flaw). I myself need several blank spaces to write my own list of inadequacies and there are days when everything I do and everyone I encounter only serve to remind me of them. On such days I have to revisit the part of myself that I trust to remind me and convince me that I am not the sum-total of my flaws, the part of me that knows that there is more to me than all the things I don’t get...