January was a Long Year but You Made It: 3 Lessons to Remember

Photo by Nick Owuor (astro.nic.visuals) on Unsplash

No for real…wasn’t January about seven weeks? There were so many ups and downs, so many “new year, new mes” or “if it ain’t broke, why fix its,” and even heartaches, sorrows, make ups, joy, and laughs.

It was filled with so many imperfections. Hell, this is our first blog post of the year, which can definitely be attributed to the roller coaster that was January. But we made it! High-five, sis!

There were so many lessons that we learned from January that we should constantly use throughout the rest of the year, hell the rest of our lives to be exact.

Here are my top 3 “January taught me” lessons that I’m holding tight to all year long.

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Life is incredibly too short and absolutely unpredictable. The world shook from Greenland to South Africa, to California and Australia when we lost one of the greatest players in basketball, Kobe Bryant, his aspiring GOAT baller daughter Gianna and seven other amazing people in a helicopter crash. I don’t know about you but I mourned (and are still mourning) that tragedy as if I knew them like close family. Ironically, and in true Mamba fashion, this heartache has brought together the masses to understand the true legacy we were all left with—living to be great no matter the work that may need to be necessary. People across cultures, genders, religions, political views, age ranges, socioeconomic backgrounds have come together to figure out how to recalibrate our minds and body to live our best lives with each other and for our kids. Now it’s up to us to keep that energy going sis (or bro).

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.

-Kobe Bryant

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Greatness is to be shown no matter if people are watching or what they may think. I don’t know if you noticed, but Homecoming a Netflix documentary by Beyoncé did not get an Oscar nomination and I have no clue why…okay there were probably other features and films who deserved some recognition too but that epic BTS documentary was definitely missed. And yet, she doesn’t care. Do you know why? Sure, it may be just another project to add to her overflowing portfolio. And yes, I’m sure she got plenty of coins for sharing such a masterpiece with one of the top streaming services in the world. But no, those aren’t the reasons why I believe she doesn’t care. I believe she doesn’t care because she did it for herself the world that she lives in. Hate it or love it, Beyoncé introduced HBCUs to the WORLD!!! And all because she just wanted to…no she had since it’s in her truth. When’s the last time you put time, money and unwavering effort into doing something just because you want to? When was the last time you focused energy on living a truth in the face critics and at the risk of not being accepted? I’ll wait…but not too long because your next soulfully transparent move may be exactly what motivates the next person to go after what they want. Get to work sis!

“I’m so lucky and grateful that I’m able to take all these crazy ideas and actually make it into something that heals people; that may spark vision in people, that shows them to dream big, that shows them that they are limitless. It’s possible. If my country ass can do it, they can do it.” – Beyoncé

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Imperfections mean that evolution is impossible. This right here is my mantra for 2020. I’ve been striving for perfection my entire life and you know what, I gave up in January. Yep, you can call me a quitter on that because as soon as I stop trying so damn hard, my life started to evolve in the direction I had been pushing so hard for it to go. Simply put, when you try too hard, when you plan out each step, when you are stuck on making things exactly how they should be, that shit will blow up in your face. Just being 100! There’s no need to try to be when you can just be. Being your best self should be like breathing —natural and necessary—even when the world around you is in full-blow chaos. Here’s what I need you to do; I want you to go to your mirror right now, take a deep breathe in and recite these words: