Do lazy days make you feel rested or unproductive?

Rested.

Lazy days are days I’ve chosen to listen to my body. After spending days and possibly weeks going …and going … and going. There are days my body gives me no choice but to rest. So I do, to honor her. She deserves it. YOU deserve it.

Slow down. Stop. Breathe.

What makes a good neighbor?

Stay over there 👉

Personally, I prefer my neighbors keep their distance and the ones that do with intention are the absolute best in my opinion.

When was the first time you really felt like a grown up (if ever)?

I just wanted to see if I could.

This was my thought process when I signed my name across the bolded line after purchasing my first home at 25. I wasn’t sure if that’s what I intended to do or something I needed to do. Thinking back it was probably both. I don’t remember dreaming of the day I would be walking into my first home with just my kid and myself.

I had just exited a relationship with someone who was the breadwinner and was purchasing a home in an area I didn’t want to be in, that was an inconvenience for me and far away from family. Marriage didn’t seem like something on his mind so i bowed out gracefully, packed up me and our child’s belongings and left to my moms.

Two months later I obtained the keys and I went to take another look at my home by myself so I can feel proud of what I’d just done. I was certain absolute joy would overtake me but it didn’t come. I didn’t feel proud. I felt stupid, I felt scared and instead of running through my home elated with my new capsule of safety and security; I cried.

“This means I have to pay bills” I thought to myself, “on time, and this means I have to stay at a job I don’t love no matter what”

SHIT!

I hope I can do this.

Long story short, I did it.

I’m doing it, until…

Who are your favorite artists?

Aurora: Her music resonates with my free spirit.

Naomi Sharon: Her music makes my heart and soul dance.

Maro: Her music reminds me how deeply I can love and want to be loved. I love her voice.

Foushee: I love her style. She’s different. Her music is versatile.

Kali Ulchis: Unique and soulful.

Hozier: Great voice, handsome, meaningful and soulful music

Juice Wrld: Besides him being a good artist , I just like him.

What would you do if you lost all your possessions?

After an initial breakdown mixed with a little panic attack, I’d wipe my makeup mixed tears and do what I do best

Turn nothing into something .

There’s something about the pressure inducing idea of losing it all that gets me going. It kicks me into survival mode. I’ve been here before and perhaps this is why it feels familiar.

I’d be devastated sure, but I wouldn’t fold. I’d pull myself together and go out into the world confident that I could multiply whatever it is was I had and lost.

Behind the anger and sheer frustration, I’d try to treat such situation as an opportunity to gain something whether that’s a lesson or a possibility to gain something else I may have needed.

Navigating those waters is never fun but in the words of my dearest mother

“ You either sink or swim”

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

If I wasn’t the “tall” girl

Then I was the “black” girl

If I wasn’t the “black” girl then I was the black girl that “talked white”

If I wasn’t that, then I was “weird” girl or the “too friendly” girl and the list goes on.

No matter where I went, I was the outlier.

So in all honesty, I don’t remember ever fitting in. I also don’t remember caring that much but I simultaneously wondered why. I wouldn’t let thought go past the initial curiosity but still, I wondered.

I can’t recall knowing the answer to that question growing up but as a now very confident woman I’d like to believe that It wasn’t that I was out of place, rather I unintentionally took up space and it made others uncomfortable.

Their problem, not mine.

What’s a topic or issue about which you’ve changed your mind?

I change my mind like i change my clothes. Consistently.

About everything.

Specifically when it comes to social constructs, I don’t cling very tightly to them or the ideas and beliefs associated with them because I think they’re only used to try to understand oneself and the world around us.

I realize I’ve chosen a road less traveled in the sense that I’d rather be alive and present in my human experience than spend my time trying to understand things that aren’t really meant for me to understand.

So In short I guess I’ve changed my mind about, my mind.

Your life without a computer: what does it look like?

I’ll be honest, I’m not really sure what life would be like without a computer.

If we are talking about just computers then I’d be okay, I rarely use them if I’m not at work.

But INNANET!?!

I don’t know about that.

I’d like to think I’d be just as happy as I am now buuuut, who knows.

Maybe I’d be more adventurous more bold more… myself, maybe not.

I know for sure there’d be a ton of random unfinished projects around my home, sticky notes all over the walls and handwritten love letters that were never meant to be sent.

What skill would you like to learn?

This may sound odd but every since I could remember cars have always had my heart ❤️

But not just any car, the fast ones that smoothly yet swiftly take off from just tapping the gas. The ones that handle well and performs exceptionally.

As a little girl my dad would strap me into my seat of his 545 BMW and he would purposefully drive fast as he saw how much it excited me. In the summer months we’d take rides on his Harley Davison Night train and again, he’d tell me to hold on tight while he drove ridiculously fast down our alleyway. It wasn’t just him driving fast that gave me a rush, it was his accuracy and precision. I fell in love with driving watching him.

As a fairly good driver myself who still enjoys some speed here and there I can’t help but wonder if I’m missing the true experience of driving because I can’t drive manual (stick shift). So I would desperately love to learn to drive a manual car 🚗 .

What’s your #1 priority tomorrow?

Any other day it would have been my children; get them ready for school, feed them and encourage them for the day so they start strong and end even stronger.

You know, the usual of pouring your entire self into your kids…

Instead I’ll make myself my number one priority. I’ll make myself my number one priority so that you they’ll have the best version of me instead of the tired, cranky and half put together version. I’ll make myself my number one priority so that when they’re older they’ll never feel the societal urge to neglect themselves for the sake of others.

Tomorrow, and every day after I’ll pour into myself first so that I overflow into them.