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?

1. Continue to be consistent.

One of my top 10 strengths is "responsibility". One of my personal core values is integrity. If I give you my word, I will seek to follow through. I recently saw Myleik Teele post that her consistency was one of her favorite qualities about herself and that rang true for me as well. I pray that I will never be seen as a flake because that translates both professionally and personally. It's a tricky balance of being productive and allowing myself to rest, but I pray that my work and work ethic will always speak up before I do.

2. Black women deserve to live well and be loved out loud.

For some reason I think the world tends to pause and get awkward when hearing the word "Black". At some point during the last year, I got annoyed with it. Many of you know I've read about 40+ books since my last birthday with extreme intentionality in focusing on works by Black women. One quote that bell hooks said that stuck with me for almost a year has been "Black women do not grow up thinking they deserve to live well.

I have become increasingly unapologetic about my love and support for Black women because we are typically considered as an afterthought. One of my birthday wishes I wrote in my journal was to continue to be led into spaces in which I can continue to speak up / advocate / connect Black women together. I have no clue what it'll look like but I do believe in the power of pen to paper.

3. Stop shrinking!

In the same vain as growing up as a Black girl that was opinionated / too bossy / doing too much, etc, I sometimes fall into these spells in which I try to shrink myself to make others comfortable (cough: past relationships). Then came my 30th birthday and I said no more. Please understand this has nothing to do with ego. I say this because Black women are policed constantly and we learn how to move around without causing too much of a ruckus. Well, I'm over it. I have opinions and I have contributions I seek to put into the world! We have to get big! We cannot shift ourselves into smaller molds to meet the needs of other people.

I'm off to enjoy an SVU marathon before I connect with my friends and family digitally via Zoom. I sincerely thank each of you for being connected to me and always being a great support system! If you're in Dallas, try to enjoy the beautiful weather we have today responsibly. Continue to be well!