You Won't Break My Soul

Well unless you’re living under a rock, and under that rock there’s no WiFi or cell service, you couldn’t have missed that Beyoncé stopped the world yet again with her latest single drop: "Break My Soul". This track, which will appear on the artist’s seventh studio album due to fully release on July 29, 2022, is likely already headed towards “Summer Anthem” status.

But, I’m not a music editor, so I’m not here to talk about the song in isolation. The reason I’m bringing it up in this space is because of how clearly and intentionally it's speaking to this generation of people living in corporate America. By “this generation”, I don’t mean Gen Z or Millennial – I wholly mean anybody holding down a job and/or looking for a new job to fulfill something inside of them.?

We’ve all read countless articles on “The Great Resignation”, and we know the main reason is just an utter recalibration of values and priorities for people coming out of a 2+ year pandemic, and this new record perfectly captures that essence.?

I’m going to spend time with three specific verses that spoke to me, and share some thoughts I had after letting them marinade in my soul for the last few hours.?

FIRST VERSE...

Now if you were on Twitter at all last night, you probably saw every variation of this tweet.

She starts the verse with “I just fell in love, and I just quit my job.” Which I take to mean that, the second you find something that you love that can take the time you were spending at a job that you clearly hate – it’s time to send that job to the left, to the left.?

I don't think Bey is suggesting everyone quit their jobs tomorrow (because we know the fall tour is coming!), but she’s saying that if you are living to work, and it’s negatively affecting your physical and mental health, then it’s time to recalibrate. What is going to make you happy? Unless you're a trust fund baby (sigh), you likely do have to do something to bring in income, but now is the time to rethink what that could look like. It may not be what was on your vision board two years ago, or what you were raised to think success and climbing the ladder was supposed to look like – I know my own definitions have evolved a lot recently. Mrs. Carter is telling us that’s okay; phenomenal even. Love governed the decision in this verse, which is a perfect segue to how love is characterized in this next one.?

SECOND VERSE...

Big Freedia was not playing any games with these bars. The duality of the word "release" here is so fascinating to me. When referring to things like anger, your job, time, stress, etc. – release here means to let it completely go and walk away from it. She doesn’t want us to be controlled or captained by these things. Take it from someone who once worked at a job that had me angry, stressed, and with no time for anything else but work – that’s simply not living.?

When she says “release the love”, however, release in that sense means to let it flow freely from yourself. That should be the thing governing your decisions, not your job or any other force that doesn’t fill your soul. Love will never break your soul, so if that’s at the center of your decision making, and you’re letting it move through you, you’ll likely live a more fulfilled professional and personal life.?

Now, that sounds super optimistic, but I do believe it can be done. Recently, I worked with an executive coach to help me think through what personally would make me the most fulfilled professionally, and I want you all to try it, too.?

• Step 1: Get a pack of post-its, and write one thing that is important to you professionally. Repeat (one item per post-it) until you have at least 12+. Some examples may include: autonomy, financial security, creative freedom, etc.?
• Step 2: Rank them from most important to least important. Do the ranking one-by-one, and compare each post-it to another. This sounds easy, but this took me hours to complete, and lots of soul searching to truthfully say which is most important to me – the real me.?
• Step 3: Write down your final rankings, and give yourself a checklist using the top 5.?If your job doesn’t give you the majority of those things, it’s time to move on.?If you’re interviewing for a new role, go into it knowing it has to give you these 5 things or else that role is not for you.?If your top 5 is telling you that working for anyone else but yourself will simply break your soul — listen!?

THIRD VERSE...

Okay, I saved this one for last because the way I jumped out of my seat the first time I heard it! I was this close to calling my tattoo artist and booking an appointment to get this text inked on my chest it hit so deep.?

If you didn’t grow up in the church, salvation means to be saved. It’s traditionally used to describe someone who was delivered from sin after finding their faith. So in this context, she’s taking her newfound freedom and reestablished life essentially, and building her own footing. To me, the takeaway here is that you shouldn’t have your foundation built on anyone else’s land but your own. Period.

You don’t own that land, you’re renting it and can be evicted without warning or rationale, so don’t invest too much in renovations because whatever is attached to the wall – it stays there when the lease is up.

I don’t think we have to interpret this to mean that everyone should go off and do their own entrepreneurial ventures and completely walk out of corporate America, but rather, mind the spaces where you throw your whole self. If another entity can decide if/when your time is up, don’t give every identifiable ounce of your energy to that environment. Own and captain your narrative, and build a foundation for you to thrive outside of work if starting your own business isn’t your thing for whatever reason.?

Life is far too short to just be tugged around and to build someone else’s ship. Now is the time to take stock of your priorities, your values, your purpose and your love. And as Beyoncé (and Big Freedia) say: “Forget the rest.”