After writing my last post (nearly a month ago - Lawd!), I decided I really needed to step back a bit to address some of the things I wrote about - feeling overwhelmed, being addicted to achievement, and not taking a moment to let all of life's changes sink in. I've been trying to work on all those things, and I think I'm starting to make some headway. 2014 has been a hell of a year - both personally and with society overall, I feel - and now that we're here at the end of it, I figured that I'd use this post to continue to aid in my aim of self-preservation and reflect a bit on what was before thinking about what will be in 2015.
I think 2014 was the first year in a while that I didn't make a vision board. I had all intentions of doing so - I even started one on my favourite vision board app on Oprah's site. I never got around to finishing it, and part of me wondered if this would, on some supernatural level, equate to me having a year without direction. Funnily enough, now that the year is closing out I feel that I have more direction than I could have ever imagined. They say "to know where you're going, you have to know where you've been" - so I feel that this moment of reflection is akin to the drawing back of a bow before the arrow is launched at its intended target. Draw back with me for a moment, will you?
2014 was the year of excess. Not in any kind of hedonistic wealth-driven kind of way, but in the way of having so many decisions, so many changes, so many risks, and so man achievements. 2014 has made me exhausted in some of the best ways possible, and 2014 has transformed me in ways that still haven't settled themselves fully in my spirit.
Achievements/Lessons Learned
I learned (yet again) that my big mouth can and will get me into "trouble" - voicing my opinions about a TV show hosts' misogynistic blog post on women in media earned me a spot on his show, giving life to the Rick Ross lyric "F*ck a blog, dog, 'cause one day we gon' meet!"
I got to meet one of my girl crushes - the awesome Yendi Phillipps - not once, but twice, and tested out some new interviewing skills in my first set of '83 To Infinity videos. That experience taught me not to sell myself short - I almost didn't email her management for an interview request because I thought I was too small-time. Had I not, I would have missed out on an amazing opportunity and would have stunted my own growth. And I'm all about growth.
I learned that pregnancy/motherhood can slow your roll, but it doesn't have to. From hosting events to being a featured panelist to facilitating workshops to speaking at conferences, I somehow found a way to keep myself more than busy this year. I also found time to start/continue 3 "signature" events - Brunch With Bee in March, Curls, Coils & Cocktails in July, and Mirror Images in October. Don't ask me how I did it - I think I've been running on adrenaline for most of 2014.
I stepped my freelance writing game up in a big way. From writing some great pieces for my current outlets to being nationally and internationally published, I'm growing into my writing skills daily.
I can now call myself "an award-winning blogger" after taking home the Best Blogger award at the 2014 Black Canadians Award. My mantle now has a bit of extra sparkle to it, but the recognition of my hard work is even better. Elsewhere in the blogosphere, I launched The Brown Suga Mama. It's been fun juggling my two online spaces, and both have seen awesome growth.
New Identities
I tried on a bunch of new roles and titles this year, some because I believed in myself enough to succeed in them (like my Community Health Ambassador role), and some because other people have believed in me to succeed (like some new projects I'm working on that I'll share soon!). The one new role that merges both is the new identity of mother. My Little Magician is almost 6 months old at this point, and life has changed immeasurably since she's come into it. She's made me tougher and softer at the same time. She's caused me to rearrange some of my priorities and re-evaluate what I think is/thought was important. She's made me want to know myself more than ever before, because everyone (including myself) sees me differently now. Those who previously saw me as a wife/daughter/sister/friend now see me with a new dimension added, but for her, I have always been this entity, this icon, this person - so I've kinda gotta get it together and be honest about it in the process.
It's not easy. I'm not good with change. I put too much pressure on myself. I overthink things. I struggle. A lot. All of this is a recipe for disaster when getting acclimated to a new addition to the Venn diagram of self-identity, but such is life. I'm still figuring out how to do this, how I want to do it, who I want to be - but through her birth I've also been reborn in a way, so one day I'll thank her for allowing me to grow with her.
Reset. Renew.
Though we often get in the habit of reviewing the past year at this point in the calendar, I always have a bit of a reset period in May leading up to my birthday. This year I happened to write: Hello, 31: that curious point in life where – if you’re blessed – you not only feel like you’ve lived a full lifetime already, but you also feel like you’re just getting started. I’m blessed. If I felt that in May, I feel it tenfold now - especially the point about just getting started. Remember that earlier point I made about having direction? So many things this year have given me clarity on what I believe, where I stand, what I want, and how I'm going to get it. There is so much out there for me to immerse myself in, to taste, to touch, to discuss, to learn - and I refuse to waste any more time with self-doubt. My goal is to wrap up 2014 with gratitude, and enter 2015 feeling renewed and ready. Drawing back that bow is like taking a moment to inhale deeply - but it's almost time to exhale, let go, and let that arrow fly.