I’ve come a looooong way, clearly, as we all have, no doubt. I’m still close friends with the 3 chicks I spent NYE 1999 with. We been close since jr. high. I remember the exact place we were and I even remember the countdown. My dad was still battling cancer (he’s been in remission for years now <3), I was in school, my siblings weren’t even in high school yet (of course, they’ve graduated and even turned 21 this month, SHIT!) None of my friends or I had any children, no one was married, and in fact, I think some of us were still virgins. Wow!
A decade later, 2 of my 3 chicas have children (2 each respectively) and 1 is married, while the other is widowed. They are both happy, financially secure, and embarking on new ventures. We’ve come far, but we’re still wide-open to life and I’m grateful for that. But that’s just 2 out of 3. There is another of my girls whose path completely derailed, and although she’s not on drugs, has no children, and is not homeless, she is nowhere near where she or anyone who knew her thought she would be at this point in her life. She’s “lost,” and I miss her. I love her, and I know her family and the rest of my girls do too, but I maintain hope she’ll find her way. Because at the end of the day, no matter what predicament we find ourselves in, the presence or absence of hope is all that determines what we do with the following day. Hope defines our next move. We hope that we are doing the right thing and that a desired result comes from that action. The future is unknown, but hope and action are it’s greatest influences.
So here are my hopes for everyone on this New Years Eve as my lesbianas and friends embark on a new decade:
1) Sweet dreams – everyone has at least one dream, no matter how insignificant we or anyone else might consider it. We are creative beings. Maybe not in the artistic sense (although I hold a belief that everyone is artistic in some way), but we create our personas, our environment, our essence, and our dreams and goals. If you believe in God in the biblical sense, then you know that we were created in God’s likeness, and remember God is the creator of everything around us, so we gotta catch up! Listen to your dreams. They come to you in the most indeterminate ways. If you don’t already have some definite ones, then let your dream and goal be to REALIZE your dreams and goals. Recognizing them is the first step.
2) Action – “Action is the proper fruit of knowledge.” One of my favorite quotes that I got from a damn fortune cookie. It’s true though. Once we hold the knowledge of our dreams, the next step is to take action. Everyday, make some move toward your dream. Even if all you can do is write, reflect, meditate, pray or chant about it. “Small steps scale huge mountains.” So we take small strides EVERYDAY, and we don’t give up. Success in our goals and dreams has no deadline. Time expires only when we are unconscious, so as long as your conscious, keep it moving. Every business MUST have a business plan to seek outside funding and ultimately achieve success. Create your life plan, and work towards that plan. Mark your path and the route you’ll take. You may deviate, but at the very least, you stay FOCUSED and your energy is channeled. How many times has “I’ll do it tomorrow” turn in to your task or goal NEVER getting done? EVERYDAY, no matter how small the action, do SOMETHING to further your place in life and put you closer to your ideal place.
3) Health – health is important, because this body and soul need fuel for our actions, clear thought, and focus. We can’t do what we need to do if we overeat, drink, and overindulge in herbal or chemical stimulants to the point that we are too tired, unmotivated, and mentally distracted from our direction. Not to mention, being healthy makes you feel in control, reinforces hope and faith in ourselves, makes us feel positive and ultimately, sexy. It’s inevitable that if we eat well, exercise, and monitor the toxins that enter our body, then our skin, mind, thought, physical shape, hair and nails will look better. I don’t care WHO you are or what ailments you suffer from, nutritional therapy, exercise, and limiting toxins (chemicals in our foods, skincare products, and drugs we ingest, inhale, or inject) WILL do your body good, and a good body looks hot no matter what label you wear or how strong your shoe game is.
4) Financial security – it’s important. Period. We can’t ignore it. Money is not the root of all evil, greed is. (Wish I could remember who tweeted that this last week). So, no I don’t want ya’ll to be greedy. Everything on this earth is borrowed. Nothing belongs to us, because we leave this earth/physical realm with NOTHING. However, while we are here, money provides us the opportunity to nourish and protect ourselves, fund our dreams, and allow us to experience happiness on earth whether it be by traveling to the places we want to see, helping our brothers and sisters or allowing us to bear and raise our children safely. But money is no different than a woman (or man). You neglect, abuse, and ignore it, and it will cheat, hurt, and leave your ass high and dry. So, develop your relationship with it. Monitor and watch it EVERYDAY. I’m serious, if you think I’m playin’. I don’t care if you KNOW you got $0.00 in the bank, check your account daily. First and foremost, to ensure nothing crazy happens (overdraws, theft, false purchases/transactions, etc.). Secondly, monitor it to show you where you stand. When you see that $0.00 balance everyday, please believe that motivation is eventually going to SLAP that ass into action, and you’re going to NEED to see that number increase. That FOCUS on your money is going to propel you to make changes, dream, or it’s going to make you keep movin’ if you’re already on your path to change. If your money’s flowin’ in with no problem, then I hope that you’ll reevaluate how you’re using it. Are you saving? Are you able to do the things you want to do? Let me take it further, and remind you that almost our entire (70%?) of our country’s income is consumer-based. Meaning, AMERICA makes it’s money by CONSUMING. If they don’t get YOU to buy, then that stock market dips low. So, OF COURSE, they’re going to TELL YOU that you need this or that to be beautiful, sexy, desired, dope, and to upgrade your status; HOWEVER, I’m tellin’ you that at the end of the day, your money has to see you through your OWN ups and downs. It has to fund YOUR dreams. It has to put YOU were YOU want to be. So, don’t worry about the economy, businessmen will always figure out another way to make money, just quit being a blind consumer and quit fallin’ for the nonsense. We all want to look nice and have nice things, but EVERYTHING goes on sale and with a little CREATIVITY, you can look good without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars every month. Don’t be embarrassed to be price-conscious. Your money is YO’ shit! You worked for it. You’re its boss, judge and jury, so manage the hell out of it. Fuck what you HEARD from someone else, this is about YOU. Have a positive, active and attentive relationship with it, because it is a till-death-do-you-part union ladies. All relationships, including the ones with our future or present children come and go, but our relationship with money is for as long as we live.
Now, I don’t do New Years resolutions, because I don’t fall off or deviate from my plan, so my goals have and are coming to fruition. But I notice that all of my resolutions throughout the year(s) fall within one of these categories, so I hope that all of us continue to experience these in the coming decade. There are other hopes for 2010 with regard to the state of our political and macro-economical status’, but change starts with us first, THEN we can create change on a greater level. If we love ourselves, then we can love our neighbors, and love and compassion are the resolution to ALL problems.
I hope you have a good time tonight. I hope you sleep safe afterward, and I wish you love and light in 2010 and beyond. Thank you for checkin’ me out this year. I am a busy ass chick, but I’m not going anywhere. I love connecting with everyone, and I love the feedback that I get from ya’ll. I have NOT forgotten to get a picture up, I am just waiting to get everything in line. I moved to a new city this year, as you know, so I am still building, networking, and scrambling to firmly plant my feet in this market. When you don’t hear from me for a while, that’s what I’m doing, so don’t think I’m sleepin’!
Happy New Years sexy asses ;)
p.s. don’t mix champagne with red wine tonight. It’s the worse combo. I hurl every time. I’ll be sippin’ champagne ALL night ;)
