Don’t feel bad for enjoying your free time

This past weekend I made a conscious decision to not be busy and it feels like I made one of the best decisions in a long time. No Emails. No Projects. No Meetings. No Meetings about the Meeting. No podcasts. No Tutorial Videos. No Rabbit Hole of YouTube Videos. Just time with the family. Just time with friends and no work related conversations. A little more social media than I would’ve liked but a lot less than normal. The most time spent on social media this weekend was to post a few of the moments that made this weekend so great for me and my family. Sometimes the world can make us feel bad about not being busy. Sometimes the world can make us feel guilty for not spending every free moment working on our goals. Because if you let social media tell it, you can’t have free time and become successful. Everything is moving at such a fast pace that we often forget that life is usually best when things slow down. Well at least for me it is. Seeing my two sons have a blast these pasts few days without me being stuck to my phone or laptop made me feel good. Watching a movie with my wife without checking my instagram and twitter feed made me feel great. Don’t get me wrong, being busy is good when the energy is going to the right things. Being productive is even better. But sometimes you have to hit the reset button. This weekend I hit the reset button.

I Am Not A Blogger

A few months ago I created a 30 Day Challenge for myself to write a blog post every day. It was a really REALLY important challenge for me because too many times I’ve found myself not following through on ideas. Long story short lol..I completed the Challenge and counted it as a big win personally. But noooowww another big win personally was turning the 30 blog posts into my 1st published book which was also a life long goal of mine. 🤷🏽‍♂️📖. Ok long story short fareal.. The book is titled I AM NOT A BLOGGER and it’s available on Amazon RIGHT NOW (E-book and Paperback Available). Feel free to support. Feel free to share. Thank you to everyone who has joined me on this journey. I’m just tryna do the all the things I wrote in my notebooks over the years. The people who’ve known me for years can cosign I never go anywhere without my book bag and notebooks.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this lifelong goal of mine. I’m really on a mission to empty out all the ideas from the notebooks I’ve stashed over the years. I’m really on a mission to inspire anyone who has followed my story from day 1 or from today to empty out their notebooks too. And people from Day 1 know my message has been consistent. Work on yourself every day. Work on your dreams everyday even if it’s just 1 thing to get you closer. Another Day Another Chance. It might work. It might not work. But I’d rather shoot 0 out of 100 then 0 out of 0. 🤷🏽‍♂️ . That’s a little what the book is about.

I was just becoming a fan of Joe Rogan

I was just becoming a fan of Joe Rogan. Recently I found myself consuming more of his content than in the past. My new thoughts on him doesn’t discredit his talent, his interesting views on taking responsibility of your own life and his uncanny ability to produce arguably the greatest interviews in the podcast field. He is A1 in his craft and my few views or listens probably won’t move the needle if I continue to consume his content or decide to jump on the cancel culture bandwagon. I was listening to Hot 97 Ebro in the morning and they brought up the controversial video of Joe Rogan saying something to the effect of “I walked into the Planet Of The Apes” when speaking on an experience of entering a movie theater that happened to be occupied by ALL AFRICAN AMERICANS who were there to see ….Planet Of The Apes. Wrong joke wrong time? Maybe. Insensitive? Maybe. Comedians get away with tip toeing that line of racially insensitive jokes A LOT so that’s not the issue. There’s a few issues in the video I saw but that’s not what I want to address.

One of the issues in the video is when Joe Rogan brought up a tweet that he made a joke about Blacks not tipping well at restaurants and folks on Twitter calling him a racist. He then goes to say Blacks are super sensitive when the “jokes on us”. Is that true? Maybe. Should we be sensitive when a White person with influence takes a shot at our character. YES. Because that then becomes the narrative about ALL African Americans, the same way the narrative is only African Americans take advantage of welfare benefits, or only African Americans talk in slang. Which brings me to another point of the video bothering me. Joe Rogan starts off this particular video using the word “fitna” or “finna” which is a common word used in Southern Language. Not just Black Southern language but Southern Language in general. Then Joe goes on to say that he doesn’t get mad when hearing Richard Pryor go into his “white voice” routine so why are Blacks so overly sensitive about him using his “black voice”. The issue with this is, most of the time white people mock or use their “black voice” it is to talk down on the way we speak or insinuate that we are less educated because we don’t use the English language the way it was intended to be used. Did Joe Rogan mean that? I don’t know but I’m speaking on how that plays out the majority of the time. On the flipside, when Black people are mocking or using their “white voice” it is to come across as an Uppity, educated or well spoken person. So should we feel offended that our way of speaking is looked down on? YES.

Another issue with the video was when Joe started to discuss the experience of being at a movie theater in a black neighborhood up. He talked about the experience being a good experience but he said it in a way like he was surprised that Black people can sit down in a movie theater and have a good time without acting like “Monkeys” or in this case a bunch of “Planet Of The Apes” He then went to mention how there were a bunch of babies and toddlers sitting in the laps of parents at 1030 on a FRIDAY NIGHT which led to one of his guest or co-host screaming “THEY DON’T GIVE A F*&# ABOUT SCHOOL”. I can be wrong about this but what kid goes to school on Saturday, especially a toddler or 2 year old?. Wrong joke wrong time? Maybe. Just maybe.

My main issue is, I find it hard to believe that a person as smart as Joe Rogan to blame the backlash from the tweets mentioned above on Blacks being Super Sensitive. I also find it hard to believe that a person as in tuned with social media like Joe Rogan to think that saying these things wouldn’t turn people off. I made it a conscious decision to not read the comments on the video that sparked this conversation and I made sure to not check if Joe Rogan issued an apology for it. The issue is not really what was said, it’s more about Joe Rogan an other influential people or brands who say racially sensitive things only to justify it by saying “Blacks are super sensitive”. Yes, we are super sensitive when people minimize the way we speak to “fitna” and Yes we are super sensitive when someone talks about us bringing toddlers to a grownup movie because we can’t afford to pay nannies. Yes we are super sensitive, but not because we chose to be this way. We are super sensitive because we have been stripped of our strength and nobody has apologized for the generational trauma that it has caused. Who gave influential white people the final say so on what we should be sensitive about in the first place?

Good Luck

Even though we should strive to get better everyday, naturally, January 1st is used as the date to start new goals. So while we all embark on our separate journeys, I want to wish you good luck. Be better, do better. One foot in front of the next everyday. You got this. We got this. Do More Everyday.

Watch what you say

Watch what you say because somebody might believe you. We often find ourselves making bold statements and announcements about what we’re gonna do without a actual plan in mind. It seems like Manifestation has become a buzzword. Speak it into existence is what is being said. Or at least that’s what I’ve been hearing a lot lately. An although I do believe it to be a lot of truth in that, most of the places I hear or read about that process isn’t saying that it will take a lot more than just making the announcement. Goals without plans just pile up in our to do list. An if we keep announcing to the world what our goals and dreams are with just the idea of Speaking into Existence, and no plan of action, soon our words become a little more meaningless by the day. Watch what you say. Because somebody might believe you. Until they no longer believe you.

Happy Holidays

The end of the year Holidays are usually a good time to reflect on what’s important like Family, Friends, Food, Love, Conversations and Creating Moments. Sometimes the everyday demands of life can start to weigh down on us. And sometimes it’s not even in a way where the pressure feels stressful. We just let the time lapse. We just go through the motions and those phone calls or text messages we promised that we’ll get to, usually get held off for another day or two, or sometimes forever. The Holidays give us time to smile at each other. Laugh with each other. Hug each other. Show each other love, with just body language. I hope everyone got to smile, hug, laugh and love a little more these past few days. Happy Holidays

My 1st year as a Dad flew

This is usually the time of year where we start to say This Year Flew or This Year Was A Drag. For me, the year feels like it flew. Except for the first few months. Becoming a father on December 22nd, 2017 was a wonderful feeling. But the first 1-3 months were tough and the biggest culture shock I’ve ever been through. Lol. I might be exaggerating a little but at the time that’s how it felt. An it was nothing that babysitting my younger siblings, learning from Grandpa Blake or anything off Google and YouTube that could’ve FULLY prepared me for what was to come. Of course I want to instill all the things I perceive to be good into my kid but everything is pretty much trial and error. There’s no perfect way, you just figure out what works best for you. When you have to tend to a person’s every need you get a new perspective on life. And once I got settled into a routine, things started to run a little smoother. Of course some days are still tougher than others …the occasional case of diarrhea 🤭, the crying and not knowing why, the days where no amount of coffee or red bull can override 6 hours of sleep in 3 days, an a bunch of other things that The Cosby Show never taught me about becoming a father. But that’s the beauty of it all. Watching someone learn everything from scratch is amazing. Especially when you know they’re learning most of it through you. But that’s also just as nerve wrenching as it can be amazing to know that your every movement, your every word, your every emotion will be watched and mimicked. That’s a lot of influence. That’s a lot of responsibility. And all of that makes the time fly when you now realize that every moment counts. It’s funny that sometimes it takes life to settle and slow down to make it feel like time is flying.

Happy Birthday Shake

Sense of Urgency

All the books…All the studying….All the challenges, goals, plans etc, will be all for naught if no action is implemented consistently. Information overload is a real thing. Sometimes we get so caught up in the meal prep that by the time the food is ready, those who were once hungry have settled on a different meal or lost the appetite for what you were cooking

What’s Next?

My 30 Days of Blogging Challenge is complete. I made it thru 30 days straight after taking years just to make my first post. Finally decided to stop it with the procrastination… finally decided to stop worrying if anyone would care to read it… finally decided to allow myself to be vulnerable through my writing. I’ve often allowed myself to be vulnerable through my music, but never through written form. But now, what’s next. I’m not sure if I’ll continue to post daily but I definitely plan to post frequently on here.

Something in me wants to continue daily blogging but I find myself asking should it come at the expense of tending to my works and projects. The 30 day challenge was very important to me so even on days where I lost control of the day or it just felt like I wouldn’t have anything to post, I dug deep and got it done, even if it took me hours to write, edit and share across my social media platforms. But the great thing about it was it being fun as well as a challenge. So now do I choose writing only when inspired since there’s no carrot in front of the rabbit, in the form of a challenge. Or do I write out of responsibility to myself. The only way for me to grow as a writer is to continue writing…right? Lol. If you have any suggestions or felt this dilemma I’m open to all ideas. But I am very excited and looking forward to seeing what’s next.