She came, she saw, and she recovered.
Happy November everybody. To my American fam Happy belated Halloween and to my Latino fam, Feliz Dia De Los Muertos(Happy Day of the Dead). Week 6 was a week of triumph. I say that because my body was attacked by an upper respiratory infection that affected my ability to talk and move. At first, I just thought my throat was sore because I yell a lot during my HIIT(High Interval Intensity Training) classes but by last Friday I could barely speak. Why is that a problem? Currently, I am a fitness trainer and I’m a part of the sales team. These roles at my gym require me to talk 75% of the time. Last Friday morning I went to a doctor in my neighborhood only to be told that he was out until Tuesday. Alright then. I thanked the receptionist for their time and in my mind, I said, “Next honey”. My plan was to see the doctor BEFORE work. So, I went to work armed with honey, lemon, tea bags and cough drops. I did my best to generate energy I needed to make it through.
***Side note***I don’t know if it’s being an Aries, a white personality or southern bell but I am stubborn as they come and I hate when people pity me. Empathy, now that, I am cool with. ***side note complete***
I got so many looks of pity that it just fuelled my energy to make it through. I focused on red(that’s true health for me) and did my best. My gym logo is partly a red oval so it helped. Meanwhile later in the day, I am physically miserable and I told my co-workers my morning story. My co-worker responded and gave me a suggestion that allowed me to see a medical professional, get antibiotics and get better. So I finally listened to my body and rested. It took four days and yesterday was my last day of antibiotics. So she is back honey with a vengeance.
What’s interesting is the whole time I was out for the count I was thinking about I need to write I need to read etc, but I was just too weak. I missed this so much. That said let’s talk about Scroll 2.
I love You
Yes. YOU buddy. You reading this blog, I love you because I greet this day and you my friend with love. This is one of my favorite scrolls in OG’s book because it puts things in perspective for me. I think one of my favorite paraphrased quotes are:
I love the darkness because it helps me appreciate the beauty of the stars, I love the young for their energy, the old for their wisdom and the rich for they are lonely.
Woah. hold. up.wait.a.minute……that’s POWERFUL. I think both rich and poor get a lot of flack from society because they are both misunderstood, especially the rich. Now the word rich has a lot of connotations right? We could go with financially rich, spiritually rich, physically rich, this cake is rich;)….the list goes on and on. What about as a leader?
I never thought about it, but for me, if you are a leader then you are rich period. Rich in courage, rich in strength, rich in wisdom, a
nd rich in vision. We all know(if you don’t, you do now) being a leader can be and is lonely. You can not just hang out or bond with anyone and everyone. That is why chiefs of state are friends with each other because only they understand what the other is going through and so on an so forth. I love the rich because they are lonely…hmm. How profound!
We Americans in the United States of America, shout out to my fellow Americans in Canada and Mexico(love you guys and dolls impeccably) are masters of hiding the truth of what is really going on with us. For many reasons that I won’t get into because that is a whole different discussion, however, it is lonely to be a leader yet someone has to do it.
Lights, Camera, Sing!
For years I questioned why am I always the one leading projects? Why? I am the eldest girl of my parents and I am a problem solver. Put it together and there you go. If you all knew what I did on a daily basis you could misconstrue the construct that I love being in the spotlight and it’s just not true. I love the creative process and being behind the scenes. However, I also enjoy finding solutions to problems and that will bring you to the limelight ready or not. So that in a large degree I am finding is exactly what happened to me.
I remember in college I didn’t know how I was going to get what I wanted (which was to be a makeup artist at the time) but I enjoyed learning. So that is what I focused on. I had earned a scholarship for choir my freshman year and to be honest it was tough. We never did Mozart in high school. We did, “Simple Gifts” you know? So that one semester I was about ready to quit, Mozart was working my last nerve. Why did he have to use 16 bars to say one word really!?! (I’m over it now and in the end, I enjoyed doing Mozart’s Requiem. )the new Musical Theater director asked me to join her class. I told her, ” I can’t act. I don’t have a big voice and I don’t know about this. I can’t even act.” She cooly responded, “it’s okay, I’ll guide me just join me.” Well, folks, I did. It was one of the best decisions of my life because it DESTROYED all shyness for the rest of my life. You can’t get up on stage and sing “Bali Hai” from South Pacific and be shy. It just won’t work!!! I remember being so nervous and my friend James told me, “V. I’ll go to your island with a wink.”
James was playing the role of the soldier I was trying to convince to go to Bali Hai to marry my daughter. He was the first guy I sang to EVER. We took the program on tour and my professor used us as a marketing and recruiting tool for the regional high schools. I later found out one of the regional high school seniors came to our college specifically because of me motivated him to be in the musical theater program. We sang in local nursing homes and churches. We loved doing that because of course, we were broke college students who get what? Free home-cooked food!!!
On opening night the house was packed. I asked my mommy to please not sit in the first row. Do you know what she did? She sat in the second row!!! One of the first songs we did was called, “Three Little Maids From School”. The show starts, I scurry out on stage in my kimono and chopsticks and to my horror, I could hear her laughing and I almost broke character(for those who don’t know breaking character is, it is doing something to destroy the illusion of who you are trying to portray. ie laughing or crying.)! I pulled myself together and continued with the performance. She didn’t know I could act. Me either. That year we did songs from South Pacific, Les Miz, Barnum, The Wiz, Guys and Dolls, The Mikado and a few more.
The Law of Giving and Receiving
Here is the thing about that story: how in the world did that lady know I could sing or act? I never met her until that day she asked me. To this day I still don’t know. The program grew and ran a few years after I graduated from Blinn then it died. It all started with her belief in me that I could lead.
It was a great program that helped me get out of my shell and helped form the big personality I am today. I gave my talent to that program, and it gave me the tools I need to this day to give creative classes, events etc. I was uncomfortable then being in the lead then in life and in business. The truth is great leaders are needed right now. In the marketplace, in our communities, and in our politics. I wasn’t ready then but I am ready to lead now. How? The MKMMA process is helping avalanche that cement right off. One day at a time.
What Do You Want?
As I have been reading doing the exercises, reading your comments in the alliance area I am asking myself a very bold question for me. What do you want girl? Not to sound all Spice Girls but what do you really want? It’s uncomfortable at first because I have spent my life looking after my sisters, and that habit followed me with other experiences so I never really focused on what I truly wanted. It almost felt like a sin to me to ask that question. How crazy right?
The truth is I want to get paid for doing what I was born to do which is motivate, inspire and educate. I want to be wealthy and be the cause of positive change in the neighborhoods I grew up in. I want to financially educate others and end the cycle of disease and poverty. As we know from Emerson’s Essay which I really enjoyed, there is always compensation for another. Light for darkness, foolishness for wisdom, beauty for grotesque the list goes on and on. However, as a liberated woman who will not take her freedom of choice lightly or for granted, I choose to be light in the darkness, wise and beautiful. I chose to be proactive and intuitive instead of reactive and dense. I chose to go for what I want. I chose to give more. I chose to generate more love.
The truth of the matter is every time we make the choice to dim our light for the sake of whatever…it’s selfish. You have no idea whose path you are lighting the way for or trailblazing. Can you imagine what would have happened if Madam CJ Walker, the first African American millionaire entrepreneur in hair care products had not walked the path she did? Nicoli Tesla? Fredrick Douglas? JP Morgan? Your own parents and ancestors? How would have history had changed? More importantly, how will history change if you chose to shine your light or dim it? I encourage you to let your light shine no matter what. People have the choice to wear shades or step up to your level.;)
I always look forward to hearing from you fam.
XOXO,
Victoria
Victoria's World 