never mind the mess...

"you inspire more people than you realize.  never mind the mess...keep being the message." 
🤍 -c. 

often, we find ourselves distracted from what we are meant to become...what we are meant to focus on.  there are so many things competing for our attention.  ever wonder why that is the case?

maybe it's because there is something earth-shatteringly different about you.  
something that is meant to birthed from you and your experiences that can only be delivered by you.
and maybe...just maybe, by distracting you, the very people who are supposed to benefit from the very message that only you can deliver will become stagnated as well.  

thus, a perpetual cycle of unfulfilled promises and dreams can occur all because we allow proverbial mess to distract us from staying on task and remaining steadfast to our journeys.  

maybe we need to do the inner work of healing.
maybe it's the song we need to write.
or maybe it's that child we know we need to say an encouraging word to.
...maybe it's just being who we are aloud so that our influence can be felt by those around us.
only we know what the "little", seemingly insignificant thing we must do is.  

but like a snowball, when we ignore that one little thing, it becomes normal to continue ignoring the nagging idea of doing something that we know we must.

and just like that...the fire becomes a little dimmer. 
bit
by
bit.

your light is meant to be bright.  never discount the value of what you can contribute to the world.  

with love,
#TheHummingbird🌺

a new era...

howdy y'all...

today felt like a moment for a bit of a #storytime.

as i revamp this blog and really share some of my thoughts from the current space i am in, i really want to encourage anyone who has or is presently facing some form of struggle.  resistance is a normalcy in this thing called life.  but the thing that separates us is how we handle our struggles.

do we run away from them? 
do we avoid them (only to find them waiting on us when we cease our avoidance methods)?

or do we confront them?
do we seek solutions?

our approach to these things makes the difference.

and our perspective as we take the journey is what allows us to have joy in the midst of the most sorrowful of circumstances.

while i cannot say i have always adopted an optimistic attitude, i have definitely learned that gratitude can change things in remarkable ways.  i always say, "gratitude is the attitude that increases your altitude."  

when i have been challenged, finding things to be grateful for really kept me centered (even when i felt completely hopeless otherwise).  appreciating the smallest details in nature made me see that the Creator had special purpose in everything divinely designed...down to the fleck of a butterfly's iridescent wing.  when i see the splendor of such things, how can i ever doubt my own design, my worth, my purpose?

as i move forward in sharing things in this blog, it may seem incongruent.  but the truth is, it is all based on my experience...so the thing that is congruent and holds all these pieces together is me.  

yes, i am a single mom. 
yes, i am divorced. 
so why in the world would i be talking about the happiness of being a housewife?

well, one reason is...i respect the position of a housewife.  i have always desired to serve in that role and i felt masterful when i had that opportunity.  

deep down, i am still very much a wife.  i am simply enriching myself so that i can be the best version of myself when that blessed gentleman makes the right decision to see me as his wife.  

so in the meantime, i meditate on it.  i speak life into it.  and i share what i know because there are many who could benefit from what i've learned and know.

i was "only" a stay-at-home mom...not a mogul!
why in the world would i talk about the importance of credit??

well, here again, i learned a lot because of necessity.  
when i was married, i wasn't allowed to manage my own money (sounds kinda weird, right?).  i thought i was doing the right thing by "submitting" to that rule, but it was to my detriment.  
i learned about developing excellent credit because i had no money when i left that situation (i had been a stay at home mom who, even during a brief time of working, wasn't allowed to have my own money).  i didn't have any proof of my ability to pay debts.  and anything that had been in my name was disregarded since it wasn't in the breadwinner's name...so my credit was a bit...tarnished, to say the least.

leaving that situation, i couldn't rent an apartment because of having poor credit...even if i did have income at the time.  i hadn't worked in a few years, so it was difficult to land a traditional job.  i felt defeated and lost.  

educating myself led me to a wealth of understanding when it came to personal finances (not to mention business finances, funding, and private family wealth).  i had to figure it out because i didn't want to live off of family members for the rest of my days.  and i didn't want my children seeing me do that either.  they have seen me climb my way up and out of some murky places.  
...and they respect the journey.

so when i go into some of these subjects (that may seem unrelated or maybe even unaligned with my present position), please know that i am sharing from a place of personal experience and growth...not to be a guru or a pseudo know-it-all.  

i'm just a woman who has had to learn from the rough and unpaved roads along the way...and it is truly my heart's desire to spare others a rocky climb.

i wrote some of these articles years ago and had them on another site (which may be why the dates show up as older than this very post).  i am transparent, open, and sharing with love at the center of it all.

at this moment, i can say as well, any reference to people who have once harmed me is not meant to be malicious...but it's meant to share the truth of what i have had to endure or grow from in order to now share what you can glean from.  believe me, it has taken years to get to a place of peace with most people who have mishandled me...there is no shade over here....only a glow.🧚🏽‍♀️✨

may you continuously enjoy your journey...and thank you for sharing mine.

with love,
#TheHummingbird🌺