This week was hard. I’m talking fetal position, ice-cream for breakfast, Scandal seasons 1-4 for the 3rd time hard. As a young adult and entrepreneur everyday is workday, every relationship takes work and every loss is a huge loss. My personal life and professional life for me are one in the same, and lately they both have been taking a beating. Every business begins as a dream and the thing with me is that I’ve sort of forgotten the details of mine and thus I’ve been ‘winging it’. That threw me far off course leaving me lost and quite frankly a little bit unenthused. When I checked back in with 18 year old me and compared the goal then to the goal now, the disparaging details are sharp and plenty. What’s happening to me is what happens to most ambitious millennials on their way through their terrible twenties. Add a budding digital business, fierce friends, a traditional family and a less than gentrified nation and what you have is me on a Tuesday night with a tub of Ben & Jerry’s and Scandal season 3 episode 7 on pause. It was on pause because I was having an epiphany… finally a breakthrough.
See, when you release yourself from the shackles of ‘trying to be’ and just BE, then and there you will begin to find one of the greatest freedoms known to man – The chance to regain your authenticity. We often cloud our progress with empty aspirations inspired by the ever changing ‘modern times’. We poison our value systems with fake validations from things like likes on instagram to designer labels. This overwhelming need to emulate a ‘Kim Kardashian’ and her celebrity culture does not make one a bad person but it does make you a foolish one. We all must construct our own lives on our own terms, paying attention to variables that are authentic, available and ethically sound. Until we are able to thoroughly refresh our value systems, we will never be able to truly know what it means to be loved and love ourselves, to have real relationships and to wholeheartedly be and feel accomplished and happy. The human brain is quite beautiful and extremely powerful. It has a way of tricking us to believe we are content with our millennial lives. However, if you channel your energy through your heart and history you will find that your contentment is rather gravely misplaced. Don’t get me wrong, there is significant gratification found in modern measures like likes on instagram and exclusive invites to events. But the gratitude derived from those means are in fact fleeting, hence the constant refreshing of the actionable measures. We start editing and posting more on social media, budgeting less for health and more for fashion and exhaust ourselves with the faux obligation of showing up and showing out always. All in hopes of receiving larger amounts of satisfaction with deeper contentment that will never ever come.
This month the highlight of the week is Caribbean bad gal Rihanna and her “Breaking The Rules’ spring cover of Paper Magazine. Followed closely by the announcement of the return of Kaci Fennell Shirley to the wonderful world of blogging. But not to be forgotten is the dynamic and history making fine arts dance company ‘Complexions Contemporary Ballet’ and their Season opening show set for the Little Theatre on March 8th and 9th. The common string that weaves all these stories together is the mission of breaking and freeing. From creating a dance company from the ground up all while ignoring the color and origin of your talent to allowing free reign to a young stylist on a famed fashion icon to create imagery that’s, well, less than standard. I’m inspired by these stories and elated at their timing. As an entrepreneur the one thing that resurfaces every single day on my to-do list is ‘to encourage myself’. To remind myself of the whys and hows that drives my fate. I hope you find in my note and these stories a similar strength. So here’s to breaking, freeing and becoming (once again) the most original versions of ourselves. Good luck.
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Mar 4, 2017
Editor’s Note
Rashade St Patrick, editor’s pick, authenticity, empowerment, inspiration, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, business, youth
Rashade St Patrick
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Mar 4, 2017
Editor’s Note
Rashade St Patrick, editor’s pick, authenticity, empowerment, inspiration, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, business, youth
Rashade St Patrick
Comment
Mar 4, 2017
Editor’s Note
Rashade St Patrick, editor’s pick, authenticity, empowerment, inspiration, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, business, youth
Rashade St Patrick
Comment
Mar 4, 2017
Editor’s Note
Rashade St Patrick, editor’s pick, authenticity, empowerment, inspiration, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, business, youth
Rashade St Patrick
Comment
Mar 4, 2017
Editor’s Note
Rashade St Patrick, editor’s pick, authenticity, empowerment, inspiration, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, business, youth
Rashade St Patrick
Comment
Mar 4, 2017
Editor’s Note
Rashade St Patrick, editor’s pick, authenticity, empowerment, inspiration, entrepreneurship, entrepreneur, business, youth
Rashade St Patrick
Comment