2017 is a milestone year!


10. It's always been a good number. God willing, in just a few months, I will not only celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary but my 10 year cancerversary from stage IIIA triple negative breast cancer. I will never forget the doctor giving me a few years "at best" to survive.

2016 seemed to be an aggressive death year for many celebrities and well known people and many of my social media connections deemed it as awful. Despite what obstacles and hurdles we faced in 2016, we should hold our heads up high that we survived it.

Every year will present tragedies, heartache, setbacks and misses but we can't let those define how the whole year went. Between the tears, there were lots of smiles and successes; we just tend to focus on what hurt us over what helped us.

I find myself saying this every year but I am always thankful for the bad things that happened because they reveal things to me such as what I need to improve, eliminate or focus on. The people that exited in 2016 didn't need to be present in your life because they were never tied to your destiny anyway. The opportunities you didn't get were not in line with what you truly needed to be doing anyway. Change your mindset about the things that seem like disappointment on the surface and dive deeper to reveal what the lesson in all of it was.

I'm already looking forward to great things this year and am beyond grateful that I will reach 10 years in remission and in my marriage. 2016 wasn't perfect but it was perfectly suited to help me grow and learn.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

An Open Letter to Tory Burch

Image
 Last month, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the Embrace Ambition Summit in New York hosted by the Tory Burch Foundation. Having attended business summits before, I went in with the expectation that the same topics presented by the same "types" would be facilitated. Boy was I wrong! The summit was simply amazing and I honestly cannot think of a time I felt more empowered and inspired as a woman. Every interaction and touchpoint was thoughtful and intentional. I loved how the program included audience speakers who you may not have known but had meaningful stories and impact. As an African-American woman who was once a single mother, has battled breast cancer, was subjected to childhood traumas, fought (and won) workplace discrimination among other career and life setbacks, it was reassuring to hear stories of perseverance from other women who shared their authentic stories without shame or guilt. Their transparency made me realize that we are never truly alone in any b
Read more

No Problems with Mary Jane

I don't blog daily because I strive to be relevant. In between social media posts, I do live a real life. This week, my facebook newsfeed has been inundated with bloggers and writers upset about current media portrayals of Black women on television; specifically the fictional characters of Olivia Pope on "Scandal" and "Being Mary Jane" on BET. First let me state the obvious: These are fictional characters . Dramatic television is simply that. In order to engage an audience, you must have conflict and character flaws. Few people would tune in to watch a show where perfect people go to their perfect jobs and return home to their perfect families in their perfect communities with absolutely no conflict, turmoil or drama. Television serves as an escape. We invest our time and emotions into characters which we can relate to at some level. My biggest concern with everyone upset with these portrayals is that they don't know what the resolution will be. These ch
Read more

2021: Took a stand

Image
  I have always been a fighter. The tendency to challenge things brewed in my belly as a child. Having your favorite brother killed in a hit and run accident as a child does something to you. You constantly seek justice whether intentional or not. Life circumstances have molded me into an advocate for others. Often when others around me lack the tools or resources to advocate for themselves, I accept the challenge and forge forward. Fighting for something today will always beat falling for anything tomorrow. Do I ever get tired of fighting? Absolutely but half of the battle is knowing when to join in the ring or throw in the towel. Equip yourself with knowledge so that you can be successful in any battle. 2021 definitely tried my voice, my well-being, my abilities and my patience. It was a year of raising my voice and taking a strong stand for what is right. And luckily, it was a stand worth taking. Moving into a new year, I would like to encourage anyone reading this to always strive
Read more