My kids love reading books on fictional superheroes and colorful animal characters, however, when they saw books that depicted little Black boys and girls with awesome hairstyles and cool fades, their faces lit up like a bright sun on a hot summer afternoon. The interesting thing about this is that Black children are not commonly seen in the books they read.

Growing up we are always asked this key question during our formative years: What do you want to be when you grow up? The interesting thing is we yell out with excitement, professions that we feel are noble of our calling; And so we are off to pursue our dreams with childlike wonder hoping to find fulfillment on the other side of the degrees, credentials, and certifications.

It was 1:45 pm on Wednesday afternoon when I got the news. I was ending a zoom meeting with a colleague when I got wind that the verdict in the Breonna Taylor case was in. Only one officer charged — and not even for the bullets that killed Breonna Shaquelle Taylor. Charges that declared wanton endangerment for the bullets that sprayed the drywall of her white neighbors’ apartment but no charges for the blatant disregard for her life or the lives of others.

“I get to choose!” This is the phrase that echoed in my head as I began to think of the laundry load of things on my to-do list this week. I don’t have to be at the mercy of my list-I can make a choice to focus on what is absolutely necessary and stay the course.

Death— the one fate we are all guaranteed to meet one day, yet at times we live our lives in ways devoid of acknowledging that we are operating on borrowed time. For one day, our time on earth will exist no more and we will have to give account to what we did with the precious time we had while we were here (Romans 14:12). T

Black and Brown—well educated and equipped to take on the world, we leave the cocoons of our formative training and enter into professional spaces where we unearth the secrets of things we were not told during the interview process. We uncover that although values of diversity and inclusion were espoused, we are in fact the only gems labeled as “other” that highlight an erroneous claim that diverse populations are in the fabric of this space.

Lights, camera, action- cheese! The frozen smiles and well-poised bodies line the beautifully curated walls of social media. Pictures, framed to perfection and well-captioned words fill feeds as lives are portrayed in pristine and flawless condition. Our eyes glaze over the glossy photos and well-crafted pages displaying the tales of adventures being told, that leave us wondering and wishing when we too can travel to secret destinations and post our highlight reels for all to see.

The unravellings of COVID-19 have systematically dismantled any forms of normalcy that we were once accustomed to. Days, where schedules were planned to the “T”, have now been left hanging in the ballads as we try to figure out how to make it day by day with the never-ending demands of work and life.

So how do you deal with disappointment? And not the “I just missed snagging the last dress in my size that was on sale” disappointment? I mean deep pressing, gut-punching, soul-crushing disappointment? Perhaps you’ve found yourself curled up in a ball with your favorite pint of smooth, milky ice cream? Or maybe instead you burrow down into the deep crevices of your warm bed, hiding, aching, afraid to peel back the layers and expose the deep hurt and pain that has bubbled to the top like a sunken ship that has begun to make its re-emergence. Yeah, that kind of disappointment.

What is it that you would do in your wildest dreams if money were not an issue? Go ahead, jot it down! Now what's holding you back? Most people will present a list of obstacles, excuses, and reasons as to why they can’t do the very thing they wish they could.

The weeks are flying by like cars on a crowded racetrack. You lay down its Monday, and wake up, it’s Friday. It seems like 2020 has been applying pressure since January, and we are caught out here trying to loosen ourselves from the collective grasp of the events that have seemed to hit over and over again like waves crashing repeatedly against an icy shoreline. I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted.

Today has been one for the books. As I sit here letting my thoughts unfold on this digital page, I am consumed by all of the thoughts swarming around in my head. Thoughts swarming around like bees with the harsh sting of them piercing my mind. Thoughts of yesterdays and yester-years that are sweet, distant memories.

Summer 2020 is here and although many of us had plans to travel, relax, and create new memories with family and loved ones, the ongoing pandemic has significantly diminished the hopes of any extensive plans for this summer.

Have you ever felt like an imposter or a phony on your job and that the lights would flick on and reveal that you were a fraud all along? Have you doubted yourself and your skills and felt unworthy to occupy your position even though you went through a rigorous interview process, are degreed,

Why is it always so hard to ask for help when you so desperately need it? Is it the fact that we have been normalized to not put down our capes and masks long enough to reveal the innermost parts of ourselves? Have we bought into the lie that we have to have it all together and those who don’t deserve to be judged or even worse yet, shunned?