She Will Not Lose: The Indigo Trip

Depths of Diaspora I am two weeks away from becoming a college graduate and this journey has taken me to heaven, hell, and back. I approached my freshman year of college with dreamy eyes and anxious ambitions of being the next former NBC host Melissa Harris Perry . I also came to Troy University with a heart that was dedicated to a high school sweetheart of two years. My relationship was over by the end of my first semester and I was completely devastated. I had new responsibilities, a new home, new people and the only familiarity that I had was with my ex back home, who was gone. Many people experience their first heartbreak in high school after being stood up at the prom, movies, etc. My first heart break took place in my shabby dorm room with a roommate whom I barely knew and was rather uncomfortable with my unorthodox relationship all together. During that breakup, I lost myself chasing unrequited love. The longer I chased, the more I began to trap myself in desperation, d...

Can you recall a moment in your life when you were searching for   church in the wild ? In life, we have the  jungle   and we have the   church . The church is a holy building but it can be taken anywhere with you because God’s Light is everywhere.    Church is a place of worship, refuge, acceptance, and most importantly, light. The jungle is the   world.   It is where self-gain and wealth is golden, when temptation becomes second nature, a place that forces you to question everything right. The jungle is a place of  manipulation  where it veils truth and feeds   lost ones   with its own version of “fulfillment”. Solange   was not the first to tip us on the ways of the world.   The Bible   tells us in Romans 12: 2,  “ Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ” ...

I’m sure you can recall a moment when you would walk into your living room and blurt out, “why did I come in here again?” Although it may take a few trips from room-to-room to figure out what you are missing, there is still an “oh yeah!” moment that arises. We all encounter situations that leave us questioning our initial purpose. No matter if it involves you picking another profession after college or finding another career after retirement. Marriage, parenthood, careers can have a person running in lanes that they never intended on competing in. My mother and I have a lot of things in common. For instance, we are both writers and we both grew up wanting to be Hollywood stars. As my siblings and I got older my mother became more drawn into Corporate America rather than in freelance writing. She went to college for journalism but was not able to follow through with that plan. I am now in my senior year of college and I am an aspiring writer and journalist. I bel...

How often do you say thank you or acknowledge another person with hello or smile? What is your first response when someone sneezes next to you in public? How many times have you walked into a room full of people and greeted them only to get blank stares?  When is it ok to be courteous to someone?  These are just a few self-reflection questions that I have had to ask myself about and what I thought my readers should consider. Everyone is into being social through media but not through physical contact. I am just as guilty for my social habits. I have passed by friends and not even realizing it because I was so involved in my phone.  Additionally, it seems like everyone feels entitled nowadays. It's as if you have to earn the right to be spoken to; if I do not know you then why should I ask how you are doing. I doubt that any of us were raised with these customs, so how did common courtesy disintergrate? I was born and raised in the South and southern hosp...

Anger is addictive and I do not think people realize how easy it is to slip into the traps of negativity. It is not impossible to be positive through troubling times. Antagonism is a constricting sign of distress. Anger is reflected differently in people. According to www.psychguides.com , there are different forms of anger, which include: Chronic anger  – prolonged, cause of other mental disorders Passive anger – sneering sarcasm  Overwhelmed anger – caused by stress Self-inflicted anger – caused by feelings of guilt Judgmental anger – directed towards others Volatile anger – violent anger From experience, I grew up watching family members carry anger throughout their entire adult lives. They carry the weight of rage from their childhood and into parenthood. I have witnessed their own children growing up and avoiding their parent when they were no longer forced to be in that type of environment. It is natural to be upset but when anger becomes your pe...

Life is challenging but we are not put here to live in struggle. Struggle is nothing more than life lessons. There is absolutely nothing wrong with failure, we can't always come on top. When a person makes a mistake, experience teaches us. Perfection does not exist in man. There is no good in holding disappointment within yourself because everyone messes up. We are accountable for our life choices and the actions that we take, however, we can not harbor our mistakes. Consequences can be harsh but with forgiveness we have a gateway to a fresh start. For example, it is hard to live up to certain people's expectations. I have disappointed quite a few people because of the choices that I made. Self-condemnation was one of the heaviest crosses that I grew up having to bare. I could not bring myself to asking for forgiveness, nor practicing how to forgive myself. I realized that withholding my mistakes, left me stagnant. I was stuck in denial and I made it more difficult ...

Let's face it, nothing in life comes easily. Balancing your professional and personal life can be exhausting. We are forced to put on masks to conform to certain environments. Stress can be a result of you running through your journey with no breaks. Sometimes it can be difficult to find peace in the midst of chaos.  When we allow ourselves to be boggled down in stress, our body begins to adjust to it.  High blood pressure, depression, insomnia, and anxiety are just a few traits that result in your body undergoing constant stress. It is so easy to adapt to the negative facets of pressure, however, discovering your own stress relievers can be extremely beneficial. Below are five beneficial ways to relieve stress:  1       Talk – Whether you are confiding to a trusted individual or a higher power, you have to vent. I have grown up learning the hard way how unhealthy it is to suppress what you are going through. I was always fearful of being judged,...

Colors have such a strong significance in our lives.  In fact, color affects our interpretation of what we see and further, how closely tied they are to our emotions . We have the ability to see the world's vibrancy but we also have colorful intuition that can either hold us back or welcome us. It is our choice to decide how to react to how we see colors. We are all shaded and colored beautifully, from our skin, to our eyes, to the nail polish ladies pick out at the nail salon.  When you sit and think about color, it is amazing how it drives our society. During the pivotal periods in our history that breathed life into the injustices behind Jim Crowe in the South, the Holocaust in Europe, and the Atlantic Slave Trade, color has controlled the framework of communities. Case in point, one of the most powerful countries in the world shows division based on an individual’s understanding of color. Moreover, territories  have been set   in cities and neighborhoods...

Life can show a person the dirtiest, ugliest, and darkest perceptions of the world and the people in it. What an individual must remember is that viewing the world as an ugly place only creates fear, isolation, and distrust in society. Positivity is the only way a person can be happy with themselves and everything around them. Keep your mind clear and play the best game with the cards that you are dealt with. From personal experience I can attest to being challenged by life and having to choose how I would view the situation. Last April my mother had a stroke.  It was a very emotional and unexpected dilemma. I can remember leaving her hospital room that night and thinking that it was just another episode induced by high stress. All my mom needed was rest and she would be fine. The next morning I rushed back to the hospital, not expecting the heavy load of reality that would be dropped on me. She told me that she had to go to the bathroom and as I reached out my ...

Passion is the flame that is ignited inside of you when you are doing something that sparks your deepest interest. We all have a deep passion for something, it’s a thing that no individual should ever have the power to take.  Your passion must be protected and through perseverance it will always radiate through the depths of your spirit. There is an art to perseverance and it requires a complete you.  A person must be mentally, physically, and spiritually intact with their ultimate plan. People and situations are placed in your life to discourage you but it is your decision to give them that advantage. When the enemy sees that you have restructured your focus then “concern” about your change begins to resonate.  As an open individual you have to remember that everyone is entitled to their own opinion. People can see change in you but that does not mean they have to agree with the modification.  If your friends are not ready to adapt or grow with you, they ...