Happy New Year, everybody! This is my favorite time of year! It’s 2018. It’s a new start and a new beginning to a fresh new year. The ushering in of a new year signifies a way to say goodbye to 2017, specifically if it wasn’t a great year for you. The fact that we are in an 11 (2+0+1+8) year makes this year all the more special.
An 11 year is all about manifestation. Besides the number 8, the number 11 is one of my favorite numbers. The number 11 is a master number. In my eyes, it signifies walking into a portal (with 1s on each side of you) where you can literally CREATE your reality! You can create the life you want to live, the love you want have and the opportunities you want to explore. You have to be CLEAR about what you want to manifest before you can manifest it!
I am excited for every new year that comes in. It just feels like a magical time to me. Take the Christmas spirit and times it by 10,000. That’s what every new year feels like for me. But for this 11 year, I am extra excited!
I wanted to drop off a few key points for you in this new year:
- 2017 was about a half a bitch to me. The first half of the year was HORRIBLE, but the 2nd half of the year cleaned up nicely. Even still…..
I lost sight of my goals trying to “grind”. Learn from my mistake. Spend more time working on YOUR dreams than you will spend “grinding”. If you can work hard for someone else’s unethical, raggedy company, you can do an even more stellar job putting in that same work and effort on your own vision. Not to mention, it will pay dividends for you in the end far more than slaving away at a job you hate.
- I WILL be writing more blogs in 2018.
I recognize I have a way with words. Even when cussing, fussing and raising hell. More and more people need to and will hear my voice this year in every medium possible. People need to be encouraged, pissed off, made uncomfortable, made to think, made to evolve and made to MOVE into a better existence. It’s time to take the gloves off and get this right.
- Excuses are a thing of the past…even for OURSELVES.
Excuses aren’t flying in 2018. Anyone and everyone grown and of sound mind can do whatever it is they want to do when they want to do it. No one else controls you. No one. It’s all up to you. My mom used to always say, “It’s not whether or not you can do it, it’s if you want to or not!” Once the mind is made up either way,one WILL or they WON’T.
- The jig is up on gaslighting.
Gaslighting tactics are not going to work much anymore. This year is one of not only manifestation, but clarity: clarity about what is being done to us and clarity about what we are doing to ourselves and others. All of the sexual assault scandals that broke 2017 and rolled into 2018? They were the result of CLARITY. Clarity in recognizing what happened to us and that we need to speak our truth no matter who doesn’t like it. The fallout will continue in 2018.
Gaslighting is where someone makes you think you are wrong for feeling the way you feel. They do this by making you feel as if you are crazy, out of touch or you don’t know what you’re talking about as it relates to your own lived experiences. My family is a family of gaslighters. Sisters, uncles, cousins, brothers, aunts, uncles and my own dad. My own father gaslighted me from a teenager until I was 33 years old. He did this by telling me something as simple and small as my birthday wasn’t my birthday. I would cry and get so upset. My mom would tell me to brush it aside, but she never let his emotionally or mentally abusive ways penetrate her. I loved my dad so much. I was so naive. How could I not believe him, despite my mom saying it wasn’t true? Who am I then, if not the girl this birth certificate says? By him making me question those things about myself, specifically my own birthday, it damaged me deeply. I felt as if I couldn’t even trust my own thoughts or words, because clearly they weren’t mine. They belonged to someone else. A long lost Val who I would someday meet and reconcile all of this with. It took the wind out of my confidence. It was a horrible existence. I overcame it and healed. However, it has made me very forceful about asserting who I am. Also, I have a zero tolerance for people (even my family members) gaslighting me. I do not forgive them. I never will. They are no longer my family and I move forward without them. I will never condone someone being abusive towards me. Doesn’t matter what the reason is.
- We are no longer living in “la la” land
In the theme of clarity, it’s time for us to stop burying our heads in the sand about what’s going on with us and what is going on around us. Specifically, with us starting out year in Capricorn, this sign wants us to get super clear about our responsibilities as Saturn has returned to Capricorn after a number of years. The Celestial Taskmaster has returned home! What does this mean? We must take responsibility. We must get clear. We must hold ourselves accountable. Our heads are no longer in the cloud or a haze. We know what we have to do now. Either we are going to be responsible now or have that “act right” yanked out of us later.
- The struggle is NOT real!
Let’s retire the struggle narrative once and for all in 2018. Especially and SPECIFICALLY if you are a woman of color. There is nothing noble about struggle. Frustration is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and push you forward. Struggle is no longer a good look. It’s unneccesary. You are not defined by how hard you can push without taking care of you. You are not definined by your ability to be able to just barely get by. You are not defined by your ability to do spectacular things with 1/1000th of the resources available to do so with a smile on your face as you die inside. STRIVE for greatness. Push forward with a level head. Once you begin to struggle, it’s time to lighten the load, drop the dead weight and keep pressing!
- Manifest on OVERDRIVE this year!
This is a magical year. Use every opportunity to shine available. Use every opportunity available to do something that is going to make your heart sing. See yourself on that stage. See yourself living the life you’ve always desired. See yourself taking better care of yourself than anyone you know. Live for you. Dream the most impossible dreams, grab them and push them into fruition. There is a Bible verse that says, “Faith (what you believe in) without works (what you are willing to DO) is dead!
With that said, welcome to 2018!
From Now Until Infinity,
