“The good news is, n****, you came a long way.
The bad news is, n****, you went the wrong way…….”
~J. Cole “Love Yourz”
This lyric hit me hard yesterday morning when I saw it on a friend’s FaceBook page. It quickened my spirit. I wanted to get up and do a stomp just reading it. The reason why is because looking back on my life up to this point in my thirty-something years on this Earth, I have been very lucky to not have suffered much of the bull that many black women, women and people in general have had to suffer. May the Creator bless each and every one of them because they’ve been through a lot. I have had one or two situations that were horrific for me beyond comprehension and they will not be minimized here. Overall, though, I have lived a largely quiet, middle class, middle-of-the-road life thus far that I am immensely proud of. Every since I was a baby, I have been very well taken care of. Unbeknownst to me, even by people that I wasn’t related to. I was never abused as a child. I was always fed, over-fed, catered to and spoiled rotten. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s I had every toy, baby doll, bike, contraption, Barbie, Barbie accessory and video game console released. The old saying “God protects babies and fools!” springs to mind. Not sure which one I’ve been all this time, but I have had my ass covered many, many, many a day while other folks right down the way from me were getting beat upside their head unrepentantly. In physical, social and economic ways. So, yes. I have come a long way. But thank goddess, I didn’t go the WRONG damned way!
For whatever reason, I have always felt as if I was floating around life with moments of anchoring or being anchored. Now that I am thinking back on it, the times when I did have turmoil in my life was when I was going along to get along for others. Life was most in disarray when I was “running behind” other emeffas. For love, for recognition, for approval, for guidance and for comfort. My life was the most anchored, strong and thoroughly abundant when I was going the right way for myself. Listening to myself and not hanging on someone else’s every word has brought me so much luck. I felt some type of way upon reading that lyric because it reminds of me of something I need to tell y’all. It’s something I need everyone to understand who reads this.
I want you to understand and be under no illusions that: employing ways to prevent from “going the wrong way” is not “cheating” in life. Let me say it another way. Using spirituality to make sure you’re going the most efficient way possible for your life path is not “cheating”. There’s no such freaking thing, first of all. What it IS, though, is being strategic. I consider myself a very, VERY (I can’t even begin to go into it) strategic person in the way I live my life. I look at my life and everything around me as that which can be successfully strategized for a ‘W’ on my side of the scoreboard. I am not malicious with it, but I am very unapologetic about that. I wish more people would look at life more strategically. They wouldn’t continue to suffer foolishness at the hands of dummies.
When I was finishing up my business degree six years ago (to the month–WHOOP!), one of the last classes I had to take before graduation was Organizational and Business Strategy. Something like that. My professor was a baaaaaaaaaad WOMAN. She was tough as nails, sharp, smart and she didn’t take any shit. If I remember correctly, she gave me a ‘B’ in the class. Not because I didn’t kill all of my tests, projects and final, but simply because I couldn’t manage to get my ass to class on time. It’s funny now. It wasn’t funny then. My mother had died some years before that. She was my heart. I was all alone trudging through the completion of my education and grieving her very much still. You think my professor cared? SLIGHTLY. Looking back, I appreciate that treatment, too. Everyone’s not going to give a hot damn and not let you reach your potential because of “personal issues”. I’m practically rabid in that I don’t allow personal issues to get in the way of my work. So I completely understand it.
At any rate, the class was all about teaching muthas how to dissect business strategies that were employed through the reading of case studies. They were current, too. When I tell you that was one of MY FAVORITE classes? Oh. Em. Gee! I wish I could take that class every semester with different case studies. That was one of the moments I recognized I was really good at understanding and employing effective strategy. Even though I have a business degree, working in corporate is not my bag. I’m getting too up in age now at the ripe old age of above 35 to be pussyfooting around with people, keeping up appearances and keeping quiet when I know how to fix “the” problem. I am also too old to be allowing people to talk over me and take credit for my work. I ain’t got time for that shit. It’s for that very reason that I have been THANKFULLY steered away from a path working in corporate America. Instead, I am supposed to go down a path that I am to be wholly responsible for creating.
I can’t tell you what the wrong way is in general. If I read you though, it’s going to come out with a vengeance. The “wrong” way is different for everybody. Do you genuinely need a hint? My astrological chart helped me to determine my path. Getting readings before I got my full gift in March helped me to work out the details. I feel confident on where I am going and how to get there. Not to mention, if I am feeling stuck, I know just where to find my cards in order to get the answers I need. I no longer have to float or struggle along.
If you need the guidance and you can afford it, get it. Most people pay for what they want and beg for what they need. Don’t be “that” guy. Invest in yourself! Employ strategy to win at life. Even if it’s a spiritual one. Whether it’s me or another *GOOD* (I definitely need to make that distinction) clairvoyant or spiritual coach matters not. Don’t wander around in the dark bumping into any and everything. Don’t float around all over the place making unnecessary mistakes that could have been avoided. Let folks be REAL with you! Be able to accept what’s being said without descending into the abyss which are your feelings. Seek out constructive criticism. Don’t wake up 30 years from now to realize that not only have you come a long way, but you went the wrong damned way. ‘Cause that’s gonna suck.
From Now Until Infinity,
