Well, my journey had already begun. I didn’t even go to college to be a teacher. I got pregnant fresh out of college and chose to become a substitute teacher while I was expecting (another detour). I wanted to be a radio personality, but being a teacher was more practical. I had written my first manuscript while expecting my first son but I did nothing with it. For years it sat on my flash drive. I told my students that I was going to be an author. I told all of my family and friends. But how was I going to do that? That would require a lot of work. It was work that would reward me with the realization of my dreams. How could I not do that? I set out to learn about everything that I wanted to do by reading and doing.
In between writing my first two novels, I had a drug problem, got arrested with my third fiancé, had another child with my fourth fiancé, and continued to teach. Ultimately I wrote six novels, beat my drug habit, had two more children and left my teaching job. I became a radio host, an actor, producer, director of short films and now have two television shows in pre-production. How did I do it? By continuing to be a new me, every time my old me became stuck and stagnant. I continued to add on to me and create a new thing to do that would ultimately get me where I wanted to be. It’s called reinvention.
You must be like a chameleon. All of the layers of me have been instrumental in having the ability to re-create or continue to flourish. It is a constant state of moving, growing, failing, succeeding, believing, and being determined, stubborn, focused, and motivated.
As Donnie McClurkin said, “We fall down but we get up” and Steve Harvey said, “You have got to jump”. I say be a phoenix. Don’t be scared to burn the old you and become a new you all the way until you take your very last breath. Life is a journey not for you just to walk, but the journey is also you.