on excitement and gratitude

heavy on the excitement

Jul 25, 2024

I had to review this newsletter before sending it to take out the Meek Mill way I wrote initially.

That note referenced how they say Meek Mill raps with exclamation points because every sentence I wrote had an exclamation point.

*hits drums* corny, but I laughed.

Anyway, although I have been living through sinus issues, this week has been such an exciting and inspiring week for me. As mentioned in Sunday's newsletter (upgrade to paid), I have been going through a series of emotions since learning that President Joe Biden was dropping out of the 2024 Presidential Election but endorsing Kamala Harris. And when I say I went through a range of emotions, I went through all the following: sadness, anger, relief, happiness, excitement, inspiration - see a gamet. I have been stuck on excitement, though; I'm so very excited.

I am also so excited for the 2024 Olympics. I have been looking forward to the Olympics since last year, but the icing this year is that my younger cousin, Malcolm, is competing in Track & Field in the Long Jump competition. Please be sure to tune in and cheer him on!

I was also very inspired by the conversation

Andrea Brown

and I had on today's episode of the Creative Canvas podcast. For the conversation, we spoke with Lifestyle Designer/Content Creator Amber Janae, who talked with us about how to live intentionally. The conversation was full of gems that I soaked up and wrote down. Instead of going into a long-winded summary, I am sharing ten minutes of the episode below, hoping you will subscribe (we are friends, after all) (Spotify | Apple | Amazon). I'm also sharing a few of the gems I wrote down during the conversation, which was a great conversation.

Additionally, since I didn't send out a newsletter last week, we also had a great conversation with Digital Designer

Kim G.

about all the creative things you should also listen to.

Gems from the episode:

The more that we work on ourselves and challenge ourselves, the more we create space to inspire others to do the same.

One of my biggest tips is to do your best to lean into what made you feel the most joy and what connected you most to yourself in your youth.

A lot of the people that I complained about not visiting me are the very people that would bring me stress when I had to see them on a consistent basis. And I had not realized that what you manifested was actually also setting a boundary that you couldn't even see. And it's also important that when you set these expectations for your life and for yourself, you have to be willing to accept that a lot of people and lot of things won't come with you when you create the lifestyle that you want.

I enjoy my life so much because it is a life that I desired and I was able to create. And if there was anything else in the world that I wanted to be doing, anyone else that I wanted to be like, I could do that because I know that it was very like it was work.
But I was able to create the reality that I live in right now. So if there's anything else that I wanted to obtain, I could have that. There's nothing that I've done that I live in FOMO about or that I miss. And to me, that is the softest life. I've done what I've done, I've lived what I've lived, and now I create this reality.

I just think that when you are comfortable with who you are and you are comfortable within your own joy, in your own happiness, your own element, like seeing other people being able to celebrate for them that for themselves and have that moment for themselves, it just feels good

It's such a good conversation; be sure to listen to it.

In other news, here are some of my recommendations for this week.

President Biden’s Presidential Address from last night.
Bari A. Williams on Kamala Harris for Fast Company.
How to properly add someone back on Instagram after years. There doesn’t need to be an article on this, but I still read it.
The first episode of Marshawn Lynch’s new podcast with Gov. Gavin Newsom and sports agent Doug Hendrickson dropped, and I loved it. The first guest was my mom’s favorite basketball player, Draymond Green, and I enjoyed their rapport.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed was recently on the Death, Sex & Money podcast, and it was a pretty good conversation. This was a good interview and conversation between London and Anna. Also, although dated, this is one of my favorite interviews with London that I saved in my Pocket years ago.
I finished Season 2 of UnPrisioned with Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo, and I loved it. I actually liked it more than the first season, perhaps because I understand the quirkiness of Kerry’s character more.
Why Donald Glover Is Saying Goodbye to Childish Gambino - I am still waiting for his new album to grow on me. I’ll report back on that.
The Cost of Having Friends - I loved the perspective in this article and how the cost changes over time.
I also loved this post on the summer of the inner child.
This is an interesting article on personality hires. I was interested in the portion on hiring for attitude, smile, and skill and training for the skill.