What do you do when you are about to embark on an enthusiasm-filling journey for which life has been preparing you since the day you were born, and 95% (if not more) of the people around you cannot help but feeding you all the fear-based negative "advice" from the book of "Dreamless Life"?Well, I don't know about y'all but I think we should always diplomatically ignore the "naysayers" and "it-can't-be-doners" when it comes to the pursuit of our dreams, which is essentially the same thing as the pursuit of happiness.
Believe, believe, believe. Have unwavering faith in whatever you put your mind to for it is the intensity of your belief and your faith in, along with your predominant way of thinking about a dream that in truth turn that dream into a palpable reality. Dreaming is just creating your reality in your mind before enjoying it in actuality. And if you don't believe me, just trust Einstein! Shoo, from what I understand the guy wasn't too, too dumb. He did say "Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions."
If human beings can literally fly thanks to the Wright Brothers; if the once-luxurious item called the automobile was made affordable to the average American thanks to Henry Ford; if a Black man with very African-sounding first and last names AND an Arabic middle name also carried by THE Public Enemy number One of all time, can become President of The United States of America, then surely, surely a 36-year-old Black woman can say Au revoir to the teaching profession, move to Los Angeles, and become a successful actress with a long-lasting career... especially when the woman in question still looks like she's barely 25 years old! You know what I'm saying? He, he, he...
All jokes aside, the Wright Brothers, Henry Ford (*he has some good quotes too that one!), and President Obama all had to imagine/dream what they accomplished before they accomplished it. They had to see it, conceive it, create it in their minds first. I'm sure that when they started to enthusiastically voice their plans 95% (if not more) of the people around them told them "don't do it" because "it can't be done". Can you imagine if they had actually listened to those people?!? No planes? No cars for the Average Joe? No President Obama? What?!?
When there is something you really want to do, friends, family, colleagues, a stranger with whom you just happened to share a cup of coffee at Starbucks will always have a lot to say. That's ok, but, be extremely careful to only allow the positive comments to enter your cortex and stick to your mind. You must concentrate on the thoughts that will pay you a profit that will bring you joy and only joy. Focus solely on those thoughts that will benefit you and keep you in alignment with your desires.
Completely disregard the rest. Delete it and make sure to also clean that little trash bin icon on the desktop of your brain. Don't allow the negative remarks and thoughts to be impressed upon your subconscious because those little suckers are like nasty viruses; they will poison your existence, make you freeze up with fear, crash to depression... and then ultimately burn down.
Rewatch The Wiz when you get a chance. Watch it with your kids, nieces, nephews and pay attention to the scene with the scarecrow, the crows, and Dorothy; when she helps MJ down the pole. The scarecrow is intelligent, he reads a lot but he's stuck up there because he thinks he has no brain. He thinks he has no brain because the crows have fed him negative thoughts his whole life! They made him believe that he can't win. It's the perfect time to rewatch that classic actually (R.I.P. Mike).
So, to that 36-year-old Black woman out there who is about to leave the "safety" (I put safety in quote because we all know what just happened to more than two-hundred teachers of the Boston Public Schools) of a career in education -or whatever- to pursue an acting career -or whatever- I say:
"Girl, it's all about what YOU want, what YOU believe, what YOU think. What you think is what you get so choose your thoughts wisely and precisely. Just focus on what you want not on what you don't want. Do you!"
C'est la vie...
Micko
*"Whether you think you can or you think you can't, either way you are right." Henry Ford
