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This generation needs to be saved. Social media sends messages that you can make it off of looks and popularity. This generation needs to be saved. Tik Tok videos promote violent challenges that many people actually follow through with in order to get likes and attention. This generation needs to be saved. Validation now comes from whoever is on the other side of the computer screen and it doesn’t matter if they know you or not. This generation needs to be saved. Depression has increased because so many are comparing themselves with others who share their highlights on social media. This generation needs to be saved. Lets get back to when the only people whose opinions mattered were the ones who were closest to you. This generation needs to be saved. Trish 
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Whewww chile! Let’s talk about my natural crown! First of all, it took me a while to get comfortable with wearing my natural hair. I used to get my hair blown out all the time after I made the decision to become natural, but nowadays I’ve been wearing my hair in its natural state. Being natural is when you have absolutely no chemicals in your hair. I stopped getting a relaxer in 2011. I remember when my mom decided to go natural first. She has a more manageable grade of hair than I do. I felt it looked great on her. She joked with me and told me I would never go natural because I was prissy and that every strand of my hair always had to be in the correct place. I shook my head and was like “I’m not prissy.” Deep down I knew she was right. I cared about my hair being in place all the time. Little did I know that I would be required to take a swim class before I graduated from East Carolina University. Yessss, I said it! Swim class! So you already know that relaxed hair doesn't go well with chlorine. Chlorine pretty much strips all the chemicals out of your hair. There was no point for me to continue putting a relaxer in my hair while I was taking swim class, so I ended up getting braids for the entire semester. After swim class ended I decided not to go back to getting a relaxer right away. Since I survived an entire semester without a relaxer I wanted to test out going natural with my hair. When I made this decision, I never looked back. Life is not a fairytale, so at the beginning it was challenging. I wasted so much money buying expensive natural hair products that didn't work for my hair. However, like anything else in life if you stick with something long enough God will begin to show you exactly what you need to know. I'm so happy I stood the test of time with learning what works for my natural hair. My hair grows even faster and is so much healthier without chemicals. I don't have to worry about my scalp burning from a relaxer or any type of irritations from the harsh chemicals. I remember one time I was at a salon and the stylist left a relaxer in my hair for too long. It was horrible. My scalp burned so bad and even after it was washed several times it continued burning. My scalp did not stop burning until after my hair was blow dried and flat ironed and even then I still felt a tingling sensation. It was the scariest feeling. The stylist thought I was being dramatic because I was young (in high school), but I knew what I was feeling. That experience alone showed me how powerful a relaxer is and it left an area in my scalp from where it burned me. I'm not trying to turn anyone away from relaxers but just be careful if you're using them. After that situation happened I started putting them in my own hair, so that I could take it out right away. Although this was the temporary fix for me during the time, the permanent fix for me happened when I chose to leave relaxers alone completely. What I noticed since being natural is getting a hair blowout straightens my hair better than any relaxer can; therefore there is no real need for me to go back to a relaxer. Oh yea, and God helped me to come across the following products below that work amazingly well on my type 4 hair🙏🏾: Curls Mixed Chicks Miss Jessie's Softee African Shea Butter African Pride Super Gro Here's a helpful link to learn more about what hair type you have: https://curls.biz/hair-type-guide/ I hope this post blesses your life! I'm a High School English Teacher and I am proud to be a teacher! To my fellow teachers, hopefully this week your students and administrators showed you love and appreciation! Lets keep changing this world, one life at a time! Sincerely, Ms. Mack #TeamBulldogNation  There is this idea that once you accomplish your goals, you will be validated. Lately I have been doing some soul searching because I am always reflecting on how I can grow as a person, spiritually and professionally. I came across a youtube video that talked about the wait period. The wait period is when you are actively waiting for God to manifest something in your life. I say actively waiting because during this time you are still required to consistently put in the work for the thing you are waiting for. In the youtube video, Essence Atkins and Sarah Jakes Roberts talks to the hostess Stephanie Ike, about the importance of not being anxious in the wait period. Roberts said that when you’re waiting on something you feel will bring you more worth and value, and don’t receive it, you feel as though that particular thing takes away from your worth and value. She went on to further discuss that when you realize your worth and value isn’t measured by what works and what doesn’t work, but it’s based on who you are and the fact that you have air in your lungs, then you will not be anxious for anything. Listening to these ladies talk shifted something in my spirit. Many times we connect accomplishment with value, not realizing that we are already valuable because we are alive and breathing. God has already placed the value in us that we are seeking to find. We are blessed to have goals and dreams, however God gave us worth and value well before he revealed to us our goals and dreams. When he formed us in our mother's womb, we were of value and worth. Life is not a fairytale, however God has a way of showing us how important and valuable we are when the weight of the world and accomplishment tries to attach itself to our value. Our value is priceless and cannot be obtained through human achievement. I hope this blog post blesses you! Much Love, Trish Dear Queen, Dear survivor, do you know that I love you oh so very much? Do you know that you are beautiful? Do you know that you are intelligent? Do you know that you are not your past mistakes? Do you know that you are more valuable than precious jewels and rubies? Life will sometimes be extremely difficult. There will be times when you will see others go through things that you believe are unfair. There will be times when you will get dealt an unfair hand. Everyone will not love you, although you are one of the most loving people anyone can meet. You do not judge anyone or their circumstances and you treat everyone with respect and of value. Your world has been turned upside down before. People closest to you have broken your heart and what did you choose to do? You chose to forgive those people. Why? You know that those people are in need of the love that only God can provide. You know that those people are lost in a sinful word and that all they know how to do is hurt others, because they have not stepped into the fullness of living for God and God only. You used to allow those people to hurt you, but then the love of God always reminded you that his love is sufficient and overshadows all negativity. Signed, My Love Letter to Life John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.  Butterflies is what he gave me and continues to give me since we called ourselves official. There’s not one who’s ever made me feel the way he does. I finally felt like I found true love. But then what we have gets hit with a blow. Getting myself together, while working to pick up the pieces. I see that this man really needs me. But not only does he need me, I need him. It’s something about the way he speaks that taps into my spirit realm. I’ve never felt this love for a man. We both tried walking away from eachother. Even when we are apart we are still connected. I know it doesn’t make sense to me either. How can someone love me just as much as I love them? All I’ve ever experienced is verbal abuse and disloyalty. How can something so special be challenged? Thinking back I remember this page in my bible. It speaks of a rainbow at the end of the storm. Sometimes there is turbulence before the calm. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.   I was always different. I realized I didn’t fit in with the many different crowds growing up because I was different. I’ve always been about my education and career, always wanting and searching for more out of life. I sacrificed a lot, more than anything I’ve sacrificed a lot of time and continue to do so. I’m still different, I know I don’t fit in.
Not fitting in used to bother me, but now I understand the reason. Now I understand my purpose. Working in my purpose requires me to be alone a lot of times and it requires me to be discipline. While working on your purpose, you will have distractions. Life will throw many of these your way. You have to be willing to work through it. You have to push even harder when the going gets tough. You have to push through when people talk about you, lie on you, and when they do all they can to tear down your spirit. Remember this means they see you, they hear you and you are relevant. If you weren’t they wouldn’t try so hard to destroy you. Walking in your purpose requires you to be different. It’s ok to not fit in. God has something special for you, so keep sacrificing, keep working, and keep walking. Signed, A Queen  This year I have been very intentional about focusing on taking care of myself. I constantly give so much of my time to other things, that I had to sit down and realize I have to make time to pour back into myself. Without me doing things for me, I will not be able to give of myself the same way in those other areas of my life.
Things that help to fill me back up consists of praying, writing, and taking time to unplug from the world, including social media. This year has felt really different from any other. This year we have been faced with seeing a virus take over the world, police brutality and two legends make their exit to heavenly paradise. Some of us have lost family members from the coronavirus. It’s been rough. I hope that you are taking care of yourself. I hope that somewhere in between all the chaos you are finding a place of peace. I am at peace these days. Is peace an easy place to always reside in? No. But when you make the effort to intentionally protect your inner space then it becomes a lot easier. Chapter 30 of my life has shown me the resiliency I’m truly made of. It has taught me the essence of protecting my peace. Life is not a fairytale, however when you make time for God, and time for yourself, He will restore your energy and peace. Rest In Heavenly Paradise, Kobe Bryant, Chadwick Boseman, the African Americans who we have lost to police brutality and the coronavirus victims  I’ve had to take time to process what’s been happening in the world lately. My views and thoughts are simple. Black Lives Matter. Growing up as a black, African American female, I've experienced various situations where I now understand to have been racial discrimination. When you’re young, you don’t know. Let me take you back to one situation that had an effect on me as a child. When I was four-years-old, I attended a daycare center. One day at daycare, my teacher hit me in the mouth for no reason at all. I didn’t understand why she did it but when she did, it caused me to bite my tongue, the pain was unbearable and my tongue started to bleed uncontrollably. When my father picked me up all I could do was cry and hold my mouth. He asked me questions on the way home but I was unable to talk. My mom saw me as soon as I walked in the house and she knew something was wrong. I hugged her when I walked in the door and stuck my tongue out to show her the blood. After she doctored on me some, I tried to talk the best that I could to tell her what happened at daycare. “My teacher hit me in my mouth,” I said. My mom was furious. The daycare was closed, so she was not able to make a special visit to find out why my teacher would do such a thing, she was also not able to schedule me a doctor’s appointment until the next day. My teacher was a white woman. I know that all white people are not racist but now that I'm older I still can't imagine why my teacher would've hit me in the mouth for no reason, unless that she was possibly racist. The next day my mother called the daycare and spoke with the manager. He begged her not to come to the daycare and promised that my teacher would have consequences. I’m not sure if my teacher had consequences for what she did to me, however in the next month she was fired for something else. I still have the scars on my tongue from when my teacher hit me in my mouth; because of this, I will never be able to forget it. I learned at a very young age, that I cannot always trust people who are in leadership positions. My teacher was my leader at daycare and I looked up to her. Revisiting these memories aren’t pleasant, however they remind me of why God chose me to later become a High School English Teacher. I am changing the narrative. I know I may not be able to change the world, however I will do my best to change the hearts and minds of my students and other people around me, in a positive way. I have love for all people. We have to continue teaching the younger generation what’s right because they’re going to be the ones to eventually eradicate systematic racism. The older generations were taught racism and some successfully passed it down to their children. I do believe that there are more younger people and even people in my generation who are now against the ideologies of another race being superior. Let's all keep pushing for better days and be the leaders who the younger generations can trust. Life is not a fairytale, but when we put our faith in God, he will always take the bad and turn it into fuel for something good. Love Trish  Black Lives Matter Dear Graduates, Although it's an indescribable time in history it is important for you to have a goal for yourself. Hopefully you have already enrolled into a college, enlisted into the military or found a job, however if not, there is still hope. If you weren't the type who would want to attend college for a long drawn out time frame, and you're still seeking to find your place in the world why not consider enrolling into a trade school? Click Here: List of Skill & Trade Jobs A few of the jobs listed include the following but are not limited to... Computer Programmer, Respiratory Therapist, Aircraft Mechanic, Dental Hygienist, Web Designer, Electrician, Filmmaker, Plumber, Welder |
AuthorI'm an East Carolina University alumna. I have experience in journalism, law, radio broadcasting, television production and teaching. My goal is to make a difference in the world through media and motivational speaking. Archives
September 2022
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