What I learned about wanting and asking

From July 4th to July 20th, I road tripped across the south. The first seven cities were with my babies, traveling from Georgia-Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama. The last nine days I spent with three of my students and various activist organizations around the country, traveling from Tennessee to Texas.

I was home for two days before I was back on the road again, heading to Atlanta to present at the Vibrant Moons: Festival for the Indigenous Woman. I shared some #WeSpeakFuhWe jewels on preserving family history through oral storytelling. I learned just as much in my two days there that I did in my 16-day travels before it.

I kept a list of lessons that showed up, but there are too many to add here, so I’ll just share the main hittas over the course of this week. Here’s the first one: 

You don’t want the money. You want the experience or the things that the money will buy.

I spent many seasons asking for more money. I continuously earned more money too, but I still wasn’t getting what I wanted. I really wanted to travel more, have easier access to fresh food, and possessions that I absolutely loved instead of settled for. When I started asking for those specific things, they showed up either totally free or way less expensive.

Two examples:

1 :: I’d been wanting to canoe with the kids, but I couldn’t find a way to make it happen for I considered a reasonable amount. I also wanted to vacate on the bayou one day. And the kids had been saying they wanted to go horseback riding. As amazing as my mind is, I would’ve never put those three wants in the same vision. However, I rented rooms from a homeowner in Monroe who lived on the bayou, gave us unlimited access to her neighbor’s canoe, owned two beautiful horses and gave riding lessons, and all that costed $33 a night (cheaper if you extend your stay). 

2 :: Teaching high schoolers how to find their writer’s voice and give them permission to use it as explicitly as they wanted to, while also being able to travel with them and connect them to local resources/experts was always a goal of mine. And I wanted kids from the hood and the suburbs. I dreaded the thought of all the work it would take to get this started, then it happened in October 2016 when I was approached by Deep, who I volunteered for about four years ago, who had this exact same vision and the budget to make it happen, and who reached out to me to come aboard (no interview or application necessary).  

Confirmation:

Riding back from the beach yesterday with my friend, Crystal, we discussed experiences we’re craving. She shared hers, I shared mine, and then we fell into a natural pause in the conversation. The playlist rolled over the next song from Dynasty’s A Star in Life’s Clothing album that starts off singing, “It’s possible. Oh, you know, it’s possible.”

Apply that confirmation to your wish list too, okay? 

Post Script:

I ain’t saying don’t get yo paper. Please do, as I am too. I’m emphasizing to direct your energy towards what you want instead of the money itself, and the resources to get those things (money included) will show up. 

“You get exactly what you ask for and then you realize you gotta get better at asking.”

:: I’ll post the second lesson in a few days. See you then!