Fear/Break Loose/

Good morning! I hope your day has been off to a great start but if not, it will get better. Stay focused!

Today I wanted to chat about struggle. Do we automatically program ourselves to be satisfied with “struggling”? In my opinion, (and for the context of this blog), “struggle” means to be committed to the norm of society and align my life with standards disguised as dysfunction. There are some things in this society that we passed as “normal” and anything contrary to that is deemed “unusual” or “too different”. Of course, I do believe that some of us are prone to certain environments and we only go as far as our exposure outside of it. If you only saw fighting and screaming in your house growing up, then most likely anything opposite of that will seem “fake” to you. This is not the case all the time because some people do overcome and are not defined by their surroundings. Others feel that they can only have a slice of the pie but not the whole thing. I raise my hand up real high on that one because I did not always expect better. So I’m going to give my thoughts in three areas where I’m working to go from struggle to prosperous. We may have people around us to dictate how our life suppose to look that is oftentimes based off of their own personal experiences and opinions. That does not mean my life has to go in that direction. (When you learn about better, you start to do better.)

Love. I am not a champion for “struggle love”. What is “struggle love” to me? It is accepting the bare minimum. An important lesson I learned from my first relationship is that I must know what I want in a relationship and be able to communicate my needs instead of accepting whatever the man offer, (or do not offer.) Marriage is the union of two people that includes more than joining finances and possessions but entire lifestyles. Of course, no one is perfect but that does not excuse one from “growing up”. We should all be aiming to grow in all the areas of our lives. It is not cute to be the same person year after year, decade after decade. Staying the exact same way and carrying out your life in the exact same way only communicates that you are unwilling to learn and not really interested in your purpose in life. Purpose challenges me to grow because there are certain things in life that I cannot obtain until I grow. Also, growth helps you maintain that connection with the other person as long as it going in a positive direction not negative. I am not in the business of creating my own version of “a man” because it never works out, (trust me on that!). Either he is it or not and vice versa for the men. We have to start seeking out purpose partners not “bed buddies”.

Wealth. Last year, I felt the need to focus on my finances and learn how to manage them better. I start researching and reading on financial wealth and freedom. Honestly, I felt God put that on my heart because of the recent increase I was going to receive within that area toward the end of last year. I could not be foolish with what I had especially if I prayed to God for better. The issue I struggled with was breaking free from a “poverty mindset”. I felt that I will always be in the position of lack because I was a single mother and not really analyzing what I really had. Of course, I did need a financial blessing but still felt trapped by my attitude toward money. I viewed money as a way for me to survive instead of a tool that I can use to strive to higher heights. Money is a component of wealth. If I can sum up the definition of wealth in one word, it will be abundance. You want to live in abundance not from a place of lack. It is like we are groomed to think money alone is the key to success but failed to gain knowledge on how to handle it. You do not have to struggle if you do not want to. The choice is up to you because knowledge is not something I can physically touch with my hands but I need to seek it out. The day a person change their mind about something is the day change starts to occur.

Vision. I want to start off by saying do not be ashamed of having a great vision. The world is going to go in the direction that is suppose to go in but that does not dictate the outcome of your future. You need a vision for your life. It is not really the responsibility of my family, friends, or even my community to lay out the plans for my life. You can get direction because that is really the role of a parent but they have no set control over how I choose to live my life. God already set out a plan for me and all I have to do is follow it. Having a vision is like a map to the future He purposed for me. Do not be afraid of how big it is and let no one discourage you to go off course. I want to add one more thing about upbringing. You may have been brought up a certain way that yielded toxic behavior or been taught certain traditions that are not necessarily helpful. Sometimes we are expected to continue living that way because generations before us did but you know a change is needed to break the cycle. Generational curses are a real thing and you do not have to repeat the same thing in your bloodline with your children. It can stop with you. Repeating what I said earlier: When you learn about better, you start to do better.

I hope I said something that helped you in some way and want to say thank you for checking this post out! Feel free to comment and have a great day!