Month: March 2021

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Are You Heeding the Call?

March 22, 2021 jcladyluv

I do daily devotionals and have done a pretty good job of making a habit of reading my devotionals and my bible readings for quite some time now. It is a welcomed part of my spiritual journey and growth and something that I had convinced myself at one point in my life that I didn’t need to do. Yesterday after listening to a message from my Pastor about obeying God’s will I read in my devotional about answering the call that God has placed on our lives and obeying the voice of God and not the whispers of Fear.

It got me to thinking about how many times we dismiss the gifts that we inherit from God and how much time do we waste ignoring what we know we’re called to do and fighting that calling. More importantly it made me contemplate how many people’s lives do we miss the opportunity to touch and what that means because we didn’t act soon enough?

When I was younger and realized that writing was my passion and my gift I thought that it was mostly because it was the outlet I needed to release some of the emotional pain I had to deal with in my childhood. Not that I don’t write for the readers and to of course tell the stories living in my head but I felt very silenced as a kid and that was my way of using my voice. I’m not sure when it was exactly that I realized that my writing actually helped other people but at the moment that I did I shifted the way I thought about what I wanted my writing career to do.

I had one major goal prior to that realization and that was to make the New York Times Best Seller List. However that has shifted to how I can use my words and my writing to effect change in the world, or in people generally. Now, yes my writing is still and always about the stories I tell, but everything that I do within my writing career is about what it can do for others and how I can help others. With my YouTube channel, with my magazine, with my up coming podcast, with the products I’m creating to sell, it is about making other people understand that someone sees them.

I can’t imagine what it would have been like if I hadn’t realized early on what my calling was and if I had just ignored it. It wasn’t like I didn’t think of other career choices when I went to college and I do after all have a Master’s in Psychology and a Bachelor’s in Communications so it isn’t that there aren’t other avenues that I could have taken, certainly they would’ve provide more financial stability. But I knew what I was put on this earth to do and while I had to figure out exactly how my calling could make a difference in the world, I knew that I wasn’t going to give up on what I truly felt God put me on this earth for.

Have you realized what you were called to do? Have you been wasting too much time fighting that calling? Have you been listening too much to those whispers of fear? Don’t let fear stop you from doing what you were meant to do. You have a gift that can help change and improve this world. Don’t waste any more time ignoring it.

Until next time… #BeMindful #BeMotivated #BeFearless

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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Are We Creating the Right Habits to Accomplish Our Goals?

March 15, 2021 jcladyluv

I did a YouTube video last week talking about my process in between writing projects, well specifically, novels. It made me think about the different routines that we have for different phases in our lives that we get through and how varying those routines can be depending on which phase of the creative process we are in. I have a routine for when I’m writing, albeit a routine that could use some fine tuning. I have a routine for when I’m taking a creative break from things altogether. I have a routine for if I’m just conducting research for a particular project. Interestingly enough, as organized as it may seem to have all your bases covered no matter what stage of creativity you are in it can be counterproductive. Or maybe it’s just me that is starting to feel like having a different routine for everything is just a way to not have a concrete routine overall.

I’m currently reading (or rather listening to on audiobooks) Atomic Habits by James Clear and he talks a lot about creating systems that help you to achieve your overall goals but not relying so heavily in the goals. I haven’t gotten that far yet but so far his theory is that if you use the same system to achieve things then you can start to rely in your system that you set up and not necessarily the goals because inevitably following your system is going to get you to the goal anyway, just maybe not at the speed in which you have set up in your goals. What I understand so far is that creating habits that you can stick to and do instinctively without really thinking about them is more valuable then having these bullet points for goals that oftentimes seem unattainable and out of reach.

Now he wasn’t saying that you shouldn’t have goals at all anymore, but rather that you should have formed habits and ways of getting to those goals. For instance, I have a book that I’ve been trying to republish since last year and for one reason or another it is proving to be a longer process than I initially thought. But is that because my goals are off or because my habits in getting those goals accomplished are off? I should have a proven system that is going to allow me to produce more of what I need to do in order to get those goals tackled. I can have all the goals I want to have and they can be lofty or they can be relaxed but without the methods and a system put in place to actively get to that goal, then the habits have to be consistent.

What are your systems or habits for achieving what you want out of life? Are you practicing those habits consistently? Take some time to think about whether you are setting goals just to set goals or if you are actually taking steps and forming habits that will help you fully achieve those goals. Having goals to strive for are great. Having routines to get through your different creative phases is wonderful. But having habits formed and being consistent in keeping up those habits is what will get us to the point where we can say we accomplished those goals.

Until next time… #BeMindful #BeProductive #BeConsistent

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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Exploring Every Inch of the Road in the Journey

March 8, 2021 jcladyluv

The day we cease to explore is the day we begin to wilt. ~Cicely Tyson

Good or bad, life is nothing but a bunch of experiences. We have really good moments and we have really bad moments, and oftentimes the bad moments start to feel like they are more present than the good. Where am I going with this you ask? Well, just that mistakes and hard times are simply apart of the exploration that we do throughout our journey. We can’t avoid them and in all honesty we should probably be welcoming them.

This thought process came to my mind because of a zoom call that I had with some wonderfully creative girlfriends of mine. We were getting together (virtually) to discuss Cicely Tyson’s book and other extraordinarily talented black creative artists. Of course the conversation ventured over to discussing our own creative endeavors and what our vision was for the things we were working on. I was singled out, and rightfully so (because they know me so very well), for often being afraid of stepping outside the box and exploring things, mainly for fear of making mistakes.

I have expressed here many times over the years this really tiresome dance that I do with my fear and how I strive to move past that and I’ve made strides and every now and then I realize I hadn’t let go of all of these fears as much as I would like to believe. Don’t get me wrong, I am way better than I was years ago in terms of dealing with my constant fears and the obstacle the fear itself presents itself to be. I just have a ways more to go. On that zoom call I was reminded of advice from other successful people throughout history which is that the more you fail or rather make mistakes, the more life experience you have to put into your work and the better you can make the next attempt.

Not exploring things, not exploring life, is in many ways not allowing yourself to experience both successes and failures in various magnitudes and to use those learning experiences to fuel your drive and motivation to power forward. Without exploration we don’t really learn what works and what doesn’t work, what we like and what we don’t like, and we simply don’t learn much of anything about who we are.

If you are letting fear hold you back or keep you in that place of comfort, stop holding yourself back from experiencing every aspect there is of success, and that includes the moments in which you will undoubtedly making mistakes. It is not failing to get things wrong and to mess up. You only become a failure when you cease to explore at all. Never stop exploring every inch of the road you will walk on your journey.

Until next time… #BeCourageous #BeInspired #BeFearless

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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It’s All In How You Respond

March 1, 2021 jcladyluv

“You can’t control everything that happens to you but you can control how you respond to everything because in how you respond is your power.” ~Anonymous

It is instinct to react to things that upset us in an emotional, sometimes irrational manner. It is human nature but it doesn’t always make for the best outcome and it most certainly doesn’t act as a solution to your problem or whatever has disappointed you. Oftentimes we get disappointed about the doors that won’t open for us or the rejections that we get, particularly if you are a writer or pursue a creative career in general. It takes the wind out of your sails and when you get knocked down there’s that one moment where you just want to stay down. You find yourself telling someone trying to help you up that you just need a moment to lay there and get yourself together.

The thing is that you can only take a minute because while you’re laying there collecting your thoughts on what went wrong, someone else is trying out their own attempts at that same door. When you respond to rejection by giving it up and quitting because it gets too hard, well there is power in your response. It’s just power that you are giving to the next person who won’t give up quite so easily. I don’t say any of this as a person who hasn’t wanted to just lay in my rejection and wallow for a while before making another attempt at something.

I don’t react well to rejection. It’s one of the main reasons that I had decided about two years ago to completely give up seeking traditional publication and to self publish instead. Now I am rethinking that decision. I mean there is a few books that I would choose to self-publish more so because they are poetry books which don’t typically get traditional publication unless you’re in the spotlight for something else. However, I have a few books that I really would like to see get the traditional publication treatment. I am not a marketer, I am not a graphic designer, and while I can be a persuasive person I can’t say that my negotiation skills are that of a publicist, or an agent even.

Now I just have to wonder was my response to all the rejection (albeit great rejection because they were not form letters) I received the right response. Did I throw in the towel too soon, and more importantly, is it too late. Did I give away some of my power by staying down for too long? I guess that is to be determined but I wanted to write this today to say to a that person out there who thinks that they have all the time in the world to stay down for just a few moments and to respond with only a little bit of wallow, you don’t. It’s time to get up and respond to that moment of rejection with even more action.

Until next time…#BeBold #BeProductive #BeMotivated

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

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