Tag: journey

Feeling Like the Rope Just Isn’t Long Enough

jcladyluv

at the end of my rope

There are some days when you just feel like you can’t climb out of the hole you’re in.  When the walls start to close in more and more and it starts to feel like you just can’t breathe.  I know that everything is not going to always go your way because that would be unrealistic to think that it’s supposed to work like that.

I know what people say about nothing worth having ever being easy.  I also whole heartedly believe that when all is said and done God is not going to bring me to a place that he doesn’t feel I can’t pull myself out of (with his help of course).  Having said all of that, it doesn’t make it any less stressful and challenging to actually have to go through all of the trials and tribulations that it takes to get to the destination that I am meant to get to in the end.

There are some days when I feel like I don’t have a support system and like I don’t have anyone in my corner and some days that feeling hurts more than others.  I feel like I’m walking on this entire journey all by myself.  Perhaps that’s how it’s supposed to be but it sure does feel lonely at times.  I guess you have to know how to walk alone but it sure would be nice to have a walking buddy at any given point on the path.  Then I have to remind myself (and keep reminding myself repeatedly) that I am not the only one walking this path because God is with me, leading the way.

There are those who don’t have to constantly remind themselves that they aren’t walking by themselves on the way to their destination because they don’t have so much worry and they don’t get afraid of being left to go it alone.  Then there are those like me, who are terrified that I won’t pick the right door or the right path, and that I won’t make precisely the right decision.  I get worried but it’s not because I don’t believe in the path that God has for me, but rather because I don’t want him to give up on me.

I get to the end of that rope and sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it’s long enough.   I keep forgetting the things that most people never forget, that I am never walking this path by myself because there are always those second set of footprints in the sand.  So if you are anything like me, afraid that you will somehow not be able to pull yourself up and like the rope you were handed just might not be long enough, just remind yourself today that you are not alone on your journey.  God is always there leading the way, you just have to trust that he will never guide you in the wrong direction and he will always be on the other end of that rope to pull you back up.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

 

Write 2 Be Magazine is now out so please go check it out at http://write2bemagazine.com/.  Also please go and join the magazine on twitter https://twitter.com/write2bemag, join the email listing for the magazine or submit a request for an author interview at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com, and also like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

The Before and the After—A Picture Tells the Whole Story

jcladyluv

Anyone who knows me knows that I absolutely hate taking pictures.  Not taking pictures from behind the camera lens but to actually be in front of the camera lens itself.  So I’ve been on a weight loss journey for the last few years now and I committed to this journey no matter how long it took for me to get to a place of being healthy (and yes thinner too) and happy.  I also knew that I couldn’t do this quickly and rapidly because I had tried that before and it didn’t stick and that I didn’t want to lose weight surgically (not knocking it for anyone who has had weight loss surgery—just not for me) but rather naturally and that meant it was going to have to be slow and steady.

I’ll admit that at certain periods throughout the process it has been slower than others and of course there’s moments where you reach a new stage and you plateau.  However, I have managed to remain vigilant and have lost well over a hundred pounds but yet I still don’t like taking pictures.  My best friend asked me once if I had any before pictures so that I had something to compare things to because I constantly have an issue of looking in the mirror and thinking that nothing has changed regardless of the fact that my clothes have gotten looser on me and my face is visibly different, but as I stated before I have never liked to take pictures with me in them.

So today when I went to the gym (knowing that I had taken a picture for the membership card when I first joined the gym) I asked if I could take a new picture for my membership card.  When she took the picture and printed out the new card I took out my old one and looked at the side by side view (you can see it below-sorry it’s not a clearer picture) and the difference was, in my opinion, very noticeable.  I was ecstatic and overjoyed and of course I went and showed everyone in the gym my before and after and one lady even pointed to the before picture and asked who it was.  That motivated me even more.

Here's my before and after... See the difference!
Here’s my before and after… See the difference!

What does any of this have to do with my writing you might ask?  Well you know they say a picture is worth a thousand words and in today’s case my before and after pictures made a lot of things clearer to me.  That before picture was not a happy woman, perhaps a woman who faked it with some success, but definitely not happy.  But the after picture was a happy person, a more confident person, a more secure person, and a healthier person.  It in many ways mirrors my journey of writing that I spoke of with such frustration in yesterday’s post.

My writing career, years ago, around the time of that before picture, was existent (barely) but it wasn’t moving in any direction.  It had gotten off the ground (maybe about a couple inches) but it hadn’t took off, it hadn’t even gotten midway, it was just stagnant hovering somewhere around the point of the wheels of a plane being an inch off the ground but not yet ready to take off.  It has been a slow journey in that regard as well but unlike with my weight loss journey where I had succumb to the reality that slow and steady is better for me and in the end will garner more promising results, more lasting results, with writing I had wanted it to be a rush to take off.  I hadn’t thought about the fact that if slow and steady can win the race in one area, why wouldn’t it be the right track in the other area as well.

My writing career is still definitely not where I want it to be but it is definitely beginning to take shape and it seems to be ready to take off.  Just as with my before and after pictures in my road to a healthier and happier version of myself, I couldn’t see the progress before and it appeared as if nothing was really happening, my writing career has its before and after points as well.  My writing career, my writing style, has changed and taken different shapes right along with me and looking at the body of my work over the years I can see the progress now.  I can see the fruits of all of my hard work and I am just as overjoyed at that as I was to look at my before and after pictures from this morning.

Sometimes to see the bigger picture, you really do have to capture it in a picture.  A picture doesn’t just show the physical changes in a person but sometimes you can see a whole story in the person you are looking at in that picture, the emotional changes, the mental changes, the career changes.  So what would your before and after of you look like?  What story would it tell to the world?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

 

Write 2 Be Magazine is now out so please go check it out at http://write2bemagazine.com/.  Also please go and join the magazine on twitter https://twitter.com/write2bemag, join the email listing for the magazine or submit a request for an author interview at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com, and also like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Sometimes I Question the Journey

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“Faith isn’t believing without proof – it’s trusting without reservation.”

~William Sloane Coffin 

So I’ve been having one of those days where I’m wondering what all of this is for.  What is the point of pursuing all of my dreams when the journey to get to them is so daunting and frustrating and exhausting and painful?  When I still find myself having to worry where the next flow of income is going to come from and nothing is definite (which is what the beginning stages of a writing career looks like), it makes me wonder what I am really struggling for.

I am a chronic worrier and while I know that it is not good for my health to stress about things that are beyond my control I still somehow manage to do it.  I keep thinking, this year it’s going to happen for me just the way that it’s supposed to, and then it doesn’t so I get geared up for the next year to be the year that my hard work begins to pay off.  Yet still, not the rewards I had hoped to be reaping by now.

I get worried sometimes that this is all for nothing.  The struggle, the sacrifices, the tears, the anxiety, the not knowing, all of the things that come with following your dreams and just throwing caution to the wind.  I wonder if I made the right decision years ago and if maybe I was wrong about my ability to really make this work.

Yeah it’s been one of those days.  I have those days sometimes, and some are worse than others.  But then I remember that writing is something that I live for.  It is my purpose in this world and it is my vehicle to express myself and to be able to change the world.  Writing is something that I was born to do and it is the purpose that God gave me in this world.  On the days when I am in a state of constant worry and when I am wondering what the point of it all is I will have to try harder to remember that the point is to serve my purpose no matter how hard the struggle or how long the journey.

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

 

Write 2 Be Magazine is now out so please go check it out at http://write2bemagazine.com/.  Also please go and join the magazine on twitter https://twitter.com/write2bemag, join the email listing for the magazine or submit a request for an author interview at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com, and also like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Does Playing It Safe Just Get You a Lot of Missed Opportunities?

jcladyluv

There’s this saying, “with great risks comes even greater rewards”, and I thought about that as I was watching a news segment about Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, discussing her success and her new book that is causing much controversy.  She was discussing her thoughts on women and their role as leaders in the business world and how women, albeit ambitious enough, are always playing it too safe and that is often what holds them back in their efforts to succeed.  She has taken many risks throughout her career and her several different roles as a leader and she has had many great rewards simply because she refused to play it safe.

It made me think about the fact that I am not a huge risk taker and if that is what is holding me back it would be a terrible shame.  Is that what is slowing me down on this journey to the top?  To say I am cautious would probably (if you ask my best friend Ms. L.) be putting it mildly.  I think things through, sometimes too much, and then once I decide something I rethink it through again, a couple more times.  The funny thing is that I don’t remember being this way when I was younger.  Granted when I was younger I was limited in the things I could do because I was not yet an adult and most of my childhood I was not a working individual so I relied on my mother for monetary well being, but I don’t remember being so scared to do things.

I don’t remember over analyzing things nearly as much as I do.  I mean I did to a certain extent because I had to analyze whether or not the risk I was taking was going to get me beat by my mother or in trouble in other ways, but I never thought of myself as playing it safe.  So now in a time in my life where I should be throwing caution to the wind and just going for everything and every opportunity that could possibly come my way, I am resistant, I find that I just want to be safe.  I don’t know if it was motherhood that made me that way or not but I know that I want my daughter to take risks and go after the dreams she wants without worrying what is or what is not going to go wrong.

The author of Wild, Cheryl Strayed, wrote her memoir about the journey that she took along the mountainous Pacific Crest Trail from California, all the way through Oregon and up to WashingtonState, with practically no money to her name and little idea of what it was she was really in search of.  Somehow she managed to complete her trip as well as accomplishing a level of self discovery that she didn’t even realize she was looking for.  She didn’t let the fear of not really knowing where she was going stop her, nor did she let the fact that she had barely any money stop her and she managed to get a New York Times Bestselling book out of it that landed on Oprah’s book club lists.  She didn’t play it safe and she took a huge amount of risk and she got great rewards.

Now obviously, it is not realistic for most of us to go and try that, but the point is that we shouldn’t let things hold us back and we shouldn’t play it so safe that we miss out on the adventures that we could have in our lives.  Now being overly cautious is a hard habit to break and I am not crazy enough to think that overnight I am just going to be this “throw caution to the wind” type of person but I do know that I don’t want to play it safe anymore and I can’t afford to over-think myself out of the next opportunity.  What about you, have you been playing it safe lately?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

 

Write 2 Be Magazine is now out so please go check it out at http://write2bemagazine.com/.  Also please go and join the magazine on twitter https://twitter.com/write2bemag, join the email listing for the magazine or submit a request for an author interview at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com, and also like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

The Perception of Strength

jcladyluv

It may sound strange but I sometimes get annoyed with people always using strong as one of the words to describe me.  People tell me that I’ve been through so much and that with all of the struggles that I’ve had and still have they are amazed at my strength and how I manage to persevere through it and towards something better.

I want to say “it’s not as if I actually have a choice, I can’t just curl up and die”.  More importantly I want to let them know that I am most certainly not strong, at least not any stronger than they are or anyone else out in this world going through horrific tragedies.  What exactly is it to be strong anyway?

I think that people have this idea, particularly about women, that they are always sure of themselves, sure of where they are going, unafraid, and iron willed.  There is this notion that if we are emotional, if we show our vulnerability, if we express our fears and our doubts, that somehow that makes us weak.  I must admit I have played into that a lot.

I’m an extremely emotional person and I don’t try to hide it but I find myself sometimes apologizing for it and in many ways feeling embarrassed because of it.  My mother once told me that tears and crying is for the weak and I have to admit that this made me even more apprehensive about showing my emotions to the general public.

For the people that really know me, on a deep and personal level, and they know my weaknesses and love me because of them as well as in spite of them, I will show that side.  However, for the rest of the world, the outside people who have yet to get to know me, I have discovered that I have become that person who tries to put on the front of strength because I don’t want them to see what they might perceive as weak.

The thing that I have learned through discovering more about myself is that it is okay to not be iron willed all the time.  Showing emotion, shedding tears, being afraid, or having doubts doesn’t make you any less strong than the people who won’t let their guard down enough to show cracks of vulnerability.

Strength is not in just bouncing back from tragedy or powering through the hard times.  Strength isn’t about shutting people out because you are afraid of getting rejected.  Strength is not always proving that you have all of the answers when things don’t go as planned.  Strength is about being able to admit that you are afraid.  It’s about acknowledging that you don’t have all the answers and that it’s okay, because you don’t need all of the answers today.  Having strength is acknowledging that sometimes it is okay to be weak.  As I shift into the next level of my journey and move further towards my success I don’t want to waste time and energy trying to keep up a front of always being strong.  Because I am not.

I Have the Write 2 Be Strong In Spite of My Weaknesses… What is Your Write 2 Be?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

Write 2 Be Magazine is now out so please go check it out at http://write2bemagazine.com/.  Also please go and join the magazine on twitter https://twitter.com/write2bemag, join the email listing for the magazine or submit a request for an author interview at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com, and also like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Right Where I Belong

jcladyluv

I’ve felt a little unsure of myself this week.  I guess you could say I’ve been doing a lot of second guessing (and I know that I shouldn’t) which is a bad habit I am trying to get rid of.  It’s been a week of feeling uncertain but I was watching a program this morning where the focus was the film director James Cameron and how he became such a visionary.  He said a lot of things that struck a chord with me and it kind of put things into perspective.

I get asked so many times by people who don’t consider writing an actual job (at least not a very viable one) why, when my reward thus far has been so little and the struggle has been so hard, why do I continue to pull my hair out over it.  Why don’t I just get a regular 9 to 5 job and settle with the joy of having a steady paycheck will do for my life.  They tell me it would make me so much happier, steadier, and that I would be able to do so much more for myself and my daughter.  Some days I don’t know the answer to those questions.  Not any that would make sense anyway.  But most days, the answers are simple, maybe not easy for others to understand, but they make sense for me.

For a large part of my childhood, all of my adolescence, and the vast majority of my adulthood I have doubted everything, and I had believed what my mother always made sure to remind me of which was that I was never going to be anybody and I was never going to get anywhere.  I let her words carry over into too many aspects of my life and while it was her lack of support that fueled my own doubts, it was my mistake for not recognizing that she was one of those negative people that I needed to steer clear of.  However, the one thing that I have never been uncertain of was my writing.

Sure there have been times that I have wondered if my writing could measure up to others, and if it was really truly about who you know rather then your actual talent, but I’ve always known that writing was what I was supposed to be doing with my life.  I never really had to be one of those people who had to search for what God’s purpose was for me because I’ve known from a very early age that it was my writing.  Not necessarily writing just in the form of novels, or poetry, or even launching my own magazine and eventually my publishing company.  But my words, they mean something and what I have to say matters.  My vision for where I want to go within my writing career has the potential to really change things and that is something I am not doubtful of.

I made a decision years ago that I could no longer do the 9 to 5 thing.  I couldn’t work towards building someone else’s dream while mine continued to sit on the back burner indefinitely, and on top of that, miss the most important moments of my daughters life because of it.  It’s not that I think that there is anything wrong with that, there are plenty of people who do it and I admire their ability to make that work, it just isn’t something that was working so well for me.  I wasn’t happy, in fact I was miserable, and I feel like my daughter could sense how miserable I was and that it weighed on her too.

I had always felt like I didn’t fit in at those places I worked at, like I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.  Now, I may not have as steady a stream of income coming in as I would like (for now anyway), and I may be seen to those people who don’t consider writing to be a job as always struggling (which may not be far from accurate) and doing nothing, but I am actually a lot happier then I was when I was working a regular full time job and trying to cram in my dream a few hours every night.  I feel as though, as uncertain as where the journey I am on is going to lead me, what isn’t uncertain is that I am in deed on the right journey, for me.

What is the meaning of going through this life if what you are doing, on a day to day basis, pushing towards your future, is not what you want to be doing, if it’s not your purpose?  I feel as though being among other artists; other creative people, other people who are considered to be weird and strange; other people whose broad and elaborate imaginations are considered to be eccentric and unrealistic; this is where I belong.

I Have the Write 2 Be Where I Feel I Belong…What is Your Write 2 Be?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

 

Write 2 Be Magazine is now out so please go check it out at http://write2bemagazine.com/.  Also please go and join the magazine on twitter https://twitter.com/write2bemag, join the email listing for the magazine or submit a request for an author interview at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com, and also like the Write 2 Be Magazine fan page https://www.facebook.com/Write2BeMagazine.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

 

Releasing the Fears That Keep Holding Me Back

jcladyluv

Okay so as a part of my drive to make this year much better then the last couple of years, pertaining to my writing career, I suppose it would be helpful to address the things that hold me back from progressing the way I should be.  I realized that when I blog the things that I need to improve upon and work harder at that it helps me to hold myself more accountable in making sure that I do just that.

So today I was thinking about all of the new avenues of freelancing that I want to get into and the magazines that I want to write for and I started to feel myself, once again, making excuses for why it just wouldn’t be possible for me to do those.  Three thoughts always pop in my mind when I start to feel confident enough to try something different or shoot for something that seems out of reach at the moment.

1)      There are so many writers that are better then me, what if my writing isn’t good enough to compete with them.

2)      What makes me qualified enough to speak about certain aspects of writing if I’ve never done it before.

3)      What if they just don’t like my writing style and they say no.  What if the no’s just keep coming?

Those are the things that scare me about having my own writing business and having to do this thing all on my own.  But those are the things that I also promised myself I would not let stop me this year.  I can’t really stop those thoughts from creeping back into my subconscious from time to time but I can figure out how to combat them with positive thinking and find a way to move past those negative thoughts so that it doesn’t become a bump in the road for me.

Putting them out there, writing them down so that they become more visible and not just a voice inside my head accentuating all of the negative, actually really does help.  It helps me realize that these are fears I can deal with.  I may not be the best writer in the world (I’m not really sure who could claim that title) but I am a good writer and all I can do is work on making myself better and keep on knocking on those doors until people do say yes.  That’s what I’m going to do.  So for anyone out there is tired of hearing no from people and who may be feeling a little defeated, just keep knocking on those doors.  Someone will say yes, but only if you keep on knocking.

I have the Write 2 Be Courageous and Bold… What is your Write 2 Be?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

 Write 2 Be Magazine will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Out With the Old and In With the New

jcladyluv

That’s the saying that people use when they decide to give up old practices and old ways that weren’t working and vow to shift their efforts in a new direction.  Well this year has just begun and that is exactly what it is time for.  Sometimes that saying can also apply to the people that you choose to keep in your life as well.

A part of forging a path that leads to being successful is making sure that you have the right attitude (a positive one), you have a heavy amount of faith, a drive to get to where you want to end up, and the right support system surrounding you.  If one aspect of your path is not right for you it throws everything else around it off, even if that one aspect is the people that are around you.

I realized yesterday (with some advice from my best friend Ms. L.) that sometimes there are just people that you have in your life that you outgrow and while there is nothing wrong with them per say, they just simply are not a good fit for the journey that you are trying to take.  It may just be that their direction and yours is shifting away from each other and your objectives are just too different from one another.

On the first day of this year, as you shift towards whatever direction you are heading in, or even if the path you were already on is working and you’re just continuing on, make sure that you reevaluate the people that are on your journey with you.  Make sure that they are not going to hinder the journey that you are on with their own objectives that are not aligned with yours.  Make sure that they are really for you and not working against you.  Make sure that they truly want to see you succeed instead of standing by rooting for you to fail.  Don’t keep the wrong people around you simply because they have always been there.  They have always been there for all of the wrong reasons.  Happy New Year and may this year be everything that we all dream for it to be.

I have the Write 2 Be Innovative… What is your Write 2 Be?

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

Write 2 Be Magazine will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Lessons to Be Learned From a Media Mogul—Russell Simmons

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I think Russell Simmons has always been right there at the top of my list of people to watch and learn from within the media industry.  What I think I admire most about him is the fact that he almost doesn’t want to be noticed and he is rather shy about his success and what he has managed to achieve in his life and in his career.  That kind of humble attitude is something that I think a lot of successful people could stand to learn because just as easily as the success has come, it can go away just as easily without the right attitude.

Russell Simmons is someone who has really built an empire to be admired.  He has created a company that spreads positive messages throughout the music and media industry.  He promotes empowerment within the younger generation and has produced many different types of creative programs that enriches the industry and the people within it.  Through all of his accomplishments he has remained humble and eager to share what he has learned throughout his life with the rest of the people who are just as eager to get to the level that he is at.  I wanted to share the lessons that I’ve learned from his journey to the top.

1.)    If You Don’t Believe in You, No One Else Will Believe in You— You have to be your best cheerleader.  You have to have the confidence in yourself that you want everyone else to have in you.  You have to trust in yourself and your abilities to do what you have set out to do.  You have to be your biggest fan.

2.)    You Can’t Be So Willing to Receive Without Being Willing to Give— In Russell Simmons book, Do You! He says “instead of waking up trying to figure out what you can get, you should be waking up trying to figure out what you can give.”  A lot of people gain their success doing something that can benefit others as well as themselves so we have to remember that it can’t just be about what we get out of accomplishing our goals and our dreams, but also about what we can give to the people in our communities, in our states, in this country, by fulfilling our purpose.  For instance, Russell Simmons has taken his success and funded so many foundations and projects that help to further the communities and places that he reaches out to.  Lady GaGa has used her success to build a foundation that helps people dealing with issues surrounding bullying and to help encourage people that it is okay to be who they are born to be.  What we do has to matter in more places then just our bank accounts and our own wallets.

3.)    You Have to Stay Open to Change— Everything is not going to stay the same.  It can’t stay the same in order for those on their journey to success to actually reach their goals.  You have to be willing to change with the situation at hand and adapt to what has become the reality of things and not reside in the circumstances of how things were.  I have learned that change is simply inevitable and trying to fight it and keep change from happening is only hindering your growth and your progress.  You can not succeed staying right where you are, unchanged.  When I think of it like that I say “bring on the change.”

4.)    Always Be Honest With Yourself— Yes of course you should try your best to be an honest person all around but when I say be honest with yourself, I mean be honest about who you are, faults and all.  Other people’s criticisms will always bother you but they won’t hurt nearly as much if you are already honest about who you are and you know yourself and the areas where you can improve and areas where are satisfied with the person you have become.

5.)    Don’t Give Up YOUR Vision Just to Grab a Chance at Success— Along your journey, there will be people who will get just as excited about your vision as you are, but then they will try and convince you to change it.  They’ll say “maybe it will be better if you do this,” or “maybe you’ll have a better chance at it if you do it like that.”  They will have you believing that their suggestions to your vision will propel it forward.  That is simply you, relinquishing your vision to someone else, to do with it what they will.  Your vision is yours and should never be shaped and molded to fit anyone else’s views.

Being open, not just to change within your circumstances, but the changes that take place within yourself, is an important part in succeeding.  You can’t take your life and your career, your dreams and goals, to the highest heights without changing some things up along the way.  More importantly, you can’t do that without staying true to yourself and true to your vision.

People will try to hold you back.  People will try and change what your vision is into what they think it should be.  It will sound convincing and it will sound like they know exactly what they are talking about and that maybe you should be listening to them.  But it is your vision and your dreams.  Don’t let anyone take your dreams and try and change them.  Hold onto them and make them a reality, but do so in your own time, and in your own way.  Believe in yourself and what your vision is and when you make it there, to the top, don’t forget to help someone else up along the way.

I have the Write 2 Be a Visionary…What is your Write 2 Be?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

Write 2 Be Magazine will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.

Lessons to Be Learned From a Media Mogul—Steve Harvey

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I probably would never have put Steve Harvey on this list of people I admire as a Media Mogul about a year ago.  Mostly because I hadn’t really saw him that way until I started researching just how many things he had a role in within the media industry.  There was once a time where you would here the name Steve Harvey and the first word that came to mind was Comedian.  Now there are so many other things that would fit in a description of him.

He fought hard to be noticed for something other than just being a Comedian and to be respected as a true change within the media industry.  And he did so with some simple principles that he follows from lessons that he has learned while on his journey.  I wanted to share some of those simple principles and lessons with you and hopefully they will help you in your journey as they are beginning to help me in mine.

1.)    Taking Care of You Has to Take Precedence— If you don’t take care of yourself, then you won’t be around to take care of the family and people that you love. You won’t be able to accomplish the things you dream of doing.  Health is a priority that far too many people take for granted and keeping yourself healthy is going to allow you to build up your endurance and stamina to work hard to get the things that you want and to hold onto the things that you want.

2.)    Some Rules Are Meant to Be Broken for All the Right Reasons— Of course most rules should be adhered to in general.  However, there are times when it is okay to toss the rule book out the window.  Rules like “don’t put all of your eggs in one basket,” or “always have a plan B,” are rules that people will tell you to live by because it’s the practical thing to do.  It makes sense for some, but for those out of the ordinary people whose dreams go way beyond the scope of anyone’s imagination, those particular rules only set you up to fail.  Some rules truly were made to be broken.

3.)    Just Because Other People Place You in a Box Doesn’t Mean You Have to Remain There— Just because people label you as one thing, doesn’t mean that is the label you have to accept.  Everyone put Steve Harvey in the box as Comedian and that was it.  Just another one trick pony.  But that is not where he chose to stay.  He didn’t want to just be known as a comedian.  So he stepped out of that box and became an Actor who not only went and took on acting roles but who actually got his own television show, a Radio Host of a nationally syndicated radio program, an Author of a book that is now a major motion picture, and now a television game show and talk show host.  See what can happen when you think outside of the box.

4.)    If You Don’t Work Hard for Your Dream, No One Else is Going To— You can’t expect other people to work hard to help you get where you want to be if you aren’t willing to work ten times as hard.  The goals and dreams you are working towards are yours, no one else’s.  If it means you have to wake up early and go to bed late in order to make things happen, then that’s what you are going to have to do.  Yes it is wonderful if you manage to surround yourself with a team of people who are on your side and are working to help you further your dreams, but they’re not going to work any harder then they see you working.  You can’t really rely on anyone else to help you get to that place of success, just yourself.  Your work ethic is what is going to get you there and it’s what’s going to keep you there.

5.)    Everyone That is Around You is Not There to Help You— When you are younger you thrive on how big your social circle is.  When you get older you start to realize that your circle of “friends” may be too big.  What will hold you back from becoming successful like you are striving to be more than anything is having the wrong people around you.  Some people are just simply too toxic to have in your life.  They want to ride on your coat tales and if you don’t take them with you they will try effortlessly to drag you down right back to where you started.  These are the people who, while they say they want to see you succeed, what they are really hoping you do is fail.  These are the people that you don’t need around you, but you have to know that and realize that before it’s too late.

There are so many rules that you aren’t supposed to break.  There are practicalities that everyone is supposed to take with you through life.  But sometimes being practical is just another way of playing things safe.  There is nothing wrong with saying that you have a plan for your future, you know what you want to do, what you want to be, and where you want to go in life, and focusing on that goal and that dream, without a back-up plan.

I heard once that sometimes back up plans are for those who are not really sure what it is that they want.  Now I don’t mean people with multiple roles within life such as being a singer, an author, and an actress.  That is simply a person who had a broad vision for their future.  I mean those who go down one path and then prepare something to fall back on that is practical but not necessarily something that they are passionate about.

Why isn’t it okay to put all of your eggs in one basket if there is no other basket that you are interested in pursuing?  There are all kinds of rules that people will try to make you adhere to and labels that people will place on you.  Who says that you have to live by anyone else’s rules or labels but your own?

I have the Write 2 Be Different…What is your Write 2 Be?

 

Jimmetta Carpenter

Writer/Editor

The Diary: Succession of Lies (Now Available)

Writing as “Jaycee Durant”

https://write-2-be.com/

http://unpleasantlyplump.wordpress.com/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310

Write 2 Be Magazine will be debuting on January 15th, 2013 so please go join the magazine on twitter before it debuts on https://twitter.com/write2bemag and join the email listing for the magazine at Write2bemagazine@yahoo.com.  Also please feel free to go and friend me on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Jimmetta-Carpenter/1069480310 and like my Write 2 Be Magazine fan page.  Please help support my endeavor and my new journey and help me spread the word about Write 2 Be and its meaning.