Fearlessly Happy
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator type=”transparent” position=”position_center” thickness=”1″ up=”20″ icon_pack=”font_awesome” fe_icon=”arrow_back” icon_type=”normal”][vc_column_text]The hair salon is the best place for magazine reading. Those glossy colorful pages will get you through the large amount of time waiting for the moment when your stylist calls your name to his/her’s magic throne. The magazine that got me through my recent salon visit was Glamour’s October issue featuring Taraji P. Henson. As I began to read about her 20+ years in the entertainment industry and how Cookie Lyons has changed her life, I recalled the first time I remember seeing Taraji in a film. Taraji is not a new face in Hollywood. I remember watching her chase Jody out of her apartment desperate for him to become a “man” and pleading with him to be honest with her in the movie Baby Boy.
As I recollected my favorite Taraji moments, I thought to myself, “Wow, twenty years ago this single mother moved to Hollywood and stayed steadfast on her purpose until her moment came. How did she keep the faith?”
As I got to the end of her Glamour cover story, this one statement stuck with me:
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=”-@TherealTaraji #lemons2lemonade”]“Fear will cripple you, fear will kill you, fear will make you believe you’re not worthy.”[/inlinetweet]
This statement resonated with me, because I remember letting fear make me feel those exact things. Everything I ever said I would do before I graduated from college, I did and I did it fearlessly. I never worried about the outcome, and I never doubted that what I wanted would not happen. There was a period after graduation when I let fear get the best of me, which inevitably made me unhappy. After being told “no” so many times, I questioned everything that I wanted in life. I felt like a mannequin in a store front window with a clear view of possibilities, but no clue how to get out of the confined space of fear. I was suffocating and I had to break free. First, I needed to rediscover who I was and what my were passions. I had an opportunity that allowed me to rediscover a passion of mine and that was writing. For that short period of time, I was the happiest that I been in years. I was writing again, and it allowed me to interact with women who’s stories of resilience inspired me. Everyday, I was surrounded by women who knew who they were, women who were comfortable in their skin and who were living their purpose. That energy encouraged me to find that very thing, so I asked myself three questions:
- What makes me happy?
- How do I use what I know and what skills I’ve acquire to keep doing the things that make me happy?
- What’s stopping me?
That’s when the revitalization and rebranding of Brittney Oliver was set in motion. I wanted the old thang back and that is the person who went for what she wanted fearlessly and unapologetically. I wanted to live fearlessly again.
It may have taken the industry years to value Taraji’s worth, but she always knew she was worth it. Despite how long it took, she stayed resilient, positive and encouraged that her moment would come. She is what I call fearless.
I’m letting go of my fears of the unknown. Life is full of endless possibilities and it is worth exploring. So here I am making my first move. I am taking my lemons and turning them into lemonade by sharing lifestyle tips and inspiring stories from real people. It’s the very thing that helped me find my worth and let go of my fears.
Who’s gonna stop me?
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