To The Few

my hope for you, this year, is not a passive hope.

Happy New Year, Friends.

I’ve been penning/speaking notes to my self for a long time. Via journals, notebooks, photobooth videos, scribbles on tattered backs of receipts, even on dollar bills hidden in books. This year, I wanted to list what I wish for my self, for us, moving into another 365.

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My hope for you, this year, is not a passive hope. It’s the active itch in the back of your throat, pulse jumping, heart racing, call-to-action, we can’t conflate existing for living any longer type hope.

I HOPE…

you realize the problem is, you think you have time.

you learn to discipline your disappointment.

you greet triumph and tribulation with the same smile.

you create more than you consume.

you create more than you criticize.

you create more than you compare.

you seek discomfort.

you realize there are no rules.

you are faithful over your few.

you don’t rely on inspiration or talent.

you see that action creates the mood.

you find the prize in the process and the fruit in the labor.

you deeply understand we don’t get a lot of things to really care about in this life, so when you find them, fight tooth and nail to kindle and keep them.

I HOPE…

you give the living their eulogies.

you love your people loud and often.

you increase your tribe.

you get loved and friended right.

you love and friend right.

you treasure your body along the way.

you allow it to be easy.

you discover vulnerability is your superpower.

you allow yourself to feel. everything.

I HOPE…

you edit your life ruthlessly and frequently.

you forgive yourself ruthlessly and frequently.

you realize that what you are will never happen again.

you make the shit you wanna make whether people like it or not.

you pub your shit harder than anyone else’s.

you work harder on yourself than you do on your job.

you sew without expectation and reap without complaint.

you realize that patience is an active process.

you realize love is an active process.

I HOPE…

you learn that habit beats inspiration.

you realize four walls can’t hold you.

you give your grief the respect it deserves.

you realize you are never alone in how you are feeling.

you realize you’re full of wounds and still standing.

you step into your power.

you learn you are the lock and the key.

you acknowledge the depths you’ve overcome.

you learn that progress and perfection can’t share the same seat.

you embrace your now.

I HOPE…

you understand it’s been done before but not by you.

you don’t compromise your vision.

you learn to surrender to your dreams.

you don’t leave the arena to the fools.

you know that you and your work and your voice are needed, now

more than ever.

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Happy 2023 beautiful people.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being here.
—Nneka