"That Should Have Been YOU"....well, maybe. Or Maybe NOT.

As a spoken word artist and creative entrepreneur, I've accomplished a LOT of creative milestones. I've sat on steering committees for award-winning festivals. I've been a keynote speaker and helped to bring a poetry convention to Roswell, GA. I've produced a yoga and poetry 'healing retreat' in the North Georgia mountains. I've written 5 poetry collections and hosted countless writing workshops and open mic variety shows for youth and adults. I've performed at Center Stage Atlanta, both Apache Cafes, City Winery Atlanta and I featured at Java Monkey before it burnt to the ground. I've co-owned several content studios and gathered people together all for the love of quality creative expression.

Even with this extensive artsy resume, people often make time to tell me or show me what I'm NOT doing. They make a point to point out what other poets have accomplished and compare it to my efforts. It's like they're saying, "Oh, you might think you're awesome BUT look who has THAT position. Oh, you think you're great BUT look who has this or that award. Oh! You believe you're special but shouldn't that be YOU traveling the world and getting those type of checks and being on that TV show?"

Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Let me explain.

Everyone's journey is not the same. God's success timing for one person is not the same timeline for YOU. It takes a complete surrender of your plans and an acceptance of His will for your life to truly understand and be alive with this truth. At first, when presented with all the external information, my natural knee jerk reaction was to be jealous and then depressed. Then I isolated myself and looked at my life, without comparing it to anyone else. I realized that everything I accomplished for myself and to elevate other people -- WOW! The best part is, I'm still growing and learning - the best is yet to come!!

A quote from Maya Angelou says: "Pursue the things you love doing and then do them so well that people can't take their eyes off of you." Keep moving forward being authentically YOU.

*drops mic

*adjusts tiara

*exists stage left