You need to take a break
On pausing and trusting the seasonality of your life
I did the most for nearly a decade.
Between 2014 and 2020, I launched a handful of businesses, communities, and creative ventures, but specifically focused on and sustained one.
I was extremely public with my life, lifestyle, and career.
I was traveling non-stop. In 2019, I always joked that I lived in Los Angeles, but I worked in NYC, as I was there more frequently than anywhere else during a specifically concentrated travel season for various partnerships, campaigns, and events I was either apart of or leading.
Prior to those years, I wouldn’t have been able to predict that my gifts as a writer, community centered leader, and intentional documentarian would have led me to an interesting journey as creative entrepreneur who would grow a significant platform thanks, in part, to the amplification that social media provided my vision and voice.
But it did.
And it was amazing. But then, I took a break from everything. The community, the brand, the opportunities, the social media, even my inbox. (I’ll never forget opening up my inbox for the first time in 3 months and seeing that an agency reached out 3x for a multiple five-figure deal with a notable Black female celebrity.)
But I took this break necessarily. I went through a dark season that forced me to put everything on immediate pause—or so I thought.
The darker that things got within me, the more the shame that consumed me told me that the break I took was “bad”. (As if I could have possibly continued through depression, suicidal thoughts, and the fear and anxiety that had clung to me.) That I was throwing everything away and that I couldn’t possible make a return to the things that I had been doing before.
But, God is the greatest Restorer. Redeemer. And, Creator. He makes all things new (illuminating this truth is, in fact, one of the reasons why I created this newsletter, A New Thing).
And He has done something better than returned me to the things that I had been doing before. He has put me on a new path entirely and has been redeeming everything that I have gone through for His glory and for the healing and restoration of so many.
So, to anyone who needs the encouragement—the pause can be where the peace arises from.
Here are a few reflection prompts and questions you may choose to take to your journal, in prayer, or in next therapy session:
First allow yourself to reflect on pauses in earlier seasons.
Consider, and write down, what came from the pause.
Reflect on the person that you were before the pause, and the person that you became due to the pause.
Consider whether there are any pauses weighing on your spirit. What is it that you’re in need of pausing from or perhaps laying down altogether? (Even if you don’t want to whether due to your ego, your beliefs about where your financial sustainability may come from, external perception, or any other factors.)
Tell someone about your reflection.
Feel free to tell me. I look forward to hearing from you.
