Dear Younger Self,
I’m still here, we still here, better than yesterday for sure.
Still moving, grooving, still going, not always “strong” though…
More softly this time, with deeper curiosity and intention, you know.
I must forewarn, my young one, the more you know, the more you will become enraged,
Especially as a Black, Queer Woman, raised and educated in the Deep South of America, mentally caged,
Navigating a patriarchal, capitalist, and ableist world, relearning and unlearning our HERstory’s shame.
You should know we fought hard to love ourselves unconditionally and unapologetically on this side.
Even though society opposes our rights, throws Gullah Kumbaya rocks, then spades reneges and hides.
Even our own folks, our bloodlines, and communities of refuge with whom we confide often backslide.
Yet still we rise, like Maya Angelou. And still, I believe and fight for our humanity like Audre Lorde.
I trust in my capabilities, capacity, and ever-evolving identity like James Baldwin…
To be valid, worthy, and holy beyond this matrix of subserviency, like Nikki Giovanni.
I also give myself infinite permission, forgiveness, and grace.
For when we sometimes fail,
To see our beauty, brilliance, and power beyond the social construct of race.
I honor my growth and healing in both my light and darkness, you see,
And in my absence of good or right, whatever that may be.
It’s all a part of our DNA, my spiritual and ancestral makeup. I am who I am, and what will be will be.
Young one, you will inspire a world of change in people, places, and systemic beasts.
You will be loved and cherished by sacred hearts and lands you will never meet or reap.
You are fiercely protected, not just in grandiose ways, but in the gestures of care, respect, and decency.
Some wisdom, food for the soul, my love, do practice the art of meditation and reincarnation…
The science of patiently waiting and divinely aligning your Badu next lifetime’s manifestations,
In a gentle yet strategic marination of your present and future dreams, desires, and liberations.
Whenever you’re lost and seek guidance, ritually call upon your Ancestors and Mother Nature’s secrets…
Open your heart, mind, and spirit to the bittersweet whispers of the Universe’s ethers,
As they will remind you that joy comes in the morning and peace waits for you in the night’s beacon.
Trust me, the journey’s sermon is far more rewarding than the destination’s pulpit.
Life is going to send you on a rollercoaster of emotions, a majestic gumbo of flavors, spices, and full wit.
Each lesson will sculpt you into a vessel of resilience and wisdom if you let go of ego and let healing in.
Life’s growing pains will try to shame you into giving up, but don’t tap out, TAP IN Kin.
We got you, wait it out a little bit longer, the world gets smaller, but your confidence gets bigger, Twin.
Never fret, or worry, it’s healthy to cry and release, Hakuna matata, Ubuntu your losses into wins.
Practice radical rest as resistance, take naps, pour into your nervous system, breathe, and decompress.
Paint, write, dance, and sing in evergreen; listen close to your body, lock in, regulate vs. suppress.
Remember Pura vida, whether rainy or sunny days, sit still, exhale slow, wonder deep, and drift low.
Pay attention as the birds chirp, the winds howl, the water drips, and the trees sway–Toni let it flow.
Embrace your youth, honor your elders, don’t take waking up for granted, and fall in love with growth.
Be anxious for nothing, seek wisdom in everything, you never know what another person is going through.
Treat the sun, sea, & plants as medicine; smell the flowers, live out loud, and on promises follow through.
Don’t rush youth. Soon, the sacrifices will be worthy; the heartbreaks will make sense; you’ll pull through.
Challenge your chaos into something internally beautiful, invest in your community, and your health.
Allow your heart to flutter, your mind to puzzle, your body to speak and shine through births and deaths.
Trust yourself, intuition is all-powerful, and art is one-of-a-kind, you are magic personified into wealth.
As I write these words to you in the present with a heavy heart,
Our past inner child and future elder are ululating Indigenous ballads
with deep joy, unimaginable peace, and ineffable relief near and far.
As dark, empty, and debilitating as these times may feel, I still have so much hope for you, kid.
I promise, like Kendrick says, everything gon’ be alright, somehow, someway, like our predecessors did.
For better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, in the grays, between good and bad days…
And not in the biblical sense–but in the SPIRITUAL realm we do, soon, find our way.
One day you will “innerstand”, just trust that no matter what, when, or where…
Through the ups and downs, guess whose always gonna be around, in the midst of despair?
You and me!
We gon’ Stir It Up, in this lifetime and the next, this I swear,
We got us until infinity with purpose, joy, and abundant care,
We are and will always be Enough, through pioneering blood, sweat, and tears.
