Since 1949, the month of May has been observed as Mental Health Month.
1949 – that’s umpteen years before I was born. #geeesh

However, 2018, was the first year I ever heard of Mental Health Month. We are often taught about Black History Month in February, National Hispanic Heritage Month which starts in September, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May and Women’s History Month in March- just to name a few observed months.

Our mental health is as important. I truly believe the phrase, your health is your wealth. Your health encompasses your mental, physical and spiritual well- being. No one wants to be physically fit and mentally and spiritually fatigued.

There is often a negative stigma that came with the idea of counseling. If something traumatic happened, people would say, Go to church”, or “Pray” instead if providing assistance resources.

As stated in a previous blog, prayer is always a solution. However, group therapy, one on one counseling and mental breaks are needed sometimes and are encouraged.

I am glad within my network of friends that stigma is starting to change. I frequently hear others say, I’m going to counseling or I have a trusted friend I can talk with regarding working through life.

Transparent Moment:

I went to group therapy this year for the first time and I was nervous and scared. Thankfully, in that moment I prayed and worked through it. I can honestly say I enjoyed it and would go again. I met some amazing people, shared my story, encouraged others and received encouragement.

So if you need someone to chat with, don’t be afraid to reach out to a licensed therapist or counselor. Also, utilize your resources available. Several employers offer free counseling, yes I did say #free99 sessions with your wellness benefits as well.

Scripture of the Day:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3

Hey yall! I love a good trip.
I am always planning my next trip in my head. People who know me frequently ask me, “Where are you going next?”
My response- “ummm everywhere!”

I literally want to go everywhere in the world! No place is off limits, not even Antarctica! I just need my bank account to match up with everywhere I want to go.

Anywho, I digress.

My Truth

Through various trips with friends and bridal parties I’ve learned ? you can’t travel with everyone! #pointblankperiod Where is the lie???? I will wait.

Friendships get shaky.
Feelings get hurt. People be late. Shade gets thrown. People cancel. People don’t have funds. Like boo, where is your cash???? Woosah

Don’t get me wrong, I love traveling with others, but like any good thing, it takes work and planning. Since, there are occassions you want to travel with others or you have to due to your profession, my friend prepared a list of lessons learned from a recent trip. So I decided to share.

Enjoy and take notes!

Lessons Learned

1. Have someone who you absolutely love on the trip, that will keep you calm. This isn’t always possible, if not have someone available that you can text if needed to calm you down in the moment.
2. All personalities don’t mix.
For example: If person A doesn’t like person B, it may not be a good idea to put them in a vehicle together for a few hours. Just take 2 separate trips with both. #problemsolved
3. Show the list of everyone invited and allow people to choose if they would like to attend based on the invitees list.
4. If it is a large trip, have a meet and greet before the trip.
5. Create an itinerary.
6. Make sure everyone is on time. Sometimes this means, pushing the time up 30 mins or an hour before your expected time to give people grace in case of an emergency.
7. Have a trigger word. If stuff doesn’t go as planned, have a word that the group agreed on so you all can come together and adjust plans as necessary.
8. Create a group thread through Facebook, groupme or WhatsApp.
9. Go with the flow. All the time things don’t go as planned, so be flexible.
10. Follow your first mind. If you are feeling unsure about plans or an event, go with your gut, you are usually never wrong.
11. Always stay positive, even if you disagree with someone be the bigger person and don’t let it affect you. After all you paid good money for the same trip they’re on. Don’t allow others to control your emotions!
12. If you are sharing lodging with others, set shared cleaning responsibilities and a time for cleaning. It’s no fun for one person to be responsible for cleaning up after others. #aintnobodygottimeforthat

Motto for Trips:

If you always find the silver lining then you’ll always find a way to have a good time.

Question of the Day:

What tips do you have for group trips?

Scripture of the Day:

Psalms 121:7-8

When I was in college I struggled financially.
However, I applied for scholarships. I also worked three jobs sometimes to ensure I had basic necessities to finish school.

Storytime:

I remember my senior year in undergrad, my friend and I received a scholarship from the same donor. We were ecstatic!!! That scholarship helped me tremendously that year. I was able to focus more on my school studies and finish the school year strong.
Because of that scholarship, I was able to go back the following year after graduation and speak at the awards ceremony. As an alum. I thanked my donor and encouraged other alums to give back and invest in others and their school.

Fast forward nine years post undergrad, I still remember the feeling of how excited I was from receiving that scholarship and I am always looking for ways to plant a seed to help someone else.

Goals

One of my goals is to open up a yearly renewing scholarship for a graduating senior from my elementary school to help them pay for college.

Learning of Speaker Robert Smith’s commitment to pay off Morehouse 2019 graduating class loan debt of 40 million dollars was a blessing. He changed the trajectory of the graduating class life by giving them a chance to start at life with little to no debt.

So when I heard about this I was pumped and energized, but reality kicked and I was reminded my pockets dont run deep like Mr. Smith pockets “yet”.

In the meantime, I wanted to come up with a list of things we can do to help others.

Action Items

1. Pay for someone’s groceries.
2. Help a student fill out a fafsa application.
3. Tutor someone in a subject within your expertise.
4. Cook a meal for someone.
5. Volunteer at a local school or in the community.

Question of the Day:

Find something to do or give to others. How do you help others in the community?

Scripture of the Day:

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

Every now and then life hits us hard; unexpectedly.

Such as:
– Unexpected sick family members
-Our own health trouble
-Job issues
-Relationship stuff and then..
-If we have kids they could be acting cray cray too. ?

Throughout many of life traumas, a lot of the things that are going on are things we can’t even change.
Things that are completely out of our span of control.

Clearly we can’t do anything about our situation, so give it to God and let him fix it.

We already tried. #options-exhausted

So in the mean time, when things happen that are out of our control we can remember, the one thing we can control is our attitude.

We can pop off on someone, however it isn’t going to change anything in regards to what we are going through at that moment.
Let’s find a way to respond that brings peace to the situation.

Question of the Day- How can we respond to chaos in a way that brings us joy and peace?

1. Scripture of the Day-Philippians 4:8-9

Do you remember the first time you learned to pray? I can’t, but I do remember the first two prayers I learned which were:

1. Jesus wept

John 11:35

Sidenote: I’m not sure if this was really a prayer or not, but we would say it sometimes as grace before eating our food as kids. lol)
Don’t judge us, I’m sure I was hungry. lol

2. The Lord’s Prayer
Matthew 6:9-13

However as I got older, after hearing people praying at church what I considered to be “elaborate prayers” I was less likely to pray out loud in front of others. Clearly, my prayers didn’t sound anything like there prayers. ??‍♀️

Storytime:
For example, I remember I was driving one day and talking out loud to God aka praying and I said, “You are a rock in a weary land.” Mid sentence, I stopped and said, “What does that even mean?!!!” I had no idea. ??‍♀️

However, I heard someone else say it, so clearly it would be okay for me to say. Umm nah bruh.
From that moment forward, I told myself I would only use normal words that I use in everyday conversation to talk to him.

My Prayers
When I pray this is my communication with God, it has nothing to do with anyone else. I don’t have to repeat something I heard someone else pray either.

Furthermore, whether I pray and it seems like I am calling heaven down because of my articulate vocabulary or I pray God help me. Guess what? He hears both. Therefore, I prefer to pray the latter pray so I won’t confuse myself.

My prayers are something like this:

Dear Heavenly Father,
Forgive me for my sins.
It is me again.
Now God, today was a long day, that lady really made me upset.
Thank you for giving me strength to not respond and walk away.
I pray that you continue to cover me with your grace and mercies.
Send my guardian angels down to surround me.
I thank you for divine favor and connections with people I encounter on today.
In Jesus name, Amen.

In conclusion, after you start to pray you will build up a comfort level and your prayers will get longer. However, you can still say little one line prayers throughout the day.

Question of the Day:

When did you first learn to pray? And what was your first prayer?

Scripture of the Day:

Luke 18:1