I woke up thinking about this...

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It’s official! We’ve entered the best month of the year!

Not because my birthday is tomorrow (Dec 02) but because everything amazing happens in this month.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch because, as you already know, I despise the cold and it gets colder in New York in December, but I refuse to dwell on the negative.

It’s the last month to enjoy yourself in a year that will become a memory very soon.

I’m not sure about you, but I want to remember the adventures and the unexpected things that made me think differently, and all the risks I was afraid to take but did anyway.

I know when I’m going through a rough time, I declare to the universe that I never want to remember any of the pain (or anything about the situation), but the pain always fades. The emotion lingers a little while, but truthfully it’s the lesson that lasts forever.

I’ve gone from despising a situation and never speaking about it to thanking that same situation for pushing me to grow so I can find my path.

This year was really heavy emotionally, especially through summer — which was a shocker to me because I thrive in the summertime — but I learned (and keep learning) that I can never give in to the feelings that will drag me even lower.

That’s why I made a promise to myself, and I’ve been keeping it no matter how cold outside was.

Turns out, challenging yourself to do irregular things is also challenging yourself to trust yourself more. (So many yourselves lol)

Here’s my suggestion, if you want, of what you should probably do this month:
Challenge yourself to do something you’ve never done before at least once a week.

Doing this simple task will break the routine you’ve built, get you out of auto-pilot mode, and bring you into the present.

So, if you’ve never gone walking in the neighborhood before, go for it and count the different leaf colors you see. Or if you’ve never tried having a coffee date with your friend before, go for it and order tea or matcha.

Send me what you saw on your walk or ordered on your coffee date, or just tell me what you did that was different:

Do something that, when it’s all over and all you have are the memories, you’ll enjoy thinking about all the details that made that moment special.

I got this idea from Tim Ferris. He sends out a newsletter every Friday called 5-Bullet Friday, where he shares what he’s currently pondering and exploring.

I think it’s a clever way of sharing what’s been inspirational, so I’m adopting a few points plus adding my own.

Book I’m Reading

Map of Dreams by M. Rickert
I thought this book was about one story following a mother on her journey to save her child, but it turned out to be so much more. It’s a collection of different dreams and they are very vivid. It reminds me of some of my own immersive vivid dreams I’ve written down over the years. I’m almost finished with it and I want the pages to magically continue.

A Quote I Saw

“Reclaim Your Time”
Sometimes YouTube thumbnails say the exact thing I NEED to hear to finalize a decision or change my path completely when I’m searching for a video to watch. I know this is technically not a quote in the literature sense, but it served the purpose of showing me that there are always signs subtly guiding us if we look close enough.

A Journal Prompt for You

What am I afraid of the most right now, why does it scare me, and what can I honestly do about it?

I mentioned above that I made a promise to myself and I kept it, but I didn’t say what that promise was. I reveal it in Episode 59:

This next film is all about the Thanksgiving week that just passed, but there’s something, that’s not included, that I wanted to tell you before you watch it.

I had Thanksgiving with my mother and sister this year. We have not been together for the holidays in over a decade, so this was huge for all of us.

My sister brought out the family album she had, and we started flipping through the pages. Between the laughter at the ridiculous faces, poses, and unrecognized family members, I realized one thing:

Most of the photos of my younger siblings — especially in Jamaica — and some funny ones from when I lived with my mother were taken by ME! (I’m still shocked by this)

I didn’t have a fancy camera back then, it was just a disposable camera, but that didn’t matter. Turns out my journey documenting daily life is longer than I realized. I’ve been capturing daily life in photo form since before I can remember. A practice I still cherish to this very day.

It’s a case of: when you look back, you’ll see the pattern that was there all along, but you have to give it a lot of time before the pattern reveals itself.

On top of that revelation, I baked carrot cake from scratch!

Watch the video to see how it all went:

I know this one is a lot longer than my usual letters to you, but I honestly woke up in the mood to write and it all just flowed.

Thank you so much for being here with me. You are always appreciated.

Now go enjoy my creations! :)