Vanessa’s Road To College: How to take on life’s tests
Dear Vanessa,
For the next several weeks, you will be preparing for SATs. To help encourage you along the way, here are some nuggets of advice and insights during this pivotal time in your life. My intention is to remind you that you can make the impossible possible. Have the audacity to dream, plan, and live out your wildest dreams.
Throughout your lives, I’ve told you and Mikey that grades, in and of themselves, don’t matter. Neither do standardized tests like the ones you are preparing for, nor the other artificial barriers that you will encounter in the pursuit of your goals. So why try? Why take the time to sit with Grace and have lessons on the test? Why decide to sit and study instead of going outside and hanging out with your friends?
Well, tests & seasons of transition (e.g. from high school to college) are like gateways & portals between you and the dreams you dare to conjure for yourself. I have lived by the manta, “Dream It, Plan It, Live It” since college. To me, that is the key to manifestation. I’m going to use the example of the time I drove alone from Los Angeles to Texas to (hopefully) help illustrate my point:
Dream It
When you decide to go somewhere, you begin making the necessary preparations for where you are going with certainty. You don’t second guess whether you are going to get to your destination, it is a matter of when and how.
That is the same kind of certainty you need to have about your dreams! One thing about you, once you decide you want something, you stop at nothing to get it. You need to keep that same energy about the life you want to live. Your life and potential is only as limited as your imagination & persistence.
Remember to guard your vision. When you decide you are going to do something, others may not see it for or with you. That is fine. They don’t have to. Along the way, there will be people who will, intentionally or carelessly, stomp on your vision or doubt your ability.
No one can hijack your imagination without your consent. No one can take away your power— it is something you give away in the small moments you allow someone to make you doubt yourself. But remember, you can ALWAYS call your power back home to you. You don’t have to live out someone else’s imagination.
Plan It
Imagine how foolish it would have been for me to get in the car and start driving without preparing first! No wallet or budget for gas? No gps or route? No plans for stops & recuperation? No snacks?! No playlists on deck?! TUH! Not I!
In order to bring a vision into reality, you have to start giving it some weight! What does that mean? Think about vibrations; a thought is a very fine vibration. Only you can experience it, but once you say it out loud and write it out, you make the idea denser. Now, someone can see or hear, thus sharing your vision. That is why it is essential to create a plan to achieve your visions. You convince yourself they are real by repeating them as fact and conveying it to other people like it is already reality. Some call it delusion, imma call it GETTING & BEING THE BAG!
On the road to your vision, as you are talking about the plan, sharing the plan with others, and traveling down the path you charted for yourself, your plan may change. That is a good thing! Never be afraid to stop, evaluate where you are, and change course as needed. The more you refine and iterate your plan, the clearer you feel and the more real your dreams feel to you and others.
Live it
What happens to a dream achieved? What happens when you set a goal and then you achieve it? Some people are never satisfied because they are always chasing the next moment, the next opportunity, the next achievement, and so on. But they are never truly here. Now.
They never really live. You don’t want to wait until your dream to live it. You don’t want to wait till college, or grad school, or marriage, or children, or retirement to be who you truly want to be. You have to live along the way. So make sure the dreams you dream feel joyful to be in. And don’t defer your joy either.
How do you do that? How do you live in the reality you are conjuring as you are making your way there? Remember that vibration metaphor? Well, the next step is actually embodying the thing you are envisioning. Walking like you are there. Talking, thinking, feeling, knowing, existing HERE. NOW.
The vision is your why. Your daily presence and embodiment of the unshakable knowledge that you are 1000% DAT BISH is HOW. By being present for the journey. By making close friends and sharing the journey with the people you love. Your dreams come from within you. Like the seed of an oak tree, everything you will become is already inside of you.
It is up to you to LIVE! To dream big! To get the BAG! BE THE BAG! YOU ARE THE JOB! There is truly nothing you cannot do once you decide that is what you are about to do. Periodt.
No one can stop you but you.
We are all rooting for you.
You got this.
We got you.
All my love,
Titilayọ
