Yes

I just had a Shonda Rhimes Year of Yes kind of moment. I'm sitting here thinking about all of the great things that my organization Dana's Resources has been able to do for the community over the past year. I am also taking stock of all the things that I have been blessed with because of my non-profit organization. People ask questions like what do you get out of giving to your community? Helping kids go to college, why? Collecting items to give away, what for? And it's genuinely just the satisfaction of knowing that I helped someone or I was in a position where I could connect someone to something to better their life. Pretty often, however I am offered gifts from folks that are just as generous as I am. I started Dana's Resources as an access platform because originally I thought of it as me providing access great opportunities of which people were unaware. Connecting people to things that they had no idea were in existence. What I've come to realize though is that this organization has opened me up to be the recipient of information and graciousness. Fast forward to this morning's realization. I have been recognized for my contributions to the community both publicly and privately and given gifts by people who are just appreciative of my time and effort. I am now realizing that I tend to shy away from any type of recognition. I get so overcome with shyness or humility (not exactly sure what to call it) that it makes me down right uncomfortable to accept accolades. But what about physical gifts? If I can't handle nice words and public celebration, surely if someone offers me something as a gift I would accept it right? This is what I took notice of today. To date I have been offered gala tickets, t-shirts, concert tickets, basketball game tickets, party ticket, invitations to meet politicians, invitations to a live talk show tapings, radio interviews and the list goes on and on. But with all of these offers over the past year I can only remember accepting one or two of these gifts. I have perfected the craft of coming up with the best excuses to miss out on an opportunity. "My kid is sick." "I am sick." "A family emergency."  "No childcare, my husband has to work late." Instead of coming out of my comfort zone I just offer an excuse to not accept the gift and then move forward. The things I do accept are few and far between. Usually it's something that requires no face time or something that will benefit my children or students. What I am beginning to realize is that I am in my own way.  Blocking my own blessings. I am a big proponent of seeing opportunities everywhere. I firmly believe that every single situation has some benefit, but I have been stifling myself. So as I sit here and think about all of the things that I have been blessed with and all of the things that I have let slip through my fingers over the past year, I am going to start taking a note straight out of Shonda Rhimes book The Year of Yes. I am going to start saying yes to things. Yes to invitations. Yes to outings. Yes to parties. Yes to gifts. Yes to celebrating myself because I need to. This is going to be the start of my own self empowerment journey. I might as well start now. So today I start by saying yes to the gift of a professional photo shoot from my dear friend. My self-consciousness has kept me from taking this step so I am completely and totally out of my comfort zone, but I'm saying yes to it and we will see where it takes me Happy Kwanzaa folks!