Using Stories for Goal-Setting and Life Planning: Defining The Main Character
Before you can begin crafting your life story, you must define your story’s main character. With the help of personality assessments, your birth chart and a fill-in-the-blank writing exercise, you will discover your inner values, natural talents and motivations and create your Declaration of Self.
Whether I’m working on a project or writing a story, the first thing I do is identify the key players, aka, the main character(s).
Before I began this year’s goal-setting, I spent several days (5, to be exact) doing some self-assessment. For this, I relied on a few personality assessments, a values inventory exercise, and an in-depth review of my natal chart.
Even though I’d taken most of these self-assessments previously, I still found it extremely useful to review and remind myself of the natural gifts and talents that I’m working with before I began writing my story.
Learn More About Each of The Self-Assessments
Since each of these assessments provides a lot of information to wade through, I came up with a way to condense the key insights from all of them into a mini-manifesto. I call it my ‘Declaration of Self’.
The Declaration of Self acts as a sort of over-arching intention that drives and motivates my life story’s main character. Regularly reviewing and reciting this intention statement will help re-energize my main character and keep her focused when the journey gets rough or there’s a lack of clarity.
In a future post, I’ll share the exact method I use to turn the results of my self-assessment into my Declaration of Self - so you can create your own!
Next: Understanding My Backstory
How I Use Stories for Personal Goal-Setting and Life Planning
Has your goal-setting approach failed you? Do you find yourself losing sight of your goals as life seems to have its own plans? You might want to try this story-based approach instead.
I don’t know about you, but goals haven’t been working for me lately.
To be honest, goals haven’t been working for me… ever.
In the past, my personal goal-setting pattern has looked something like:
set a goal that’s ‘SMART’
Start down the path of pursuing the goal
Get some early wins and feel extremely motivated by my own commitment and initial action,
Then… life starts happening. Work gets crazy, or I have trouble in one of my primary relationships. Or, maybe my ‘shiny object syndrome’ kicks in and a new more exciting or more urgent goal pops up. I start losing momentum, promising myself that I’m going to get back on track. But weeks pass, maybe months, and I may completely forget about the original goal or decide that it wasn’t really that important to begin with.
So, this year, I decided to take a different approach. Instead of starting with goals (aka, the trees), I decided to start with a story (aka, the forest).
I’m a big picture thinker, so context and the larger story are always important to me. When solving problems at work, I usually start by getting an understanding of the systems, people, and structures surrounding the problem or challenge, because that’s… what a good consultant does.
So why not take the same approach for my personal life?
Next: Defining My Life Story’s Main Character
First, select your destination.
Feeling stuck? Ready to make a big leap? In preparation for this ‘season of shift’, I’ve compiled a short series of audio recordings to help set the tone and get myself (and you!) ready to make the most of this time.
Where do you want to go?
What’s the biggest / most important goal you have right now?
Who do you want to be when you grow up?
These are big questions. Questions we tend to ask ourselves at times like this. Transition times. Times of shift or change.
So, if you’re like me, you’ve been asking yourself these questions lately. But you may be finding it hard to come up with the answers.
Not because the answers are hard, but because they are overwhelming. The options are so many, the potential for messing up so great, the lack of clarity on how to get from here to there is surprisingly intimidating.
““I want to get there,” you think.
“But I don’t want to bumble around in the dark, tripping over my feet and looking awkward. I just want to arrive at my destination...”
“...as soon as I can figure out exactly where it is that I’m going.”
“I just know I don’t want to be here anymore. I’m ready... but for what? Where?””
Look. I’ve been there. In a state of wanting to go, but not knowing where to go, so choosing to stay put despite the current circumstances not being ideal.
You know what that’s called?
Inertia.
Aka, stuck.
But, the universe has a way of nudging us forward.
And now - at least according to those of us who study astrology - is one of those times that the universe is about to give all of us a big nudge.
In preparation for this ‘season of shift’, I’ve compiled a short series of audio recordings to help set the tone and get myself (and you!) ready to make the most of this time.
{ Listen to the first audio recording now }
These audio clips can be listened to while sitting quietly sipping your morning coffee, taking a walk or folding the laundry. Listen to them all in one sitting or over the next couple of days.
Audio 1: Leaving Somewhere Is Not Going Somewhere
Audio 2: So What’s The Big Deal With Dec 21, 2020?
Audio 3: The 2 Things You MUST Have Before Making A Major Life Change
Audio 4: Self-Development As Magic
Consider them your boarding pass as we begin the journey into a new season, a new year and a new age... the so-called ‘age of Aquarius’.
Boarding starts soon.
Issue my boarding pass!
Enter your email address to get your pass. Get instant access to the audio series. And get ready to make a big shift.
How to be more resilient
If you aren’t intentionally placing yourself in uncomfortable, unfamiliar or undefined spaces in your real life, you probably aren’t developing the skills needed to deal with the uncomfortable, unfamiliar or undefined in your work life.
How do you build resilience?
The question came up in today’s leadership meeting. We were discussing overall team morale. The general feeling of anxiety at another pending org change was acknowledged by all, but so was the inevitable nature and frequency of change within the organization.
“What can we do to help people deal better with this?”
“How can we help them to stop being worried about what’s going to happen in the future?”
“What if we bring in a speaker? I’ve heard of this guy who sailed around the world alone… it was a grueling challenge… he’s written about it. Maybe he could share his story.”
I listen. More ideas come… a class, a series of articles, role models within the organization, cubicle posters.
I go within myself and ask… how did I learn resilience? How did the other leaders at this table learn it?
From reading? From listening to a speech? From motivational posters?
No.
From hitting a proverbial wall and pushing my way through until I found the light.
From realizing in that moment that if it was to be done, it was to be done by me.
From recognizing that the only way out, was through.
And most of those moments occurred outside of an office building. Outside of a classroom. Outside of a lecture hall.
Out in the real world. Sometimes in the literal wilderness. Others, while I was a stranger in a strange land. Most, when no one else was there to encourage or support.
Some things can’t be taught.
If you aren’t intentionally placing yourself in uncomfortable, unfamiliar or undefined spaces in your real life, you probably aren’t developing the skills needed to deal with the uncomfortable, unfamiliar or undefined in your work life.
Anxiety often comes from a vague fear of what is not known. But how do you come to know the unknown if you avoid it entirely?
Spoiler alert: the truth is, you will never come to know the unknown. But after repeated tussles with the unknown, you will come to know you.
You will come to know what you are capable of, not just what you’re used to or what you’ve done successfully in the past. You will know what you look like, how you behave when there is no easy way out. You will know what it feels like to grit your teeth, hunker your shoulders down and press forward – yes, even with doubt or anger swirling around in your head, with tears stinging your eyes, with the naysayers throwing jibes at you from the sidelines, with false friends showing you the broadside of their backs.
When you come through the unknown, you will – if you have been paying attention – recognize that you are in league with the Creator.
When you come through the unknown, you will – if you have been paying attention – recognize that you are in league with the Creator.
And whatever was broken or damaged in the coming through, can be recreated again and again in whatever image you desire.
And that is resilience.
Not knowing that the sailing will be smooth or that the storm will pass soon. But knowing that from the wreckage, you have the power, the endless power to say, ‘Let there be light’.
Looking for proven ways to build greater resilience?
I’ve put together a Resilience Resource Guide - a collection of advice, exercises and motivational content gathered from top researchers and experts in psychology and alternative wellness.
It’s 100% FREE and available for immediate download.
Get yours below!
Slow Down And Count The Results
We all know what happens when you try to call the result too soon. A reminder to slow down and take a good, honest look at all that you’ve lost and won this year.
Welp. We’ve got fewer than 60 days ‘til the end of the year. What are your goals?
Look. I’m not gonna hassle you about year-end goals right now. Now is not the time for goals. It’s the time for a slow count.
(You see what I did there?)
I'll be honest. I had absolutely no faith in you people when it came to this year’s election.
Take a good look around at the things you have now that you didn't have before. Pay special attention to the things that aren't there any longer - because it was time for them to go.
I didn’t think we’d pull it off. I thought the bad outnumbered the good, and I was resigned to what that meant for me. For the country.
It’s kind of the same way I’ve been thinking about this year. I.e.,
‘Oh, 2020 has been terrible! 2020 has brought so much drama and suffering.’
Which is true. But it isn’t THE truth.
It is true that there are way too many people in this country who continue to represent the worst in us. This year’s nail-biting election made that fact very clear. But THE truth is:
Georgia is a blue state.
A ‘Blasian’ female HBCU graduate is the next VP of the United States.
And the biggest narcissist I’ve ever seen has been dethroned from his seat of power.
Go slow Now, so you can go fast Later.
So… yeah. No goals right now. We’ve done enough. You’ve done enough.
Let’s pull out those receipts instead.
Now is the time to take a look at what you've actually accomplished. What you made it through. What you triumphed over. What you transformed. What transformed you.
Take a good look around at the things you have now that you didn't have before. Pay special attention to the things that aren't there any longer - because it was time for them to go.
And if there are any unnecessary things that are still hanging around… well, just be sure to get rid of any and every thing you don't want to carry into your future by the end of this year.
Because the future is just around the corner. And it doesn’t have time to wait.
In the next post: How to Do Your Own Year-End Review
The last generation
What happens when the season’s last generation of monarch butterflies finds the climate unsuitable? They migrate.
I planted milkweed in my backyard last year because it attracts monarch butterflies.
This spring and summer I was treated to daily visitations from the lovely creatures, flitting from leaf to flower and floating off to other parts of the yard.
A few weeks ago, I visited a friend who also grows milkweed. They’d harvested some of the late-season leaves and had begun to incubate butterfly pupa from the larvae that were on the leaves.
A week later, I discovered my own milkweed covered in caterpillars!
My research on the soon-to-be butterflies brought an interesting revelation.
The last generation
In a single year, 3 generations of monarchs will experience life in my backyard. But the 3rd generation, the last generation, will leave shortly after it sprouts wings in early fall. The climate by then - which was suitable for the previous generations - will have grown too cold, and it will use its innate knowledge to hasten on from its birthplace to a place where it can live out its life in a more hospitable climate.
Mexico, maybe.
As the climate in the US continues to become more surreal, less… hospitable, I can’t help but wonder if this generation - my generation - will be the last generation to remain here for good. Or, will we even begin to seek out places to live outside of the States where we can spread our wings a bit more freeely.
Mexico, maybe.
I wish we would stop pretending that we love Breonna Taylor
I’m gonna need us to get really real about one thing.
I wish we would stop pretending that we love Breonna Taylor.
You do not love Breonna. You would not have loved her when she was alive.
You would not have loved her because she was too fat. Because she had a facial piercing. Because her skin wasn’t light enough. Because she had a perm. Because of that one time she showed up late for work. Because of that one time she smelled like weed. Because she talked too loud. Because she clapped her hands and threw her head back and cackled when she laughed. Because she wasn’t married. Because she was laid up with some dude. Because she dated the wrong kind of dude. Because she didn’t have kids. Because she worked a regular job. Because she lived in a black neighborhood. Because she had a black-sounding name. Because she ate pork. Because she didn’t go to church every Sunday. Because she watched BET. Because she went too long between pedicures. Because she didn’t get a university degree. Because she ‘talked black’. Because she never traveled abroad. Because she listened to ratchet music. Because she had a tattoo. Because...
You do not love Black women.
Because you only love or like Black women when they are good.
When their edges lay down just right. When they talk cute, or look cute or act cute. When they don’t have opinions or make too much sound. When their bodies are shaped in the way you find most pleasing. When they dance for you. Or make you laugh. Or act sassy without seriousness. Or serve as your meme, or your hashtag or your poster child.
And if you only like something or someone when they are ‘good’, you do not actually like that someone or something.
So stop pretending that you love Breonna. Or that you cry for Breonna. Or that you like Breonna.
Or that you like me.
Hell, you only like me when I do something cute or entertaining. You don’t like me when I just wake up everyday and go about my business of minding my business. No. You don’t. Because if you did, you wouldn’t tell me, ‘smile’, ‘make friends’, ‘stop being so extra’, ‘you gotta...’, ‘you know what you need to...’ ‘why you always gotta..?’ ‘Ain’t nobody gonna want...’
You would simply see me going about my business of minding my business, and you would smile and nod, or smile and wave, or smile and say,
‘Hey, girl. It’s good to see you. I’m glad you’re here.’
And i would say:
‘Hey, there. It’s good to be seen. I’m glad that I’m here.’
But it’s not good. And I ain’t glad.
So. Let’s just stop pretending.
Kisha Solomon is an Atlanta-based writer, knowledge worker and serial expat. She is also the founder of The Good Woman School. When she’s not writing, working or travelling, you can find her in deep conversation with herself or her four-legged familiar, Taurus the Cat. www.kishasolomon.com
This year is f***in' hard.
Dear black woman: you’re gonna make it, sis.
This year is f***in’ hard. And we’ve still got a ways left to go.
I swear, it seems like each week of this year has started off like an epic, emotional, unpredictable adventure that brings victory coupled with loss. Severs old ties to fertilize new ground. Makes you get rid of yet another old comfort so you can grow yet another new branch for yourself.
I can barely get my bearing from the last tidal wave of WTF, before a new one starts charging right at me.
It’s a tough time, but it is also a potent time. This swirling energy that’s upsetting so much normalcy is also charged with possibility. With manifest-making magic. You are knee-deep in it, and if you can just keep focus, engage your core, not get swept away in the current, you can make things happen that you only imagined before. And they will come fast, hard, and unexpected. And they will last.
So be very intentional about what you are creating and calling forth now. With the relationships you begin and end. About how you are entering into contracts, projects, relationships. What is created now will not be easily undone.
And if you have not been focused on creating, if you have just been being tossed about or holding your little piece of normal ground with your head tucked down, that won’t do any longer.
It’s time to make the most of the rest of this year.
Kisha Solomon is an Atlanta-based writer, knowledge worker and serial expat. She is also the founder of The Good Woman School. When she’s not writing, working or travelling, you can find her in deep conversation with herself or her four-legged familiar, Taurus the Cat. www.lifeworktravels.com
singing away your worries
The spirit-healing science of singing to yourself. Aka, how I got over a series of sh*tty events.
In the past week, I...
Had a complete stranger invite himself into my yard and almost onto my porch because he, “liked what he saw.”
Got news that I will likely have to move out of my house to have some major repair work done that I’m still in an entanglement with the insurance company about
Buried the eldest living member of the Solomon clan
Had a deep talk with my mother in which we retraced the legacy of physical and emotional abuse through our family tree.
As a result, I’ve felt for much of the week like I’ve been walking around with a gaping hole in my chest. A wound that won’t close because it keeps getting abraded, keeps getting re-injured.
I’ve been singing quite a bit lately. Not songs, but the words of shock and pain and frustration that I have when these wounding experiences happen. I improvise a ditty on the spot to express what I feel. What I see. What is happening inside. It alchemizes the pain of the moment. It makes magic out of levity. It banishes the dark spirits looming near, hoping to slip into me through my open wound, my unhealed places. I sing into my wounds, blocking their entry, coaxing the hurt out of hidden places with ‘la, la, la’ and silly lyrics that often leave me laughing at the end of the nonsense song.
And I am a terrible singer.
But here she is. Not only alive. But thriving. Last year when the single bloom she arrived with fell off, I was worried. Would it ever come back? How I could i tell if she was healthy? There were just these big leaves at the base, and some weird looking roots. I mostly just gave her the recommended amount of weekly water, a lovely spot in front of a sunny window, a few words of inspiration and encouragement here and there and... well... look at her. She’s stunning!
This week I also sang a song to the last of the 6 flowers that finally bloomed on the orchid a friend gave me as a housewarming gift last year.
“This plant is doomed,” I thought when she arrived. I have little talent for keeping houseplants alive... and an orchid? The notoriously fickle flower? Tuh.
What Science Says About the Healing Power of Singing
“There is no delete button in the
nervous system,”
By telling yourself not to think about something, says Steven Hayes, a psychology professor at the University of Nevada, “you’re increasing the number of associates that remind you of it.”
Instead, it’s better to treat them just like you would a silly, meaningless song. They exist, but they have little bearing on your life.
The Atlantic, 2016
One study “found that various defusion techniques,
including singing the unwanted thought and saying it in a cartoon voice, reduced the frequency of the thought while making it less believable. The strategy worked better than both the control and another strategy called “restructuring,” in which the person tries to come up with an alternative thought.”
The Atlantic, 2016
I don’t know how any of the aforementioned travails are going to turn out for me. But I will keep singing my nonsense songs, and sitting myself in front of sunny windows and speaking words of encouragement and inspiration to myself. I am notoriously fickle. But I have a feeling that after this dark, confusing time has become a ‘was’, I will catch a glimpse of my bloomed self in a mirror or a windowpane and think... ‘stunning’!
4 ways executive leaders benefit from active ESN participation
I see execs missing out on these 4 strategic, but low effort culture-building opportunities all the time.
In a recent conversation with a group of Internal Communications professionals that I work with, they expressed their frustrations that the executive leaders in their region aren’t posting regularly on the company’s recently-launched enterprise social network (ESN).
“When I go to LinkedIn,” one of them shared, “I see my leaders posting there. They could be posting some of that same stuff on the company’s social network, but they don’t. Why?”
There’s a clear value to executive leaders from a social network like LinkedIn. This is where their peers are, where other leaders in their industry exchange ideas, where they build their personal brands as experts in their fields and champions of their personal causes. If execs can clearly see the value in external social networks, how do we get them to see similar value and personal benefit from actively engaging in their enterprise social networks?
In my mind, there are at least 4 key benefits that executive leaders can instantly receive from ESN participation and engagement.
Benefit #1
Pulse – I.e., getting a read on what your people are talking about, needing, lacking, wanting, etc. Formal surveys are good, but not always necessary and survey results don’t always present the ‘real’ story. Asking a question on the ESN and seeing real-time feedback from real voices is more valuable and often more actionable than static data collected from a formal survey. When the two tactics are paired, the real-life ESN insights that survey data doesn’t always show can be instrumental in determining what to do with survey results.
Benefit #2
Personhood – Employees have a tendency to deify or enshrine their leadership. In their eyes, you are most likely seen as the Wizard of Oz; but your people really need to see you as the man behind the curtain. Not some great and powerful leader that they have only heard rumors of or have to jump through hoops to receive audience with, but a real-live person who walks on the same ground they do. What struggles do you have, what business problems are you solving, what books do you read, what do you do in your spare time? What are you passionate about? Who. Are. You. Even?
Benefit #3
Culture – What are the values that your organization promotes? What are your values as a leader? Do your people know what your values are? Can they point to you demonstrating those values on a regular, everyday basis – not via grand initiatives or pronouncements, but just your daily going about? For instance, if curiosity is one of your company’s values – what little things are you doing to be curious throughout the day or week and how can you share that more openly?
Benefit #4
Problem-solving – What’s asked in the open gets answered much more quickly and effectively. As a leader, you don’t have all the answers. You shouldn’t. But if you’re only taking your business problems to your lieutenants or the other execs in your immediate circle, you’re not tapping into the power of the network of bright, capable, experienced employees in your organization. You’re also missing an opportunity to demonstrate how problem-solving can be a community-wide effort. Pose some of your current business challenges on the ESN and watch how the answers and ideas start flowing. Also – this gives the entire organization to feel like they’re a part of what’s happening, that their voices and opinions could influence the company’s leaders and decision makers.
Without question, today’s executives are busier than ever, so posting on their company’s social network can feel like just one more thing to do. But when execs reframe the benefits of participating in their organization’s internal network, it quickly becomes apparent that the ESN is an untapped opportunity for the savvy digital leader.
Kisha Solomon is an Atlanta-based writer, knowledge worker and serial expat. She writes witty, poignant stories about the lessons she’s learned from her life, work and travels. She deals with the sometimes frustrating and often humorous side effects of being black, female and nerdy. When she’s not writing working or travelling, you can find her in deep conversation with herself or her four-legged familiar, Taurus the Cat. www.lifeworktravels.com
Black in Corporate America: on psychological safety
In advance of a recent town hall meeting, the Coca-Cola Company asked employees to submit videos sharing their experiences or perspectives on #racism and #discrimination. I recorded this.
At the beginning of June, the Coca-Cola Company held a global town hall meeting to address employees in this difficult time. In the days after the incidents of racial violence and police brutality captured on video in Texas (Ahmaud Arbery) and in Minneapolis (George Floyd), and the tragic police-instigated death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, many employees - including myself - wondered, how will our company respond?
In advance of the town hall, employees were asked to submit videos sharing their experiences or perspectives on racism and discrimination. I recorded this. 2 incidents that illustrate the subtle ways that racial bias is internalized and creates a burden that breaks down self-esteem and prevents open dialogue (aka, giving it a name) in the workplace.
Kisha Solomon is an Atlanta-based writer, knowledge worker and serial expat. She is also the founder of The Good Woman School. She writes witty, poignant stories about the lessons she’s learned from her life, work and travels. She deals with the sometimes frustrating and often humorous side effects of being black, female and nerdy. When she’s not writing, working or travelling, you can find her in deep conversation with herself or her four-legged familiar, Taurus the Cat. www.lifeworktravels.com
Remembering Malcolm
What Malcolm taught me about leadership. And continual evolution.
I’ve been meditating a lot on leadership lately.
On what it means, on how you come to be one, on the leaders I respect and admire.
It’s not for nothing. I’ve been in a leadership training class at work for almost 6 months now. So it’s a theme that I’m engrossed in regularly. I remember one of the first questions posed to the class of middle and senior managers: Are leaders born or made?
It seemed an obvious answer to me. Leaders are made. It was therefore quite surprising to see an unexpected number of my classmates respond that leaders are born that way. It revealed more than I cared to explore at that time.
In a different leadership session, with a different group of people, we were asked to bring 2 pictures of leaders who inspired us. I brought a picture of this man. Provocative, yes. But true.
A photo of a young Malcolm X, smiling
Malcolm has been an inspirational example of leadership for me since I read his autobiography in high school. Primarily because he and his life is a testament that becoming a leader is a process, perhaps a neverending one, but definitely one that will require you to stretch beyond your current boundaries, master a new level of skills and discipline, use that to accomplish great things, and then repeat the cycle again.
In his early life, Malcolm was an orphan, a pimp, a numbers runner, a thief, a convict. When that life had taken him as far as it could, a new life possibility was presented to him. He accepted and became a scholar, an orator, a community organizer, a husband, a father, a hero to some, and a villainous nuisance to others. When he was effectively cast out of that life, Malcolm was forced yet again to create a new life for himself - the first one he would create of his own volition, not just as a reaction to his environment and circumstances. It’s this life that we know the least about, because it was cut short before he could bring his newly defined self into full existence.
At each stage of his life, however, Malcolm was a leader. He distinguished himself among both lowlifes and high-born with a natural charisma and a willingness to ‘take the weight’. So, then... are leaders like Malcolm born? Or are they made?
We are all born with everything that we need to achieve greatness. But we must be made ready through the experiences life presents us and the ways we respond to them. This is the lesson that Malcolm Little, aka Detroit Red, aka Satan, aka, Malcolm X, aka, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz taught me.
It’s the reason why I brought a picture of him into a corporate classroom, and it’s one of the many reasons that I, and many others will take a few moments of time today to celebrate the anniversary of his birth.
Happy birthday, brother Malcolm.
Remembering Little Richard
Sometimes, it’s the song. This time… it was the singer.
To be honest,everybody from Macon is irresistible.
Little Richard just packaged it best. Better than anybody before him did or after him will. I can’t say it was his music that got me to know and love him. The music was brilliant, no doubt. It was like celebratory fact. ‘Tutti Frutti’ (oh, Ruuudy!) was as indelible as Miss Mary Mac or the happy birthday song. It was a song everybody - not just black people, not just southern people, not just american people - everrryybody knew. How does a song get to that kind of status? Is it the song or the singer that makes it so?
When I heard Little Richard talk - I believe the first time must’ve been some short after-performance segment on an old variety show - that’s when I fell in love with him. Thats when I realized why he was a legend. And it wasnt just for high-energy dance tunes with high-note punctuation. When he spoke, I heard it. Macon. That way of talking we have that cuts you deep, but also kinda makes you want to laugh, and sort of reminds you of an elder you once loved fiercely. Little Richard reminded me of that and of some of the menfolk I grew up around. They were, um... funny. I think that’s the euphemism we were using back then. They were naughty, loud, pretty, stylish, arrogant, and more than a little self-conscious and insecure. In essence, they were like I was then - teenage girls. But they were better at it, way better at it than I was. And I loved them. I kinda think everybody did. Even the folks who said they didn’t love them ‘cause they were ‘that way’.
Today, my grandma remembered for me the time she saw ‘Li’l Richard’ at the national COGIC convention. It was later in his life. It strikes me for the first time that they were peers.
My mom asks, “Was he wearing makeup and all that?”
Grandma: “Naw, he had come up outta that. He was wearing a suit like a regular man.”
Me (already knowing the answer): “Did he stay up outta it?”
“Naw.”
I spend more than a few moments reflecting on that. How a man that fantastic and talented and ‘that way’ made it in a time like that in a town like Macon. As he said himself, “The biggest thing in my hometown was the jailhouse.”
Little Richard was proof that being from a small town didn’t make you small. Just hidden. Tucked off to the side a bit. So if you had something to say— a song to sing or a rug to cut- You might need to wave your hands around a bit more than the next person or be a bit louder, a bit more gregarious to be seen and heard. And if somebody still tried to drown you out with their own noise, you could always just tell em...
“Shut up!”
Kisha Solomon is an Atlanta-based writer, knowledge worker and serial expat. She writes witty, poignant stories about the lessons she’s learned from her life, work and travels. She deals with the sometimes frustrating and often humorous side effects of being black, female and nerdy. When she’s not writing working or travelling, you can find her in deep conversation with herself or her four-legged familiar, Taurus the Cat. www.lifeworktravels.com