When you are the blueprint, there will be copycats and energetic cosplayers.

Yet through it all, I continue to remain mine. No role - mother, leader, mentor, creator, partner - consumes the whole of me. I move through the world as Shablé, knowing I built this, brick by brick, choice by choice, never losing sight of the essence that started it all.

They may mimic, but they can never take my essence.

In a space filled with uncertainty, love crosses the room.

And the tormented soldier…

he waits…

waiting for the war he never casted,

waiting for the hope he never reached for,

waiting for the action he never took,

waiting for what has yet to come.

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I got it off the porch, now they want me on the fence.

“…feeling a bit lost in the wilderness of our current worldly positioning — caught between self-awareness and overt obliviousness, between individualism and collectivism. It’s frightening, wanting to do so much in the name of community, advocacy, and activism, yet realizing the most radical act is to go within first. This cohort gave me the space to do just that.”

Be the adult..

The adult who scoops up their inner child and carry them through the muddle of societal norms and conditionings..

The adult who takes that inner child's hand and lays witness as they explore the rest of the world in childlike wonder..

Be who you needed..

Be who you always were.

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