Letter #10: Dear Me, Time is Up for Excuses...

Hey Lovelies! Happy New Year! I pray you enjoyed some time off for the holidays. Now that the holiday fun is over, let’s get down to business. Today’s topic: no more excuses. Period. This topic is a big message for me because y’all are interacting with queen excuses herself. If you’re apart of the self-love gang here, you’re aware of the fact that I didn’t release a letter last week. Now I can sit here and list off the many reasons why a letter wasn’t released. But if we’re being honest, which we are, all of those “reasons” are just a bunch of excuses. Before the year ended, I sat and reflected on the past year(s), where I am currently in life, and where I want to be in life, who I want to be and how I can achieve that. Nowhere in my reflections, goal lists, vision board, etc. did I write “come up with excuses for every little thing you’re supposed to be doing but you’re not.” Nowhere. So why am I allowing myself to continue the same cycle of procrastination and laziness? Well, let me tell you, its unacceptable. So I’d like to formally apologize to my lovelies for not having a letter out last week. There really is no excuse. I put my heart into most of the things that I do, and not doing it is just not an option. I had to really sit down and talk to myself. Remember, talking to yourself is healthy. But I really had to ask myself, “7 days in, is this really how you’d like this year to start?” The answer was no. A big fat no too. I’m currently learning to find the balance in being productive consistently and giving myself time to just be. A lot of times I struggle with balance. And for a split second (a millisecond really) I thought I had finally found the balance between the two and then life happened. The key, I’m finding, is that I’ll always be searching for balance. And that’s perfectly okay. As a matter of fact, that’s what I’m supposed to be doing because I’ll constantly be evolving through life so balance is always something I’ll be looking for. I digress, but we will definitely be discussing balance at a later date.

Now back to the point, excuses. Yes. There’s no time for them. The number one reason why you aren’t reaching the goals you’ve set for yourself is that you’re constantly making excuses. Yes. I’m talking to you. And girl I’m talking to me too. We have to stop making excuses. Why? Let’s talk about it. What are excuses? Excuses are any explanation you give to yourself or others as a reason for why you didn’t fulfill an obligation. Okay… Now It’s time to ask yourself, “what excuses have I been telling myself in reference to my goals and why?” A lot of times we give excuses but never even ask ourselves why. Another thing we need to start doing is being honest with ourselves. True 100 percent honesty with ourselves promotes freedom. Listen, before I even begin to digress, just know we’ll be talking about that soon too. There are many different reasons WHY we give excuses, but here are a few; anxiety, self-doubt, laziness, and procrastination. For many years, as you all know, I had many goals for myself but never even tried to reach them because of anxiety and self-doubt. Let me tell y’all something: There ain’t no time for any of that in 2020. Okay? In 2020 were are building confidence within ourselves. No more “Am I the right person to be doing this?” But only “God gave me the vision, so I’m going to do it. Period.” No matter what your gift or purpose is, realize that it’s not just about you. IT AIN’T ABOUT YOU! Once we really grasp this concept, it’ll change your perspective because it includes more than just the things you want. It means that other people need you. Everyone wants to feel needed. This is a great reassurance tactic because it adds to your “why”. It gives you a reason to keep going when you don’t see the grand outcome. For example, if your gift is singing, you realize that you don’t just sing for yourself. You know that other people need whatever songs you’re singing for whatever they’re going through. It’s not just about you. So stop making excuses because you’re not only harming yourself, you’re robbing others of getting ahead also.

Now I realize that this can be a lot sometimes, having a gift and having others rely on you, having to rely on yourself and holding yourself accountable. As a young woman, it’s difficult. Adulting in general, no matter what stage you’re in, is difficult. But that’s life honestly. Life is hard and it always will be, the key to that is learning how to deal with the difficult internal things. Learn things like holding yourself accountable, taking responsibility for your actions, mastering constant and consistent growth. All these things learn them NOW at the beginning of the year so that you can start crossing off some things on your goal list. By 2021 we don’t want to look at our goal lists and vision boards and be disappointed in ourselves because we did nothing but come up with nonsense excuses all year. Unacceptable. We’re doing things differently this year. Stop playing with yourself! Stop downplaying your gifts! Stop playing with your own potential. Just stop all of it. Now. Today. The first thing we need to stop doing is making excuses. No Excuses 2020. Get it done. Whatever it is, even if you don’t feel like doing it? Do it. Get up and do it. Don’t procrastinate so long that you’ve come up with a list of excuses. While you’re sitting there creating excuses, the task could’ve been done 3 times over.

Thanks so much for sticking this one out with me lovelies. It’s really imperative that my self-love gang is aware of the things that I go through because I believe that my little “testimonies” help others as well as myself while we’re on this self-love journey. So! Because I, queen excuses, didn’t release a letter last week, in order to keep everything in order (the way I want things to be) I will be putting out a second letter this week. Tell your friends, family, coworkers, share me on IG do what you do. Thanks for the constant support and love! Love yourself! Stop the excuses!

W. Love,

Noelle