Month: January 2026

Don’t trip. Hard ain’t nothing but a word.

Stop tripping, beloveds.

Stop tripping when life cuts up, trips the circuit breaker, and stops you from doing a stupid, being stupid, running with stupid, or life is appearing to be stupid.

Life is lifing. Simple as that.

Life is NOT trying to indict you. Life, at times, gets all up in your grill to indict your:

Lack of effort.

Lack of your keeping it 100 with you.

Lack of your being 100 with God.

Lack of keeping your act right acting right.

You allowing YOUR pride to keep you from healing a wound, restoring a relationship, acting in integrity.

You allowing YOUR anger to wreck a relationship, close a door meant to stay open, open a door you KNOW ought stay shut.

Beloveds, when God/Life/The Universe puts up a stop sigh/sign, it would behoove you to:

Stop.

Look.

Listen.

Drop and roll, if need be, to put out the fire. It doesn’t matter who started it. It doesn’t matter why it got started. It’s an emergency. Put out the fire!

You do NOT have time to lament what is burning down. You have ZERO time to be angry over the destruction. Put out the stupid fire! There will be time to assess, process and hopefully not regress.

I have learned, I am learning, I am relearning to make choices, to act, to DO, to stand and act on FAITH. Not fear. Not anger. Not unbelief.

Life is what we make. Life truly is NOT fair, more often than not. That’s okay. Let life do what life does. You keep on being and doing you.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Life is incredibly hard just now. Folks tell me to take things a day at a time. I find the minutes excruciating, just now. If someone can help me with that I’d appreciate it.

Be encouraged. I wish I had someone to tell that to me. I am doing my best to make something of these dark days. Morning sure is taking a long time to get here, God. Not sayin. Just sayin…..

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Don’t trip. Turn the power back on.

The lights went out. Turns out it was a circuit breaker that had tripped. I turned the power back on. The flip of one tiny switch.

I wish life could be that simple. It’s not. I wish I could hide from life right now. I can’t.

Right now, I’m afraid. My blood pressure is through the roof. ALL I see is a lifetime, of emptiness, without my twin. I want to scream. I keep getting well-meaning advice.

I keep being told to keep trying, keep working, keep on keeping on.

I’M TRYING TO DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I try. Every damned minute of every damned day since my twin died. I keep wanting to scream:

“She DIED yall!”

She is NOT coming back. All this talk of moving forward and moving on is too damned fast. For me, anyway.

I just stopped ’round, truly, to talk to someone who is going through a tough patch. Be encouraged. It’s okay to NOT be okay until you are okay. Then, you may backslide and find yourself a heaping helping of WTH. That’s okay. It has to be.

I have been working on a beautifully inspirational piece about God knowing sis would not make it to 2026 and would help me find my way there. To hell with all that right now, God! What in the actual heckamiah?

I’m too tired to be mad. I can’t be mad at sis. She was ready to kick it with Jesus. I don’t blame her. Fresh hell, sis. How in all that is holy, didja leave me at THIS time? Could you have, at the very least, spent a last Christmas with me? Lingered and celebrated New Year’s? Stayed around and got me til Spring…crapola.

Don’t trip, beloveds. Reach up and flip the circuit breaker. It’s what that box is for. Neatly labeled. Ready. Just waiting for life, er, the lights, to trip and go off. Don’t sweat it. Turn the lights back on.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Be encouraged. We can. We have to. Some kind of way. Life goes on, doesn’t it?

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

The words you have been waiting to hear, your whole life, are waiting to be spoken. 🤔🤨

The words you have been waiting to hear, your whole life, are waiting to be spoken. 🤔🤨

What are those words!?

WHO is the author of words your heart has been longing for, you ask?

You tell me, beloveds. God/Life/The Universe has been asking for you to speak for years.

Fear, has kept you silent. Following trends, has made you too embarrassed, of your differentness, to speak.

Terror of being ignored/ridiculed/laughed at/rebuffed/rebuked/canceled has silenced you.

Speak, beloveds. Speak life over your life. Speak of your brilliant present. Prophesy your wondrous future.

Speak. The key, to my dreams, may be locked within your terrified heart. Ah, beloveds, speak.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note:

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

We choose every day.

Joy.

We choose every day.

Love.

We choose every day.

Gratitude.

We choose every day.

Hope.

We choose every day.

Anger.

We choose every day.

Desperation.

I choose that which grows my spirit and uplifts others.

What do YOU choose, beloveds? There ARE  no victims here. Life is what we make of it out of the many, many, many choices we choose to make, to ignore, to digress, to abdicate.

We choose or others will choose for us. If you allow that to happen, beloveds, don’t get mad at them for using you, devaluing you, dismissing you, discouraging you. You allowed it.🤷🏿‍♀️😁🤔

Be encouraged.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Choose love.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

The old me.

The old me.

Would have quit long time ‘go.

The old me.

Woulda told myself success not meant for my old/broke/black/woman self.

The old me.

Would have looked at the mountain, looked at my inadequacy, and high tailed it outta there. Secretly, so no one, but God, would see.

The old me.

Would have found a “good” reason to not bet on me.

The old me.

Would have continued to hide from life.

The old me.

Would have quit  long time ‘go.

The new me, the standing on BUSINESS me, the standing on FAITH me, the me that KNOWS she is loved by God, gently tells the old me to shut up, take two seats, get out her feels, keep on moving FORWARD, keep on looking UP, keep on trusting God, seize these moments, take joy/laughter/love, and rinse and repeat and I keep on being about being about it.

Don’t allow the old you, to keep the new you from a wonderful present AND future.

We got this. Let’s go!!

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: If you KNEW how hard today was, beloveds, you would understand that you really CAN do more than you give yourself credit for!

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Then is NOT now!

Repeat after me:

Then is NOT now.

THEN is not now.

Then is not NOW.

THEN IS NOT NOW!

*Cassandra turned from the mirror and walked FORWARD, towards a fantastic future…*

I was minding my own business, beloveds, when a panic attack visited. It was a doozy!

It started with a dozen fish flopping crazily, where my heart used to be.

Huh?

What the what?!

Initially, I panicked. Then, I thought I was internally stressing about the coming work day.

I wasn’t. I was reliving the past:

The tornado.

Losing my job.

Losing my savings.

Losing twin.

Okay, okay! I will keep it 100. That last one was the one that had me spooked. I told God I wasn’t ready to die. I have thangs to do.

So, there I was, a million flopping fish, where my heart shoulda been, wondering what I would DO with ME now?

The old me would have kept things to myself. I would have tried to pull myself up by my bootstraps.

The new me was not about to be stupid! I picked up the phone and talked to my sis. She breathed with me.

Then, I got up. I meal prepped. I washed dishes. I turned on a motivational video. I prayed over my life. I recited all my gratefuls and what I was looking forward to. I kept it moving.

Then is NOT now, beloveds. The happeneds have happened. Acknowledge. Accept. Deal with things. Keep it moving. Simple as that.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Keep going. We can do this. I think. Until we do, lean on Him. He got this. He got us. Whether we feel it, believe it or not. I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

2026: Your dreams are STILL in front of you.

Your dreams are STILL in front of you, beloveds.

I know. I know. 2025 kicked your whohaw.😁

I know. I know. It appeared you lost sooooooooooo much more than you won.😳

THAT  was last year. This is THIS year!

Do NOT bring THAT into THIS!

Last year has absolutely NOTHING to do with this year.

Do NOT bring 2025s headaches and worries into 2026!⏳

Your dreams are STILL within reach. They are STILL within you. You just gotsa keep digging those bad mamma jammas from underneath the surface!

Get to digging. You got dreams to fulfill. As do I.

Let’s go!!

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: 2026 is ours. Make it so!

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!