Author: Cassandra S.

Dreams: Take the next step, God said to me.

God: Take the next step.

Me: I can’t.

God: Take the next step.

Me: I’m tired.

God: Take the next step.

Me: I don’t know how.

God: Take the NEXT step. Just the one. You don’t have to know or worry about the steps thereafter.

Me: I don’t know what my life will look like. I have no idea where I will end up. I have NO clue who I will be.

God: Just be. Take the next step, beloved.

Me: I am tired.

God: I shall take the next step for you. Come here…

*God scoops up Cassandra and slings her across his back. With a whoop and a laugh, God raced through the puddles, as the rain continued to stream down.*

taking the next step,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I was tired. Did NOT want to work today. Work is sooooooooooooooooooooooo worky! Endless! Everyone needing everything. For a time, my feels had me all up in my feelings. Woe is me blared from my heart. My spirit, being annoyed, told my feels to shut up already and get about being about it! I got about being about it.

Be encouraged, beloveds. You shall. You will. The way just seems hard, right now. Okay, it may yet well be hard but enjoy the journey. We woke. Some did not. We moved. Some could/can not. We rejoiced. Some choose not.

Live. Laugh. Love. Starting with you.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Be encouraged.

Be encouraged.

Nuff said.

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Sometimes, you just need to be encouraged. I spent my day making folk laugh and taking care of their needs and issues.

I ended work, half slept over a hastily prepared meal, yakked with my sis, wished this one well and that one well, tumbled into bed and felt:

Alone. Not in a sad way. Just…alone. I wondered if anyone else was feeling the same. So, I tiptoes here to say…be encouraged.

😴

What a day.

What a ddddddddaaaaay.

What a…😴

🛏,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Work was work. Whew! The first month of the year is the busiest. It’s like life crams 6 month of work into one month. Yikes!😳

Enjoy your days. Even the especially busy ones. I have just enough energy to check on folk and to remind all that they are loved and not alone. Keep on being you.

Don’t let the upside down turn you around.

Well now.

My days are upside down. Due to system issues, STILL, I am battling through my days and have not had the chance to get my pieces done and posted by 6:30 am…*shrug*

In times past, I would have been hooting anx hollering over the unfairness of life and all the nonsense going on round here!

Ack!

Whew!

Instead, I am simply writing NOW. There is no sense in lamenting about the hard. We just have to keep working with it, around it or within it. Simple as that.

I have also learned not to allow work frustrations to bleed into the whole of my day. I have another aggravating hour to fight through but plan on enjoying the rest of my evening.

Keep going, beloveds. Laugh at hard and tell it thanks for helping to shape you into the victorious champion you are!

You got this.

God has you.

How much more blessed can you and I be?

Be encouraged.

praying for all who are aggravated and or tired,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Take care of your wonderful heart, would you? Asking for A Friend.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU

♥️ check.

🤒

Feeling poorly. Again! Debated calling in sick. Again!

Calculated bills. Again!

Ack!

Hmm.

Soooooooooo, beloveds, I PROMISED I would be good to me so told bills to shut up and called out. Paid bills, to get them out of the way, and fixing to scramble some eggs 🥚 and get back in bed.

Be good to YOU, beloveds. Too often, we run ourselves ragged for job and family. It’s imperative that we consider ourselves, as well.

I was raised to NOT consider my health, my wealth, or my feelings. We had no choice. We had to work and care for our siblings and mom, who had been super ill most of my life. She did what she could but her health kept her from being financially able to do much. Plus, she had to raise 13 kids. Egads.

Anywho, folk of color were and are raised to suck it up! No time for:

Tears.

Fears.

Dreams.

We had to work. We had to strive. WE HAD TO!

There was no time for day dreams. No time to meander or rest. NO TIME!

So, we grew up:

Tired.

Stressed.

Angry.

Angry from being ALWAYS tired and stressed. We weren’t and aren’t, angry people. Just angry over the constant hard that had no business being so damned hard just because of being born a person of color in a world who cared not for folk of color.

I love the world, still. Ignorance makes fools of us all.

Keep loving folk, beloveds. Folk are often the product of their environment and choices. Folk are often following what their family has done.

Life is short. Keep being good to you. I shall do the same. Am feeling so poorly I am not sure if I have made sense.

Be encouraged. Do something special for your heart as it is precious. Someone remember to turn off the lights and pass out some love and hugs.

Take care.

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Life is good. Even when it’s hard. Embrace your day. Don’t let a frustrating moment ruin your whole day. Acknowledge your feels and keep on with your day. Look up at the sky. What a wonderful gift this planet 🌏 is for us. Breathe deeply. Many never got the chance to take a breath today.

Remember to cut yourself more slack. You are doing the best you can. Sheesh. Why are you soooooooooooo hard on you? Stop that!🥰

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU

🤒 Be good to you.

🤒. Sick appears to have snuck up on me…

Hhm.

I calculated pushing through. The 🚽 said it didn’t think 🤔 that wise.

Comforter sided with hot/cold who are currently arguing with bod temp for supremecy.

I told them all to go away and told bills to shut up as I am going to be good to me today.

Be good to you, beloveds. Some days, it is 🧣 necessary to look after your interests and not your interest, if you know what I am saying.

Life is short. Let folk know what you need. Be encouraged. Love someone. Starting with you.

Somebody pass out a good note 🗒 for the day. Oh, yea, here:

🥰

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being… YOU

Heart ♥️check Monday on Tuesday.

It’s Tuesday.

Monday threw me off. Or rather FOLKS SHOOTING, HOLLERING, AND BLASTING FIREWORKS FOR HOURS ON END!😳

I’m ancient. I’m in my ‘get off my lawn’ stage of life where I am sounding EXACTLY like my mom.😳😳😳!

She would tsk tsk about ALL life would be doing to me and in my life if I just “keep living.”

She was right. Mom, you were soooooooooo right.

N-E-waze, my day is mixed up and it feels like Monday on a Tuesday. Life feels like it is starting my year of weirdly.

I told my feels to shut up and take a seat. There is zero chance I am allowing my feels to feel their way through my present and try and ruin MY future.

Nope. Nada. It’s not going to happen.

As it happened, beloveds, I found myself really examining my why. And, if my why was STILL MY why.

I found it is. With some slight modifications. Why? Because the dreams that were given to me were, well, given to me. I wanted to know I was okay with running with God, with The Universe, with THEIR ask of me.

It was and is and shall ever be MY choice in whether I follow the pull, the tug, the leading, the guiding. God understands. The Universe understands.

This is part of a conversation I had with them.

Me: Folks sure are acting like a bunch of stupid about now.

God: Will you love them for ME, any way?

Me: Geez.

The Universe: Doesn’t God love you, still, when you get to acting like a whole lot of stupid at times?

Me: Geeeez! That was harsh.

God: True that, though?

Me: True that…

So, I have promised to keep loving folk. Even when all are in the midst of a whole lotsa acting a fool.

Be encouraged. Don’t waste a second listening to the nonsense there is no right or wrong and you can go around treating your fellow man as of no consequence just because you can.

Whew! See, beloveds, I broke the comma rule, on purpose. To, have a super long run on sentence where you could barely breathe to show the point sometimes it IS necessary to color within the lines so we can all live in harmony together and still be able to breathe.😳😆

I’m just checking on your heart today. Make sure you have a fantastic week. How your week turns out as up to you. It’s not up to your job. It’s not up to your family. It’s not up to your friends. It’s not up to the world. It’s up to you and your attitude. Make it a great one.

Take care and remember that you are loved and not alone. Take things one step at a time. Life is short and you have things to do.

doing things with you,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Send your critics some virtual flowers. They help keep you fresh and on your faith toes. Hard helps keeps you swinging for the fences. Disappointment helps keeps you believing in your dreams. You got this. KNOW THIS!!

One lap is enough.

My health is not the greatest at the moment. I have not been able to walk every day. I have not been able to resume my daily task with the gusto I normally do.

I told myself to get out of bed and take out the trash. I told myself to walk just a bit. Even if it was only one lap. I walked.

I could only complete one lap. In the past, this would have been a source of deep discouragement.

Now I rejoiced as one lab would turn into two next time and then three and then four.The point was not the amount. The point was the try.

Keep trying. Even if you can only manage a lap.

One step.

One step.

One step.

walking/trying the best I can,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Life is a series of steps. Get a move on…

Dreaming out loud: Mark this day!

Yikes!

Egads!

Wow!

I had a dream, just a bit ago, that blew my mind. Can’t say yet, if ever, what it was about. I CAN say that it was a 🗝 and 🚪 that it’s time. Time to start doing the ridiculously hokie and foolish and serious and fun and what on earth are you doing NOW type Cassandra God placed in me to BE long before my tiny lil self was presenting onto an unsuspecting world.

Sorry about that/this, world. Here I come!

Ah.

Aha!

coming for the world,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I actually wrote this piece yesterday. Sunday. It’s weird now because, for me, it’s early Sunday morning. I just now realize it is New Year’s Eve. Hhmm.

I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how and build my own website where I could share my stories, poems etc. Long before there was even such a thing as websites or the internet or blogging or even laptops.

I dreamed of these things as a kid, as a teenager, as a young adult, as a grown up. Yet, life through all kinds of hell and I have gone through all types of hell which prevented me from being, well…*shrug*

I had no time to be me. I was too busy being buried under a world of shame and pain. I was too busy hiding behind walls self-produced to protect me from the world, from love, from any and everything I perceived a threat. Which was everything and everybody! Especially, God.

God. GOD! God? Geeez. I won’t go there. God no, not today. Today, I 😂 laugh. I have waited for this time for the whole of my life. Apologies, world, beloveds, fam, friends, and especially to me, in advance. This fixing to be interesting.

TO BE CONTINUED

P.S. You are loved and you are not alone. Take your leap of faith. Bet on YOU this year. Life is short. Get out there and live!

Who do you choose to be?

Who do you choose to be?

WHO do you choose to be?

Who do you CHOOSE to be?

Don’t let the world choose for you. Don’t let others choose for you. Don’t let circumstances choose for you.

I choose to be a person who believes in people and think the best of my fellow man. I choose to believe that life is worth living. I choose to believe that God has my best interest at heart.

I choose to keep trying even things are hard. I choose to hold myself accountable. I choose to keep my act right acting right.

I choose to be a person that can be counted upon. I choose to be a person who strives for excellence always.

I am not perfect. I will not always live up to those standards. The standards I have chosen.

I can live with that. Our lives are a collection of our choices.

Who do you choose to be? Society is at an inflection point. More people are choosing to give in to their baser instincts. More folk are choosing the low road. It’s disheartening. It’s discouraging.

All I can do is to keep shouting into the void. All I can do is to keep praying. All I can do is all I can do. I pray it will be enough. I will be okay with whatever the outcome will be.

Be encouraged. Don’t believe the height that all is lost. We only lose when we give up on one another and stop trying. Is allergy trying even if I try alone.

Take care of your life because it is precious. You are an amazing soul. Keep trying. Keep moving forward. Ever forward. Don’t be discouraged if it looks like things are never going to change your move. They will as they are supposed to.

choosing to love even the most foolish and awful acting among us,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: The bible tells us to love one another. I know it’s hard to love foe who are acting like idiots. I know it’s hard to love folk who are acting hateful and mean. I know it’s hard to love those who appear not to care about anything but themselves. I know it’s hard to care about folks who could care less. Love them anyway. Those are the one who needs love the most.

Yes, we need to hold one another accountable. Yet, we can hold local carnival and still love them. This world is a mess because no one wants to take accountability and people are afraid to hold one another accountable.

Things will be okay, beloveds. They will. As we love. As we do. As we move. As we try. As we tell apathy, division and hell to go back to the hell in which they were born from!

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being… YOU