Tag: encouragement

It’s okay.

It’s okay to say stop.

It’s okay to say ow.

It’s okay to say you can’t.

It’s okay to say you can’t take another step.

It’s okay to cry.

This morning, I did all of these things. I said ow. I said “uncle”. I phoned a friend(my big bros). I reached out to work and let them know grief was louder than my try.

I’m on an LOA for 10 days. Long enough to get some sleep. ALL I have wanted to do, for the past few weeks, is to simply sleep for a few days. Just to catch my breath.

My heart told me to. My spirit told me to. My wallet said to forget about sleep and push through. My body overrode everything and everyone and stubbornly refused to take another step without rest.

I just stopped by to encourage someone to keep on reaching out. Don’t give up. Understand that hard can truly be hard and you are NOT a failure for being human.

I feel like a huge failure today. Sis would think I was being a big baby. She would have encouraged me to BE a big baby and rest. I don’t know how to without her. Crapola!

I just placed an order of grapes and cheese and going to spend the afternoon missing my twin and being okay with missing her.

We got this. Kinda. Sorta. I think…lol.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I appreciate all the care folk have shown these weeks. Doing my best to encourage and uplift best I can with a busted heart. Be encouraged. Joy IS coming for us. Until then, we are NOT alone in our darkness.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

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!

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!

For such a time as this.

I was lower than a snakes belly.

I reached out to my sanctified sis. Yall know the one: The one who dare not stand on anything but The Word.😎🥰🙏💃🏽

She kicked my behind, in Jesus Name, and got me back to:

Standing on FAITH.

Standing on BUSINESS.

Standing ten toes down.

She didn’t give two figs about grief. After my act right got some act right, I blasted my music, jammed, praised me some Him, and put on a load of laundry. 🤷🏿‍♀️💃🏽🤣😥🤗

Now, I’m not saying you can’t grieve. I do. I am. I shall be. Still, I am NOT alone.

My problem, beloveds, is that I tried to sneak on my cape of “I am alone. Nobody can understand. Nobody knows”.

It’s true. Nobody knows. Nobody CAN understand the unfathomable. Doesn’t mean they don’t care. They just may not know HOW.  I don’t know how. Holy Toledo.😥😳🧱

We shall stagger through to Okay-ish shant  we? The ONLY thing that got me through today was the words of you all in here. I reread them. Thank you. Thank you.

I am asking God to help me find the words to encourage others, as I make my way through the impossible. This was a wombie day. I would have rushed to the phone and carried on about ALL these damned lemons. She would have understood. Shit!

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: *whispers*…shit.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Failure: For such a time as THIS. Part II.

This.

THIS!

THIS, God?!

Really?

REALLY!?

Are You SERIOUS, God?

Really, no, reallllllllllly???!

Do you mean to tell me I HAVE to rejoice, that I HAVE to keep my joy, that I HAVE to keep on keeping on, that I HAVE to keep standing on FAITH, that I HAVE to keep standing on BUSINESS, that I HAVE to keep having to even through all of THHISSSSSSSSSSSSS??!!!!

*Cassandra slaps around some of her grief, knocks aside some of the much too much and too many lemons(hard) that have been deposited lately, kicked her way through work stuff that just ain’t working, sighed over bills(math) that was just NOT mathing(matching) a paycheck, not yet received, that has ALREADY been allocated and found wanting*

Geeeeeeeeeeez, Louise. Holy Toledo and Holy Smokes. Heckamiah what in the fresh hell Miah is all THIS going on around here????????!!

Life has been an interesting rollercoaster. Up, one minute. Ready to slap, I don’t even know who, the next. Not literally, though. Just figuratively, in some way, to try and scratch the depth of grief I can NOT fathom, let alone grasp.

In all my brilliant words, I have yet to find ANY that truly soothes my spirit. Except, oddly, the word “shit”. I dont swear, tho. So, I sneak one out, e’ry now and again. Quietly. Where no one but me can hear. Not even God.

I do, however, see the tiny smile, on His Face. I think He is giving me THAT small space to keep it a buck, as these young folks say.

For such a time as THIS, wh, God? Okay, I shall try. Best as I can. You are going to have to make something of this mess I have made of/with my grief.

asking for many friends,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Hang in there, beloveds. For such a time as this…🤔😥😡😳🙏🤷🏿‍♀️

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

I failed forwards.

I failed.

Forwards.

Not backwards.

I failed.

Often.

Not less.

I failed.

Hard, which made me fall hard.

Ow!

Still, all this flailing, all this failing, all of this falling has gone and done nothing but teach me HOW to fail FORWARDS.

Ha!

Ah!

Aha!!

Keep failing FORWARD, beloveds. Don’t get too terribly upset when you fall. Laugh whilst you are flat on your face. Then, turn over and laugh some more!😎🤣

We got this, frfr.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Believing me in some you…lol.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!