Dear Black People #2: Stop Overachieving

Dear Black People,

First of all, congratulations on all your success. 

You loyal, you amazing, you poppin’, AND you look good!

Do I have your attention?

Yes, good.

STOP OVERACHIEVING.

I was raised (like most of us) being told that “I would have to work twice as hard for half of what they have”.

WTF, y’all.

I took this to heart.

I am a 24-year-old mama/woman with two children, multiple businesses, a book, a podcast, and a whole bunch of other accomplishments that I worked too hard to get because I was simply trying to get HALF. 

The issue with this is, half of what? How much do they have? Why do they have it? Why do I need to work harder? Who are they?

 I recently read “Originals” by Adam Grant and in this book, he mentions how the oppressed (black folks) often hold up the system that is oppressing them (white privileges and systematic oppression). The reason for this is on the subconscious level of the mind. The oppressed start believing that the oppressing system is safe and predictable. We start seeing it as “Well, that’s just how things work”, “This is how it has always been and “You just have to work harder”. But we don’t have to subject ourselves to that system. In the book, Adam goes on to say that we often forget these rules and systems were made by men and women. And guess what… Did you guess? You have a 100% chance of being a man or a woman. 

You can rewrite these systems, you can change the rules. 

We can do it together.

Are you in?