Finding joy

I was watching This Is Us and one of the characters who is in jail said, “I didn’t have any choices.” This stark line served to put the other character in check but it also reminded me that many of us have been only surviving and not living, which means we have been reacting and not choosing. For Black and Brown people this is a reality that is supported by racism and the inherent systems birthed from it. Now some may read this and point to all of the exceptions to the rule, and I call bullshit on you.

How can you live when you are only taught to react? How can you thrive and love when you only see pain and ugliness? Where is beauty when you are often told that you are the opposite of beautiful? I say this: when the world is filled with chaos and ugly and hurt, you must look within and you must seek the joy that is often hidden. Because you deserve it and we deserve to share it with each other.

In history, we often read of the importance of healing within the act of liberation. One can not occur without the other. One cannot be complete without the other. You can’t take your brokenness into your liberated space and mind. Healing and forgiveness must be present for you to achieve living. Many of us have not lived in so long that we hardly recognize what it looks like. We have been and are still torn down in society. So we begin to feel like abuse and trauma are normal.

Many of us feel the straps and strains that comes with racist and sexist ideals and views. And many of us fight each other because the true enemy is out of reach or hidden. But I say take that fight to your soul and start healing from within. Because we owe it ourselves and to our families to break cycles by taking a hammer to them. And find joy. I’m not talking about some happily ever after joy. I speak of that joy that emanates from your soul and is a bit messy because you are human and are still figuring things out. Perfect joy is filled with imperfections and the ability to be flexible in one’s purpose. This allows an openness to possibility. And no room for never.

So embrace your Black beautiful. Embrace everything that makes you, you. Support those around you and be a beacon of light instead of dark. And know that you are worth it because everything we know started with us. Start living and stop simply surviving and make it your mission to help at least one person outside of your circle to do the same. Because we should all have a choice and we should have a second chance. This is how you find joy.