Year of Yes – August Recap

If you’re new here, my OneWord for 2020 is YES. In the interest of staying accountable to my year of YES, I am providing a monthly recap of how I am doing. Click here to see all the posts. 

As a new normal continues to emerge for all of us, I remain committed to leaning into my Year of YES. I have been pleasantly surprised at how life has invited me to YES, even in the midst of these troubling times.

In August, I revisited a former YES and embraced a few new ones. Here is what my year of Yes looked like last month:

21-Day Black History Bootcamp

You may remember back in June, I participated in a walking challenge hosted by Girl Trek. It was dedicated to “honoring the footsteps of our foremothers”. In August, they were back with another challenge this one marking 21 of the most powerful turning points in Black history.

For 21-days, we walked and listened to the stories of different Black men and women who stood up against injustice. Men and women who dared to speak truth to power and demand change. We also learned of significant markers in the story of Black America, including the release of the movie Roots and the Azusa Street revivals.

It was a wonderful month of remembering those who went before us. As race relations continue to boil over in this country, it was also a clarion call to ignite us into action. The upcoming US election is one of the most important in our nation’s history. This month of resistance training was about getting us ready to make a difference for future generations.  

After this YES, I’m fired up and ready to go! 😊

The Kaleo Project

Earlier this summer, a friend invited me to apply for participation in The Kaleo Project. It is an exclusive coaching program for Black coaches and leaders, led by Rich Litvin and Monique DeBose.

I applied and from a pool of over 90 applicants, I found out I was one of 30 people chosen to participate. We kicked off in August. To say I was thrilled to be chosen would be an understatement. More than that though, it’s hard to put into words how it felt seeing 30 Black coaches and leaders all in the same room.

Most of the time when I gather in spaces like this, I am one of only a handful of Black coaches. Here everyone looks like me and I can drop into more of myself, which feels amazing.

I walked away from our first call, humbled to be among several already influential voices in the coaching industry. Not going to lie, it’s a little intimidating. It’s also challenging me to commit even more to bring my unique voice into the world. I can’t wait to see what unfolds for me through my participation in this program.

Embodied Self-Love Course

I am someone who is in my head a lot. However, over the last few years, I have been getting reacquainted with the wisdom in my body.

One of my teachers on that journey is Elizabeth Dialto. I have learned a ton from her on how to move through the world in a more embodied way. It’s still not automatic for me but I’m learning to listen to my body’s wisdom more and more.

In August, Elizabeth hosted an Embodied Self-Love mini-course and it has been so good. In her framework, self-love is made up of five (5) different things: self-awareness, self-knowledge, self-acceptance, self-trust, and self-respect. You can’t get to self-love without going through these five stages first.

The course has provided me with opportunities to reflect on and deepen in each of these areas. All of which has been good for me on multiple levels.  

Future Training Sessions

I hosted my Building Resilience Through Change training in August. It’s been a couple of years since I last led a virtual training for my community. I’ve missed doing them. I enjoy leading these types of events so I’m committing to doing more of them in the future. The next one will be on boundaries in October.

In addition to doing trainings for my online community, I also said YES to doing training in the Charlotte community. For me, leading these training sessions is about honoring the gift of teaching I’ve been given. I’m looking forward to doing them.

This Year of YES continues to surprise me. I had such different ideas at the start of the year, other ideas when the pandemic started, and now I am staying curious to see what unexpected ideas want to come forward.

Now it’s your turn. What were you up to in August? What surprises came your way? I’d love to hear in the comment below or you can email me. I look forward to hearing from you.

From my heart to yours,