Princess Diaries Entry #8: I Deserve it All
Photo Credit: GNX-Kendrick Lamar
Welcome back to Princess Diaries!!! I’ve truly missed you all, but yuh girl equally truly needed the time to reflect upon how did I want to communicate, what was the collective message I was trying to share through my work and how was my current communication creating negative or positive impact around me. One thing that I’ve learned during this time away, I don’t like being rushed!!!! I believe that it’s ok to pause from certain creative endeavors in order to prioritize purpose work but also to purify your heart for the true task you’re trying to complete. For me, I had to take a step back to reflect upon my past communication and how I didn’t believe it reflected my true intention of sharing love and wisdom. However in order to purify my creative process, I needed to sacrifice time away from this platform in order to make sure that when I reproached the space it was from a pure intention. Also, I had to reflect upon a writing cadence that allowed me to appreciate the craft and not push myself to burnout. Therefore, the princess diaries will be posted on an end of the month posting cadence. But like, I said WE’RE BACK AND WE’RE BETTER!!!
And for the first return entry of princess diaries, with the climate of November, I believe Kendrick’s album “GNX” was the collective message that ushered in a type of support that was needed during these uncertain times. Specifically the song on the album “Man in the Garden”. This song aligned with my creative reflection on abundance, and how abundance is more of a mindset instead of an achievement. In the song Kendrick touches on some aspects of abundance that our current culture doesn’t align with culture’s definition of “abundance”. Within the song he touches on his view of abundance being shaped with the following aspects: emotional stability, health, wealth, community, legacy, freedom, respect, acknowledgment, and preservation of the past. This combats culture’s definition of “abundance” where capitalism is rooted in material gain, power, individualism, isolation, personal gain.
In addition, the idea that enduring this creative journey with pure intentions, honesty, care, accountability, humility, unconditional love, mind-body-soul alignment, and ancestral reverence is not promoted in our culture. In a time where the collectives “superheroes” are being unmasked as villains, understanding what to sacrifice for the cost of success is hard to navigate for upcoming creatives. However, in the song Kendrick offers the concept that one can achieve success and remain rooted in all those previous qualities the but the sacrifice is maintaining those qualities throughout the journey. But he does offer reassurance at the end of the song ushering in the perspective that he was able to transform into an individual who is rooted in these qualities and through this has been able to bring honor to his family, his community, and his creative craft.
And from this space, I write that as a collective WE DESERVE IT ALL! We shouldn't sacrifice integrity, love, kindness, truth, legacy, or humility for “cultural abundance”. Accepting the reality that you can have it all, that it’s your birthright, and you deserve peace, joy, happiness, wealth, healthy, community, and love. That any spaces or people that don’t promote these values are detouring for the ideology that you can and do deserve it all. But the sacrifice is behaving and acting accordingly, the sacrifice of being honest when you can be deceitful, to choose community when you could choose isolation, to value purpose over profit, and to through remaining in a space of love, you can have it all.
Below are some creative reflection prompts that go along with song “Man in the Garden”:
What is my version of having it all?
What does my version of having it all mean for my family?
What does my version of having it all mean for my community?
What does having it all look like for me where I can stay rooted in my mind, body, and soul?
What in my life is preventing from it all?
