Y’all I found all these things online that had photos or videos I took from years ago. Or that other people had taken from my past events. Photos I thought were deleted but nope. The cloud knows and keeps everything. I was doing my best to scrub my digital footprint (I’m not on the run or anything, I just don’t want all that I once have done to be out there randomly as I move into a new season of life) but before I did I wanted to take some of those photos & videos and use them for blog posts. And that’s where the Back Down Memory Lane series came from.
This journey began May 2020 when I believed God told me to delete most of my social media which I did and begin to pare down my online presence. Y’all that was a lot for me as I built a blog, national tour, podcast and community using social media. But I listened and glad I did. My stress levels related to social media have been almost nonexistent. Like the peace I have that social media does not get to me nor am in unnecessary “I’m right” battles is a sense of serenity I haven’t had online for over a decade. Now I do.
I’m someone who likes to keep things organized, I just wasn’t aware how vast Google was with keeping our digital information stored in places I didn’t know existed i.e. different types of Google products. So it took me down a rabbit hole of finding random photos and videos that brought back memories. Some sweet others not so. I took the ones I wanted to keep and deleted all the rest. Some memories for me just aren’t worth remembering or necessary solely because those memories will only have me relive something that I don’t need to hold onto any longer.
As I was doing my digital decluttering, I realized that I have LIVED y’all. I have LIVED. For a girl from a really small town in East Texas to be able to start a blog, win awards, travel the country with an event I conceived, start a podcast, speak at conferences around the country, be a visible voice in the Black blogger community, be seen as a leader, make changes, shift ways people saw bloggers (as professionals), met amazing people, collaborated with amazing people and brands. None of these were things I ever saw myself doing. Not because I think small but because this wasn’t something I thought about for myself.
When I left teaching public school, I was told to go back to teaching so I could make a living. While I’m back in Academia as an Academic Director now, that wasn’t the path I wanted to take in 2011. I was fed up with education and wanted to feel alive. I remembered or should I say a friend reminded me I started a blog in 2009 and thought it was something I could pick back up until I figured out what to do next. Who knew that blogging would become my next. The next that matured me, prepared me, equipped me, taught me how to be who I am. Gave me the abilities, refined my skills and perfected my talent to help me excel professionally.
Now that I’m a Minister and back in Education I am using all that I learned to fully stand in the space God has called me to for this moment. Doing this digital declutter was the last thing I needed to do, so I could say goodbye to a season that brought me so much and hello to a season that will shape me into so much more.
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