"Find Your Truth" Series - Part IX

In the ninth and final post of our ‘Find Your Truth’ series, Shaquetta shares some of her personal truths.

"Celebrate your progress.” -Shaquetta

This I Know to Be True About Relationships:

Relationships are awesome, but the first person you should be committed to is yourself. Self-commitment is the unconditional, ride-or-die, encouraging, supportive, fill-in-the-blank love for you. Relationships with others are essential to living. We need other people to survive and people who say they don’t need people need a hug. The way you treat other people and the way you allow them to treat you starts with how you treat yourself. There may be times where you have to remove yourself (temporarily or permanently) from relationships with whomever and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean you love them any less but sometimes you have to check in with you. You can’t be good to anybody else if you don’t take care of yourself first. Unhealthy relationships are not sexy.

This I Know to Be True About Money:

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE--even if it’s five dollars--and don’t touch it! The keynote speaker at my honor society banquet told us he started saving for his retirement in his 20s and as soon as I got a job I was saving. If at all possible I’d like to retire sooner than later. Learning to manage your money in general is an extremely important skill for yourself and your future generations. Don’t lend any amount of money that you don’t feel comfortable with giving away. ‘No’ is a complete sentence.

This I Know to Be True About Natural Hair:

It is mine and God gave it to me this way! I won’t accept the idea that my hair is radical, unkempt, unprofessional, or anything other than my crown. Transitioning was scary at times but it’s been so worth it. Now I have nothing against chemical processing, that’s your choice, but my natural hair journey is a major inspiration for my spiritual journey. 

This I Know to Be True About Service:

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE helping other people. It’s my passion; however, I’m starting to learn that it’s okay to allow people to be responsible for their own journeys. Sometimes helping others isn’t helping, it’s enabling. It almost feels as if I’m interfering with their lesson from God and I should be telling myself “BACK UP! BACK UP!...just mind ya business, that’s all, just mind ya business” and maybe that’s my lesson. Sometimes a simple prayer is all the helping I need to do.

This I Know to Be True About My Self:

No matter where I am, as long as I love me I’ll be okay. I have to be true to myself and sometimes that can be uncomfortable, but I have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Click here to read all the entries in the Find Your Truth series.

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We are so grateful to all the women who participated and shared some of the things that have become true for them as they have navigated their journeys thus far. Each post was relatable and inspiring in its own way; and--we hope—just the spark you needed to discover some personal truths of your own.

photo via google images