Week 9 at an Ivy League

So. There were some things I didn’t want to admit out loud about last week. I pulled an all-nighter. I didn’t think I had them in me since undergrad. But surprisingly, I did. It was rough though. I could feel the cortisol and stress building up in my belly. The issue is; not only am I working on school & schoolwork, but I’m also planning a healing event in December. I feel like I’m doing double-duty. Busting my hump studying, reading and writing, that it leaves little time for anything else. So I have to burn the midnight oil to get my event coordinated. Sooooo many moving pieces.

• Web design
• Events page
• Ticketing App
• A way to email guest
• Writing
• Editing
• Technical Support
• Payment Gateway
• API
• Programming to connect it all
• Vendors to make it possible
• Event space booking
• Event planning & coordination
• Images
• Icons
• Graphic Design
• Outline
• PowerPoint slides
• Research
• Customer Service
• Promotion
• Marketing

Putting the pieces together was sooooo difficult that if I didn’t have Knockouts who were enthusiastic and helping me test, retest and troubleshoot, so they could lock-in. I promise I would have quit.

Spiritual Retreat Class

I don’t typically talk about this class because the class is more of a prep and planning class with lots of research on efficacy of healing modalities. This is the class which gets into the Lit Reviews and documented research. Control groups. Insurance. Outlines. Presentations. Design and testing of Spiritual Retreats, its didactic tools and how well the transform. This week I had to present my workshop outline, broken down by the minute. I presented for half an hour

Aggregated Survey Data

Click to enlarge

Artwork & Headline For Event

IMAGES

Demographic Driven Direction

In my presentation I explained every design direction.  Images of plus sized black women showcasing natural hair.  Varied skintones, hair textures, and especially showcasing dark skin in glamour, beauty & reality.

The goal of the sales page is to convey the event for different types of learners

• Visual
• Short bullets
• Long-form text
• & Video

My presentation was thorough and chock-full of information

All of the years of being in business and catering to my clients, the training, mistakes and lessons came pouring out. This is the class where the group excluded me. And after performing Self-Theory hypnosis on myself, I was happy for the blessing in that lesson… and I let it go.

Re-Treat-My-Self

At the end of last week after working soooo hard, and all of the weeks of pressure compounding on me, I heard about a Women of Color Yoga Retreat on Thurs, and shipped out less than 24 hours later on Friday. (It reminded me of the adventures I used to take in my 20s. Just a backpack and a travel book! The good ole days). Nonetheless, being single & child-free, decided to make moves for all the mommas who can’t just up & leave last minute. I must admit, I felt ALIVE! A little bit more like myself

Sisterhood, Sharing & Self-Care

We did yoga each day, and because I’m an early bird I walked from floor to floor to wake other girls to walk down together. I met such amazing women. Shared my story & heard other women share theirs. The Universe is divinely ordered and it was MEANT for me to be there. We laughed, we danced, we did a talking stick ceremony. I communed in nature, got answers from a 200 year old tree. It was GREAT! It gave me some ideas for things I want to do, as well as do differently for my own workshop… and that’s the thing. Sometimes you just gotta TRY something and see where you go from there.

Walked In To a Trump Rally

When I got back to the city, something told me to stay underground, and glad I did. I walked smack-dab into the middle of the aftermath of a Trump Rally. I’ve never seen soooo many suburban white people in the city, it was WILD! They were everywhere, Times Square, Port Authority, Grand Central train terminal. They were all getting on trains to head back out to their wealthy neighborhoods after descending upon the city. It just let me know that many of the people holding certain ideals are self-segregated from those who those ideals affect.

I said hi to a man sitting on the Metro North train sitting across from me. He didn’t even respond to me, and the drunk Irish guy sitting next to me tried to flirt with me, talking politics & gas prices & the hoopla at the rally. Then he informed me a “great number of black men are going to vote for Trump because Trump isn’t racist.” I had to (in a very soft, vicious voice) tell him about himself. And how his Black wife failed him by sending him out into the street ill-prepared to discuss sensitive racial issues. By the time I was done with him, he suddenly sobered up & was trying see when my stop was. He said he felt I, (sweet little ole me), was “attacking” him & he felt terribly… Small and soft as I am?? hehehe >:) (*Devil Horns*)

Office Hours

I met with my trauma professor during office hours to explain my midterm and understand her feedback. By the end of the convo she understood my point and stance in the paper. I’m wondering if I can get that grade changed to an A? But she says the Midterm doesn’t have much weight anyway… And its on to the Final Presentation now…. 10 minute deep dive on ANY subject of the semester. Showing my in depth understanding of the material… Hmmm… So MANY good topics.. What shall I do?

Side Quests

Last week in the middle of all my classes I had medical test, tests & more test. Trying to find out if the June surgery solved my internal issues. Sonogram. MRI, CT, CT w/contrasts. I had terrible reaction to the contrast in both the MRI & CT. Was queasy for the MRI and actually lost all my expensive vegan meal-prep breakfast in the second

Back to My SELF!

First time in months I brushed my hair flat (like I like it). I had finally carved the time to make videos and I couldn’t recognize myself. I said Enough was ENOUGH! Taking the time to do my hair was self care. It felt good to see my recognizable reflection staring back at me… one small step towards recovery.

Vote Early

I ordered a mail-in ballot because of concerns about in unrest on voting day as well as my vote not getting in early, as well as cyber security. (I still remember Scandal and Defiance Hmmm). Then I changed my mind and thought maybe in-person would be safer. But they wouldn’t let me. I would have needed to fill out an affidavit and send it via the poll-station drop box. So I just went home to find my ballot. And I was glad for the time & space to research all of the propositions. Because confusing language can try to trick us into voting against our interests.

All-in-all it was a GOOD Week!

Thoughts?