Have you ever wondered why we spend so much time trying to be “better” for people who wouldn’t recognize better if it hit them over the head?

for most of my life,
i was a rule-follower.
at work,
with family,
in friendships,
and let’s not even font about looking for a partner.
i bent over backward trying to be the version of “better” everyone claimed they wanted.
they’d say they needed someone dependable,
thoughtful,
or different from all the “bad” they’d experienced before.
like a fool with a savior complex,
i tried to be the answer to their complaints.
here’s what they don’t tell you about following the rules…

Breaking news: The forests seem to be waking up to a whole new era.

it’s as if everyone’s mindsets started shifting at the same time last week.
the rules?…

yesterday,
i was about to do something silly.

I was gonna send a mass text to everyone in my phone,
letting them know that if they voted for that man,
or they didn’t vote at all,
that we would not be speaking again.

in fantasy,
that felt good.

“Yeah,
Jamari,
you’re sticking it to em!”

in reality,
that does more damage and is actually very childish.
so after i sat with myself for a little bit,
i decided to…

can we normalize…

I had to wonder:
Have you ever noticed how sometimes,
the storms in our lives feel bigger and scarier than they actually turn out to be?

last week,
i found myself in a spiraling of worry.
i was crazy anxious about karaoke,
a few friends,
and some Foxholers living in tampa, florida.
all of them in the direct path of hurricane milton.
the panic only deepened after hearing a government official’s stern warning:

“Leave or y’all gonna die!”

while some friends and Foxholers were in full blown panic,
i called karaoke,
bracing myself for the worst.
to my surprise…

What happens when you realize you’ve been the superhero in everyone else’s story,
yet your own plot feels a little…
un-heroic?

i made a mistake.
a big one.
after days of feeling so low,
it hit me like a lightning bolt…