A Way Back to Hopefulness
How do you lift yourself up again when everything feels oppressive?
When your own body can’t move?
Back to the Basics:
Count my blessings
See what it is I have before me
Take time, space, moments to reconnect with my life — my family, friends, communities.
Reach out to those who are there FOR me — people who share the same values as me.
Tell them my pains • my worries • tell them my present moment of feeling hopelessness.
And allow them to remind me of the things WE value most.
Spend time with Bryan - the purest soul I know. Watch her unadulterated joy, unfiltered, unapologetically joy-filled. She is Light. She is Golden.
Surround myself with plants, with nature, with connection to something larger than… all this.
Revisit and remember WHY I create.
Remember my VALUES.
We don’t have guarantees.
We have family.
We have belonging in community.
We have safety in our diversity.
And our diversity IS and our ability to embrace and love our diversity has and will continue to be our strength.
Why I create:
I have an incredibly strong heart.
This Oakland girl was raised with a strong moral compass.
I was given unique gifts, talents, and passions.
And I’ll continue to harness and cultivate it, using my creativity as a platform.
Others can’t see it from the outside but what looks like $5 cards are nurtured seedlings of creativity that exist in an entire ecosystem that I am building. One that is built on ethics • one that has Collaboration, Interdependence, and Mutual Support built in its roots • a creative ecosystem that has technological innovation woven into handmade art. With the focus of bringing meaning, values of community, and LIGHT and JOY to the worlds around me.
I create because I must
I create because - even though I don’t know how - it somehow helps others.
I create because I have a voice.
I create because I can and will use it.
I create for expression.
I create for joy
I create to transmute the Darkness into Light
I create so others can feel less alone
I create to show myself that I can impact and shape the future. That I can create the future I want — one piece, one day at a time.
The Darkness might seem like it’s winning these days.
But it’s just cuz it’s louder, angrier, more aggressive.
This is a constant reminder of what values I live by, how I want to show up, what would make little and elder Estella proud, what would make my nieces and nephews proud, and to NOT let them dim our creative spirit.