On January 13th, 2018, ya girl, turned 35 years young! I'm thankful to Jehovah! Thanks to the good, the bad, and the ugly because my 34th year was an ongoing saga filled with transitions.
While the love was pouring in from my family and friends who truly know and love me, I had to reminisce and pay homage to my teenage years that are long gone. I thoroughly enjoyed being a teenager growing up as a Brown Girl From Boston, in Mattapan, to be exact. *S/O to all my 02126ers and my Hollingsworth St. Squad!
First and foremost, in the 90s, we had Blackplanet! Yes, Blackplanet was our first social media website, and we didn't even know it. My username was BabyPenny33. Yes, I was madly in love with Anfernee Deon "Penny" Hardaway! *Hey, Penny! * No Wifi, but we had AOL Dial-Up to access Blackplanet and Ask Jeeves. We had pagers/beepers; we actually had the face to face conversations, landline phones, in which your Mom Dukes would embarrass your whole life if she found out you were on the phone after hours.
I just remembered when life was all so simple. *Cues Wu-Tang Clan, "Can It Be All So Simple"*
A Letter From Teenage Drea:
Drea, don't trip about people challenging you by asking you: "Who Do You Think You Are?" People are intimidated by your greatness, sassiness, boldness, and unapologetic nature. You are a lone wolf leader, and sometimes that is a lonely road, but it is necessary for your purpose. Stay focused and disciplined. Those qualities will take you far. Yes, you will experience exhaustion, doubt, failure, and delayed gratification, but it will be worth it in the end. Yeah, it sucks that you may have to work ten times harder to get what you want, but you deserve it. Remember, everyone doesn't have the same drive, vision, and goals as you do. So don't give up, and don't expect things instantly. If it was easy, everyone would be doing the same thing.
It is okay to be a sassy tomboy who understands and loves sports, especially Basketball and Football. Love your Hip Hop music, embrace the way you go from wearing dresses to sneakers to Army Fatigue Camo pants, your hoodies, your bamboo earrings, conscious tees. It is cool to have guy friends and homegirls because you need masculine and feminine energies to get through life. Understand that some people will persuade you to switch your style up because they may not think it is ladylike to be you. They don't understand that you can run a boardroom, be featured on your homeboy's Hip Hop album, and drop knowledge at a conference. It is called balance, and some people want to bottle that Sassy, Tomboyish, Earthy, Blackness, and FLYness magic. Unfortunately, it can't be duplicated because it is part of your essence. You understand that balance is everything!
Drea, chill! People will love you. Some people are going to dislike you. That's okay. It is essential that you love, like, and value yourself. Don't you change! You will learn how to adapt, be flexible and align yourself with greatness. Just adjust your crown from time to time. Don't stop believing in what you believe in. Don't stop speaking your truth. Don't stop being assertive. Don't stop standing up for yourself. Don't stop spreading the love. Do actively listen because we all need and want to be heard. Do walk away when the vibes are off and when love is no longer being served. Do understand that everyone doesn't need a response back. Ensure you speak with conviction and let your word be your bond even if people disagree with you. Make sure you set an intention of being heard, seen, and treated with respect. Ensure you treat yourself with the utmost respect because you teach people how to treat you.
Do understand some people will disappoint you, especially your nearest and dearest loved ones. Some people are not trustworthy. Some people will not have your best interest at heart. Some people are users and want access to you because of who you are and your resources. Don't allow anyone easy access to your life. Some people don't deserve your magic and light. Don't forget to listen to your intuition. Have an open heart, but don't second-guess the nature of people's intentions. Red flags are red flags and hurt people hurt people.
Drea, you will get your heart broken a few times by intimate relationships and friendships. That's okay because that isn't the end of the world. Make sure you are doing your best in each relationship. Make sure you serve love, graciousness, class, respect, loyalty, and authenticity. Make sure you are doing your part of being the best version of yourself, and some days you will fail at that, and it is excellent. Breakups of any kinda suck, but you will survive. You will move on, mature, and become a better person. Just don't become codependent and move on quickly to a new partner without self-healing. Don't turn into some psycho ex because that isn't cute, Boo. Let people be who they are. Let your exes go if they genuinely don't appreciate your holistic self. Your exes and ex-friends will realize that you played an essential part in their growth and life journey. Learn how to forgive yourself and forgive others. Forgiveness is the highest form of healing.
Take care of your emotional, mental, physical health! Your health is everything. Health is wealth, and you only get one body. Make sure your inner beauty matches your outer beauty. Healthy Black Don't Crack. Ensure you are very cautious of what you ingest orally, visually, mentally, and verbally. Get healthy, unprocessed, and eat natural foods. Drink plenty of water. Workout. Lift weights. Do yoga. Meditate. Pray. Breathe. Also, remember that coconut oil heals everything, chile. It invests in quality coconut oil, therapy, learning, shea butter, and essential oils.
Don't box yourself in. Don't allow anyone to box you in. Don't allow anyone to think for you. Ask questions. Be an independent thinker. Don't block your blessings and opportunities. Do block haters, bigots, racists, and all imbalance and unhealthiness from your life.
You got this, Queen Drea! One day you will realize how essential and valuable you are. Remember your purpose and life assignment. Protect yourself. Protect your magic. Protect your FLYness. Adjust Your Crown!
Peace, Love, and Light!
Giving thanks to the past, present, and future sacrifices my parents made from leaving Alabama in 1970 relocating to Boston (Mattapan) to create a dope, challenging, and cultured life for my brothers and me. 
