Notes On Assignment
Are you positioned for what you’re praying for?
I’m peaking out from underneath multiple deadlines to take a breath and connect with yall. I hope everyone’s been managing to find moments of joy as the sunlight extends longer into the day and the flowers begin to bloom all around us *pops Zyrtec* and to my pollen allergy community you all are in my thoughts as well!
It’s been more weeks than usual since my last newsletter because some exciting assignments have kept me very busy this month. If you follow me on Instagram you’ve already seen one of the assignments I was working on – EBONY Magazine’s March cover story on the one and only Kerry Washington – come to life.
Kerry has been on my wish list for a long time. To know me is to know Scandal was the first series of the Twitter era I was ever obsessed enough to live tweet all the way through. And to really know me is to know that my 11th birthday celebration was a trip to an AMC theater with friends to see Save The Last Dance when it came out. She’s honestly been a homegirl in my head since Chenile.
In addition to being a fan of her work, I’m also fascinated by the number of things I’ve learned Kerry and I have in common, especially after reading her memoir Thicker Than Water last year. For example, we’re both Aquarius’ suns with Cancer moons, we’ve both lived in the same apartment building (not at the same time), and there are similarities in how we’ve reacted to/internalized certain life events. The events weren’t always the same but the imprint each one left on us was. So it felt somewhat divine when the first cover story I was asked to write since reading her book was one on her.
It didn’t take long for our interview on set to affirm my suspicion that this was more than just another assignment. I treasure each of the ten other cover stories I’ve been blessed to do in my career, each interview was special for its own reasons, but this one was the first time I felt like I was talking to someone who had reached the other side of some of the exact lessons I’m in the middle of learning and applying to my own life. When Kerry talked about “coming out of the isolation of her ambition” and eliminating perfectionism from her definition of excellence, recognizing it was a weapon she picked up to make things harder on herself… whew! I almost ran a lap around the studio like it was church.
As with any story, things had to be left on the cutting room floor, but our conversation about the things she had to come out of agreement with in order to expand and grow alongside her blessings was a sermon on the mount that I am currently climbing.
You can read the entire story, Kerry Washington and the Power of Purpose, on Ebony.com here.
I love God’s timing because there have been a few occasions over the last decade that I’ve attempted to interview Kerry, but He waited until we were both in the right places in our lives to have this kind of conversation about power. One that was less about strategies for external achievement and more about the kind of inner work that must be done to handle success and be a good leader. You have to have certain experiences to ask certain questions, and to know certain answers, and I’m so grateful our paths aligned in a way that allowed us to meet each other in that space.
Another reason I’m marveling at the timing of this assignment is I had just spent the weekend before the interview focusing on some of the exact topics at a beautiful retreat hosted by my friends Jennifer Pauline and Natalie Manuel Lee. We spent the day focusing on various parts of our inner world, including exercises and discussions that dug into purpose and getting in proper alignment for the things we desire. “Sometimes we think we are waiting on God but it’s God who is waiting on us,” Natalie said to us.
“Are you positioned for what you’re praying for?”
I had no idea the discussion itself was helping me get in the right position for the interview with Kerry I hadn’t even been asked to do yet. But I find that that’s how it goes when you make choices that keep you walking on the path of your purpose. Them steps be connected.
If you’re still working on figuring out your purpose or making sure it still aligns with who you’re becoming, I invite you to do an exercise my good sis Jovian Zayne, a gifted life coach and CEO of The OnPurpose movement, walked us through at that same retreat.
Jovian beautifully defines purpose as the communication of a life. Essentially, it’s our reason why. A guiding intention behind what need(s) we desire to meet through the work we do here on Earth. Because purpose is tied to our identity, one way to refine it is to recall moments from our lives that help us remember who we are, breadcrumbs she called them, as a way to help inform our purpose. Two of the things she asked us to think about included:
“When you were your most precious youngest self, who were you?” (What were your interests? What brought you joy?)
“How can you live on purpose in a way that honors that version of you?”
I don’t know about you but connecting with my inner child always makes me a little emotional. But when I think about 5 to 10-year-old me, I remember a kid who was constantly living in her very vivid imagination. I would create my own little worlds, crafting stories in my head, or with my Barbie dolls and stuffed animals, turning them into characters in various plots. When I think about that, I know I’m still somewhat aligned with that part of me because storytelling is still at the core of what I do. But it also reminded me that I need to tap into my imagination more and be less afraid to get creative with the way I tell stories… that I need to stick to the work of getting out of my safe zone of always telling other people’s stories over the ones that also live inside of me. (Note: If you’re a journaler like me, I highly recommend using these as writing prompts and seeing what comes to you.)
I love any chance I get to evaluate my purpose because there are so many things in life that can push us out of alignment with what we’re meant to be doing in our lifetime. In the last five years alone we’ve dealt with a global pandemic, political unrest, and a recession economy. All of these things have pushed many of us into survival mode, making us feel like we have to prioritize money over purpose. Or we’ve had to switch jobs/pivot so often that we’ve lost track of why we got started on that path in the first place. There’s also the way social media or familial pressure can influence us to chase dreams that were never ours in the first place.
Don’t let the uncertainty of these times keep you so distracted or discouraged that you think your purpose doesn’t matter. It’s actually never been more important for all of us to know why we were born during this time. The breath in our bodies means there’s something we’re supposed to be contributing. So whether it’s about taking time to figure out what that is, how to do it, how to do it again, or which groups/communities you want to use said gifts/skills to impact, I hope you take note of my favorite quote from my interview with Kerry Washington and spend each day trying to walk toward who it is that you think God wants you to be.
Sincerely,
Sylvia
beautifully written and inspiring :) note to end on "spend each day trying to walk toward who it is that you think God wants you to be."
Brilliant.