Tea began as medicine and morphed into a beverage of choice!
I don't quite remember when I fell in love with tea but I do remember the most 
Until recently I had never drank Peppermint Tea made with loose leaves. And Honestly, I will probably never go back. The freshness of loose Peppermint Tea cannot be denied. When I open the can of 
I love to read! Inside a book I escape into someone else's life. There is something wonderful about turning to the next page of a wonderful story. Something intoxicating about the smell of the book and the story it brings to life. Reading brings me joy, and these days with my health in the balance, I find solace in my books.
For sure I never imagined to be at this place. An AIDS Activist, a minister, a blogger, a jewelry designer and at the end of the day, Alive. What kept me alive through all the chaos from childhood to AIDS was that I never gave up. I sent energy into the universe that said, I am more than what my Mama said I was. I am more than what people say about people with HIV. I'm even more than living with AIDS. And what I believe is the energy that you send out, is what you get back. Paulo Coelho writes in his book, The Alchemist, "When a person really desires something all the universe comprises to help that person realize his dream."
Honestly, I was not "that girl." I had some valleys to dig through and even some mountains to climb. Life was stacked against me at birth. I was abused and I then self abused. How do you love yourself, when you are told that you are told that you are, "never going to be nothing." I had to learn to love myself, but first I had to learn what love is.
I believe with all my heart that our life purpose has many layers and there are many chapters. I thought that I only wanted a life in politics when I was nineteen. But after that first time I spoke at a high school about living with AIDS, I knew that this was what I was suppose to do right now. I took the first step toward that mission and the universe lined up on my behalf. Six months after I started actively speaking at high schools in Chicago, I met Susan Taylor and then came the cover of Essence Magazine and now it's been 21 years of doing this work.
But this is also true for my chapter in politics. After I organized seven bus loads of college students on my college campus to work on election day for mayoral candidate Harold Washington, I knew that was what I was suppose to do. I took the first step and the universe lined up on my behalf. And two months later I was an intern at Operation PUSH and three months after that I was moving to Washington, D. C to be the Deputy National Youth Director for Rev. Jesse Jackson's 84 presidential campaign. I found myself traveling across the country organizing students to vote. The universe paved the way for the path I was suppose to take. My life in politics was for twelve wonderful years and many historical political campaigns under my belt.
I'll always work around HIV/AIDS and I'll always speak, but what I'm no longer going to do is sit here and cry about the lack of speaking engagements and how freaking broke I am when God has gifted me with so many talents. I don't willow in misery, I'm not "that girl." Never was and never will be. I believe that academia is my next chapter. I mean, I got all this education for a reason. I've started putting energy out into the universe and as it lines up for my good I'll do the work to help it along. I believe like Oprah, that we must live with intent. You can't say you want to go to school and you never complete an application. You can't get a man who will appreciate the best of you when you are dating men that only brings out the worst in you. #Imjustsayin
I will end his blog how I began, what I know for sure is that every action has a reaction. And everything you do matters. What kind of energy are you sending into the universe? Are you really living with intent; From who you have sex with, to what you eat, to loving yourself, to living your purpose not just talking about it.
