These past few weeks had me reeling and asking myself a serious question. Can you be filled with joy and sadness at the same time? My answer is yes. Like most folks out here juggling family life, relationships and career, I've been balancing my time and attention on a tight rope. Just when I check one big thing off my list, a little thing throws a signifying monkey wrench in my plans. We've been dealing with a major family emergency and on top of that some close friends who are like family are managing family crises of their own. I got three calls in a 24-hour period with not-so-good news. The wrench is that in the midst of all of this sad news, I've celebrated a birthday, launched Niche Girl Apparel, started an amazing career journey, rebranded the podcast and started pre-marital counseling. I'm engaged and just a few months away from saying, 'I do.' It's all so much goodness, and I'm grateful but celebrations don't hit right when your loved ones are going through. I postponed several posts, changed the celebratory tone in some of our reels and on some days, stayed silent from social altogether. It's not how I intended but it's what made sense at the time.
In life we'll always have highs knocked over by occasional lows. Or lows upended by surprising highs. I've learned to celebrate in a way that makes sense even if it's a delayed celebration. Thankfully, the not-so-good news is looking better for all my loved ones, so my IG followers will be getting these celebratory posts as if they just happened. Frankie Beverly and Maze sang it best, "joy and pain are like sunshine and rain." Sad moments allow us to embrace happiness, and happiness is a beautiful memory or sometimes a reminder when you're experiencing sadness. I'm so glad, trouble don't last always.