Allow me to introduce myself: Living as Brit
Welcome to post-election day Wednesday. While several key states continue to tally the votes (AS THEY SHOULD!), I think today is as good a day as any to introduce myself, as promised.
My name is Britney (Brit) and it’s true, I be LIVING. As an early 30’s, Chicago living, world traveling, faith believing, career woman, and entrepreneur, I’ve learned to take the living of life seriously. What we do for ourselves, day to day is a singular opportunity to shape our lives solely for ourselves, and we absolutely should lean fully into that.
But what more is there to know about me? I’m Midwest born and bred, the oldest of 3 children, and if one couldn’t tell from my homepage background, I’m a black woman who lives in full color. As I periodically peek into social media and perhaps somewhat anxiously check the news for Presidential election updates, I’d be remiss to not acknowledge how being a black woman has shaped how I live my life. As the oldest of my parent’s children, I was very much the test run in many ways for my parents. I count this a blessing and a lesson for all parties ;-). I learned a lot on my own, simply because my parents didn’t have a guidebook or the benefit of prior experience like they would come to have in raising my siblings. But this test run in childrearing also led me to be as curious, and independent as I grew to be. One of the strongest memories I have of the many father-daughter conversations I’ve had with my daddy is the one time he mentioned to me that my aspirations in life, as great and to him attainable they were, would prove to be a more difficult road for me than it would be for others due to me being a black woman in America.
God knew the deal… and created the real. #BlackWomenMatter
That conversation has stuck with me for years because he wasn’t wrong. The journey of my life has been a winding one (and we’ll certainly come back to that later when I get around to discussing the specifics of my career) but my experience as a black woman has defined me in ways both beautiful yet challenging. It has been the challenges that have highlighted for me that I owe it to myself to live life as BIG as I can. As authentically as I can. I owe it to others around me to serve as an example of self-love, which I consider the love of God we can dole out to ourselves, to take on life as BOLDLY as I can. Black women have been denied so much. This isn’t an assertion, it’s a statistically proven FACT. Every instance in the here and now where we can reclaim owning our lives, owning our joy, owning our vulnerability, owning our humanity is a win for black women today, tomorrow, and for days and future women, we will never see or meet in this life.
That, my dear friends, is why I choose to LIVE.
So, to that end, consider this your official introduction to the Brit that be living. I look forward to telling you more about the ins and outs of my kind of living. Career, family/framily, travel, entrepreneurship, love life (I occasionally have one of those), and more.
If you’re interested in any aspect in particular let me know!
XoXo, Brit