Welcome to Weekly Topic Saturdays!
Good Morning, I pray that your week was filled with kind words and golden dreams. Welcome back to those who have been with me here at A Golden Dream. For my first-timers, a great big hello there, if you haven't already please check out my previous posts when you get a chance.
Please don't hesitate to join the conversation, there are no right or wrong answers or questions. I'm not proclaiming to know everything, I am simply just discussing and picking topics on things that I personally have gone through and that I know would help someone.
“That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.”
Romans 1:22
I wanted to take some time on our Motivational Monday Post to tell you some things about me so that you can get to know me a little better. Who knows, we may have a lot in common, and if we don’t that's alright too.
Remember we are building a strong fellowship here so we can help each other. I want us to grow and lean on each other in times of need, we have to be able to both support and encourage one another. Here, we are a T.E.A.M, Together Everyone Achieves More and one of the best parts of being a TEAM is getting to know your teammates. So let's find out what we have in common.
“Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart and a humble mind.”
1 Peter 3:8
Ten Things About Me:
1. A Complexed Mind!
At an early age, I was diagnosed with a learning disability called dyslexia. By definition, dyslexia is a learning disability that affects your ability to read, spell, write, comprehend, and sometimes even speak. What causes dyslexia is the way that the brain processes the information that we see and hear. For instance for people with dyslexia, when reading the brain uses different areas in the brain than those who are not dyslexic which affects the efficiency of how I read.
One of the main issues in dyslexia is the trouble of recognizing the basic sounds of speech. It’s a constant struggle to make the connection between the sound the letter makes and the symbol of that letter, which makes blending sounds into words that much harder. This makes the recognition of short words and the sounding out of longer words take more time. More often than not the meaning of words is lost because it takes so much of my focus to read what I see, thus making the level of reading comprehension poor.
Dyslexia is a language processing disability and can affect all forms of language, both spoken and written. Dyslexia isn’t just having trouble with the comprehension of words but it’s the numbers as well. There have been times when I am talking with someone and they begin to spring a lot of numbers at me all at once and it overwhelms me because I cannot always keep up with it. Growing up with dyslexia was a constraint struggle and before I knew that I had dyslexia people thought that I was being lazy and not putting in my best effort. There are times that when I am reading words like “pot” it looks like “top” or words like “help” look like “h3l9”. There are sometimes where all the spaces have disappeared and it looks like one long word.
I'm reminded every day that I have this disability, some days are better than others but it's a taxing and overwhelming disability that I wouldn't give to my worst enemy. Having dyslexia always felt like and still feels like a burden. I couldn't understand what I did to deserve such cruelty. The simple things like studying for a quiz was always a chore because I could study for that one thing for hours and not comprehend any of it. Because of my dyslexia, I was treated differently. I was bullied constantly, I had to attend IEP meetings for it at school, dyslexia contributed to my anxiety, and I was constantly jealous of other people.
Attending Individual Educational Programs (IEP) meetings made me feel extremely anxious. I hated being in the same class with students when we were taking tests because it seemed like they were finishing the test faster than me and it made me lose focus to the point where I couldn’t finish. I eventually was allowed to take my test in a separate room so that I could take my time and not lose focus. I had tutors, computer software, recorded reading assignments, special plans to help me train my brain to comprehend, read, and calculate more efficiently.
Through it all, with the help of teachers that really cared, I was able to overcome my language barrier and train my brain to work more effectively. Do I still have bad days, yes of course, but God made no mistake in making me; he made me exactly in his image...I can do all things through Christ that gives me strength, I have overcome the impossible, and I’m more than a conqueror.
2. Fashion! Fashion! Fashion!
Since I was young I have always held a passion for fashion. My inspiration started with my mother. I would watch her get dressed every morning before work. She would put on her makeup and her outfits, she became like my lifesize Barbie Doll. Soon my inspiration evolved and I wanted to become a plus-size fashion designer. As a plus-sized woman myself it was hard trying to find super bold, daring, stylish clothes that looked flattering on the plus-sized figure. That’s where the inspiration was born to create my own fashion line, called Voluptuous Figures.
3. Spontaneously Structured!
I know that sounds like an oxymoron but it is so true. I absolutely hate being stuck in the same place or pattern for too long because I become stir crazy, quick! That was one of the things that I didn’t like about being in school because it was the same monotonous schedule day in and day out. All I would do is go to school, be in classes all day, go home, do homework, go to sleep, and then in the morning it was wash, rinse, and repeat. So y’all know that once I got to my senior year in high school I was ready to graduate, take my diploma, and bounce. In fact, I was so ready to leave that I didn’t even let anyone sign my yearbook; I bought that book on the very last day of classes. Y’all I was RET TA GO!!!!! When I got to college I loved the freedom of being able to go explore different places and do things that I have never done before. I am structured because I pick up on patterns well and once I get into the habit of doing something that I like, I strive to continue it.
4. Serious Simmer!
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the life simulation game called The Sims. It is a game where you get to play with life and create characters and live out their own unique storyline. This game is super addicting. I have played Sims since it dropped with the original Sims One back in the year 2000. The game has evolved a lot since then and currently, it is on The Sims 4. This game allows you to be truly creative with creating your Sim, choosing where they live, and building their dream home. I encourage you guys to check it out if you have not already.
5. Vivid Dreamer!
I am an extremely vivid dreamer and sometimes my vivid dreams turn into night terrors. You know the kind where you wake up and you feel like you just been in a full-on fight. These dreams are so vivid sometimes that I cannot always tell what is real apart from what is the dream, which can be terrifying. Sometimes, what I watch on television or hear about on social media right before I go to bed can influence how heightened my dreams are.
A while back I had a vivid dream about a friend of mine at the time; in my dream they were going to be chased and beaten up, I called them and told them what I had dreamt and let them know to be alert and to be careful. Three months after I had the dream they were leaving somewhere and just like in my dream they were chased and were almost beat up. Luckily they got away.
It wasn’t until recently that I realized the significance of my dreams. I learned that through my dreams God gives me messages or visions. At first, I was scared of it, then in 2018, six of my close family members that I cared about deeply, passed away back to back and I took it extremely hard. It wasn’t until I had a dream about one of them letting me know that all was well that I found comfort.
When I dream, I take them very seriously. I even have a dream journal that I keep near me so I can immediately write them down and evaluate them.
6. Love to Laugh!
Most people assume by looking at me that I am intimidating or mean because it is not often that I smile. It is not that I am sad or upset. Generally, I am usually very focused on whatever task I am working on and don’t realize that my face looks crazy. You wouldn’t believe the number of times that people will either avoid approaching me or will ask me if I am okay. It’s actually on the contrary because I absolutely LOVE to laugh. Usually, it is not hard to make me laugh and if you can make me laugh then you are golden in my book.
Over my lifetime I have had my share of heartaches and pain and when I am and was going through those times sometimes a good laugh is all that is needed to cheer me up. I naturally am a big kid at heart and love to make other people smile and laugh. It makes my day to know that I could make someone feel better with a corny joke, silly meme, a hilarious gif, a funny impression, or a combination of the four. The way I see it, it costs me nothing to be kind to someone else. Life is too short to be serious and too serious to be short.
7. Written Expression!
I absolutely love to write because it allows me to express my emotions uninterrupted and unfiltered. When I write I can be as blunt and as honest as I want because the paper does not feel nor can it talk back. I can express my truest emotions on paper without the fear that it will judge me. I found out through a time where I was dealing with some emotional trauma that writing was an emotional and mental healing outlet, it was what I needed to de-cloud, declutter, rebalance, and recenter my headspace. Collectively, I’ve obtained 13 journals from my childhood until the present day that are all filled with my life stories, experiences, ideas, aspirations, plans, projects, and dreams.
Writing is my healing, What is yours?
8. Auntie’s Babies!
As of right now, I do not have any children biologically, but I like to think that all of my nieces and nephews are my children. I have been an aunt since the age of 9 years old and I love them dearly. I try to be very supportive of them and all of their endeavors. They think that I am the cool aunt because I make it my business to be in their lives, spoil them, and let them just be worry-free kids as much as possible. The only thing that I want for them is to grow closer to God, succeed in life, and become well-rounded caring individuals. My sister's joke and pick on me all the time telling me that by the time I have children all of my nieces and nephews will be grown and gone and probably will have started their own family because right now I am like the traveling auntie that brings the gifts. Which, AIN'T NOTHING wrong with that! haha!!!
My babies have no idea how much I love them. How much I pray over their lives. How much I am proud to be their auntie. I would do anything for my babies, I take my job very seriously.
9. Extremely Observant!
One thing that I have found out about myself through self-evaluation is that I am very observant of my environment as well as the people I am with. This hyper observance, I believe began with some of my past trauma coupled with never wanting to be caught off guard. I am super conscious of my surroundings and will often pick up on things that others wouldn’t.
A funny example of this was when I came home from work one day and my roommate had ordered us, Jimmy Johns. When I walked into the living room to take off my shoes I saw it laying on the table. Mind you, I was only in the living room for a few seconds before heading into my bedroom to change clothes. In the meantime, she had put the sub in the fridge while I was changing. I came out of my room and went back to the living room so that I could eat and I noticed that it was gone. I asked her what happened to my sub and she said “Dang, I didn’t even realize that you saw it, you only been in here for a few seconds” and I said to her “Oh, girl yes, I peeped it as soon as I walked in.” We both burst into laughter......Don't judge me yall, I may have been a little hungry too.
Another example would be remembering how to get to a destination one time and can visually remember my way back only using landmarks as a guide or places of reference. I can recall driving my friend home one time and she asked me I can plug in my address in the GPS and I said no need I remember how to get here from last time. Mind you last time was 6 months ago.
10. Dance Team Co-Leader!
About two and a half years ago at the church that my roommate and I attended, we joined the liturgical praise dance team and it was something that I really enjoyed doing because I was able to grow closer to God through dance. Then about a year later we were offered the role to become the leaders of the dance team. This was a big role to fill because at the time we had just created our own mime team called Chozen By Faith. We accepted the role and I became a co-leader and my roommate became the other co-leader. Our dance teams grew from just having one dance team to manage to three dance teams. As co-leaders, it is our responsibility to choreograph the dances and help the dance members minister to the congregation and I love every moment of it.
Questions To Consider:
Do we have anything in common? If so, what's one thing?
Do you know anyone with a learning disability?
What's one thing that you found interesting?
Does anyone out there play Sims 4? If so, How long have you been playing? If not, would you consider giving it a try?
Are you involved in a ministry at your church? If so what ministry?
With love, remember that we are all uniquely made with our own set of unique characteristics. Embrace who you are because you wouldn’t be who you are today without them. This was just a small snapshot of me and as we grow together I hope to learn about each one of you. This is a loving fellowship where we support each other, a place of endless encouragement.
Join the conversation and drop a comment below letting me know if we have anything in common!
**I hope everyone has a safe and blessed week and I will see you all on Saturday for our Weekly Topic Saturdays**
~Just Breathe...A Golden Dream~
Amen.