throwback – Page 2 – three good words

April 24, 2025April 24, 2025

believe them the first time

Describe a risk you took that you do not regret.

Once again, too many to count.
However, there are some lessons learnt on the way:

“Haters gonna hate.” – AAVE

There will be people close to you who will hate you for daring to try. Some will do what they can to stop you from trying. And some will maliciously demoralise. Do not underestimate that negativity, it can kill off more than you realise.

“If someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” – Maya Angelou

It will save you a lot of heartbreak. Yes, you have haters, and yes, they can’t stand you, no matter how much they smile. Does it hurt? Of course it does. Believe it, though. They are showing you who they really are. Leave them in their darkness and move on. Pearls before swine etc.

“A real friend will make time. A true friend will take the time to understand.” – threegoodwords

Don’t confuse availability and convenience with friendship. Good friends are a treasure. Know you are worth the time, effort, and commitment, and you will be surprised who’ll show up and be an actual friend.

“unbothered. moisturized. happy. in my lane. focused. flourishing.” – Caeli K.

Take care of yourself and treat yourself well. You have this life. Live it.

April 11, 2025April 11, 2025

Story Time

Describe something you learned in high school.

We had fantastic history teachers who taught pattern recognition and insisted on historical context.

They were big on Nothing is inevitable and Look at who’s telling the story.

One history teacher especially was all about Double-check your sources because liars be lying.

They took their time to show us how oftentimes the biggest lies are the ones that make people feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Basically, if something felt like the perfect explanation with zero nuance, then someone was selling a story for some kind of profit. They set up exercises so we could find the story, identify the profit, and figure out the nuance.

Rather than tell, they showed us the complexity of human experience. And, they made us think, even when we didn’t want to. They made us sit in our discomfort. And gave us room to argue our points, especially if we argued well. That didn’t mean they agreed. They expected us to take the heat if we were already trying to prove them wrong.

Were they perfect? No. They had their foibles. But they were genuine educators who were passionate about their subject and were given the space to actually teach it. Which is how we got a capital E Education, and yes, I am grateful.

Makes The Horrors pretty horrible, though, ngl…

#timelines

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021