"To name ourselves, define ourselves, speak for ourselves...."
I grew up with this principle and transliteration being my favorite. As a youth involved in early Hip-Hop culture it was important to name yourself and to define yourself. I had various names and definitions from The Stingray, Shy-Ben, D.J. Mastermind, and The Graffiti Ratt ! During the same time I spent great amounts of time in various church choirs, bands, and youth activities. In each of these venues I was able to display and explore various aspects of what I became to understand was my growing-totality. I also was guided into understanding what I wasn't as well as what I was. Even as all of my nearly 95% white neighbors in Columbus, Ohio moved out of the area as soon as my family moved onto the court. I saw "For Sale" signs going up while we were still unpacking the moving van from New York Those moving neighbors called me all types of names and attempted to define me in many ways. One of the things which saved me, in addition to watching the paradoxical events of some of those neighbors seeking out my Father's advice and guidance on religious and addiction matters they were struggling with, was the principle of Kujichagalia. I was later able to hang-out with peers who were involved in very negative behaviors and overcome the peer-pressure because I refused to accept their assumptions and definitions for me although I didn't refuse their friendship. On numerous occasions my friends would warn me when they were going to engage in something that didn't fit in my definition of myself or my activities. After they warned, I simply left the scene and found something else to do. Since our family lived the principles of our seven candles daily along with our Christian values, leaving my peers and publicly sharing my reasons for leaving them during those moments provided me with valuable leadership skills.
A few years ago I decided that I wanted to change the experience of my family. My parents believed that if one received a good education, everything else will fall in place. While my parents, and those in their time made great strides to transform America into the America that I'm enjoying, this approach has left some of the crusaders of those times in poverty, depending on social security, or just making it. While most of family's elders seemed to be doing well I began noting as I grew older a deep seated concern on their finances. Many were living too long, and were outliving their retirement plans or outspending their pensions. While all of my father's siblings seemed to be doing well, few were in a position to "employ themselves and employ others", which is a sure sign of empowerment. After much research I found the writings and books of Dave Ramsey, Clark Howard, and my beloved Michelle Singletary. Soon I began a process to rid myself from any forms of debt, and then the Wifey-Fo-Lifey joined me as we moved towards a total money makeover. We're still in the process and not enjoying the process, but we are reaping the benefits of the process. We are winning. Our household mantras went from "No New Debt" to "Destroy all past debts". Although we have a 30 year loan on our house, following the strategies from the aforementioned gurus, and using other strategies I learned after I joined World Financial Group and became a financial services professional, we will save hundreds of thousands using these approaches versus following the normal dictates of the mortgage.
We should be able to pay for our children's college costs easily out of our pockets, and we have multiple strategies which will safely yet bountifully fund our retirement years. This year we were able to go over budget on our Christmas gift spending without using a dime of credit, and our budget overage will not affect our operational budget. As Dave Ramsey states "Live like no one else, and later you can live like no one else." In this upcoming New Roman Calendar Year, I pray that you may begin living like no one else. Debt is the new Slavery.............. And we ain't going back ! I pray that you leave the credit-devil alone. I pray that you stop believing the lie that a person needs credit to get ahead. Define yourself as wealth and act in that manner. Wealth invests it's resources, honors it's commitments, and then spends on the non-essentials. As KRS-ONE states "Visualize wealth, and put yourself in the picture." Habari-Gani ? Kujichagalia !!!!! Light that 1st green candle son.
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Seko Varner is from
Positive Vibes Financial,
a World Financial Group team of financial services agents. They
specialize in debt reduction, investments, and insurances. Seko is in
high demand as a special events DJ and owns an event marketing service.
Seko has diverse background in real estate, personal finance, business,
counseling and education. Seko is active with numerous Youth Mentorship
programs and has a background in radio and television. Visit
www.HappilyEverAfter.Be or call 757-248-3820 for more details.
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