Answering the call means trusting yourself even when you can’t see the full picture. It means saying “yes” to the unknown and believing that what’s unfolding is greater than what you’re leaving behind.

The New Year isn’t a magic reset button — it’s a mirror inviting you to grow with intention. In this reflection, Nafeesah A. Goldsmith shares gentle wisdom on releasing the pressure of perfection, setting soulful intentions, and stepping into your next evolution with clarity, compassion, and power.

There comes a point in your journey—spiritually, emotionally, and energetically—where you realize that constantly repeating yourself is not a demonstration of power, but a quiet erosion of it.

Too often, we dim our voices to keep the peace, avoid confrontation, or preserve relationships that aren’t even nourishing us. But silence can be heavy. Silence can become a prison.

Let’s not take the fun out of this thing here called life.

Letting people be who they are doesn’t mean we love them less—it means we love ourselves more.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “laughing to keep from crying.” And many of us have done just that. We laugh out of joy. We laugh out of fear. We laugh in anger, in anxiety, in grief, in love. Laughter shows up when we least expect it—and often when we need it most.

You hold the first and last say in your life—how it unfolds, how it’s remembered, how you are revealed and revered. You are the captain of your own ship, the author of your own legacy.

At some point in life, we’ve all heard the phrase: “Don’t look back.” But the truth is—what’s behind us was once before us.

One of the most difficult things to hear is the truth.

Not everything requires an announcement. Not every blessing needs a broadcast. Sometimes, the most divine manifestations come forth when you protect them from the eyes, opinions, and projections of others.

We all reach a point in our journeys where it feels like there's nowhere else for us to go. Either we feel like we've already accomplished all the things that we sought to accomplish, or we feel defeated by our attempts to reach that level of success that we believe and we know we deserve.

You were born to explore. To experience new ideas, unfamiliar spaces, diverse cultures, and deep, transformative love. To say “I’m not ready yet” is to place a veil over your purpose and your potential.

“If it doesn't make dollars, it doesn't make sense."

We’ve heard the saying, and in many ways, it's valid. But let’s go deeper.

True success is not just about what you’ve achieved — it’s about who stood beside you as you achieved it. It’s the community that poured into you when your cup was empty. It’s the loved ones who saw your light when the world overlooked you. It’s the ancestors who whispered strength into your spirit when you were close to giving up.

At the end of the day, your life is yours.
Your decisions are yours to make.
Your dreams are yours to build.
And the consequences — both the victories and the lessons — are yours to carry.

The question “Who are you?” — like the one posed by the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland — is not as simple as it seems. It’s not your name. It’s not your title. It’s not your résumé.

Letting go is not easy. It requires a shedding of dead weight—bad habits, poor thinking, toxic environments, and relationships that drain rather than nourish. We have to examine what no longer serves us and release it. And this release? It can feel like a fall. It can feel like loss. But it’s not destruction—it’s construction.

The past isn’t a place to get stuck. It’s a place to reclaim.
Because once you’ve found what was lost — you’ll move forward stronger, clearer, and more whole than ever before.

You are the author of your own story. You hold the pen. You decide what gets erased, what gets rewritten, and what gets emphasized in bold. Every day is your day. Every choice, every step, every word spoken or left unsaid—it belongs to you. And whether it ends in celebration or reflection, the responsibility is yours to hold, not someone else’s to define.