👌🏾The Get Free Guide: Stop hiding yourself

Dearest y’all, 

Can we talk about the fact that it’s June already? What is time?!

But I’m GLAD it’s June, because it’s my birthday month, and I’ve been waiting to share this first official edition of The Get Free Guide! Say happy birthday to my Brain Baby!

So here’s the deal: I’m trying to get free - from fear, judgment, “the way things should be done”, drama and shenanigans - all of it. Every Friday - what I’m calling Freedom Fridays - I’ll slide into your DMs with something I’m doing, trying, reading or heard about - all in the name of freeing up life. I’ve heard that many of you are in the same boat, so tell me how you’re trying to get free and we’ll do this together. You can reach out here.

So here’s what’s on my mind: Raise your hand if you have a side hustle or a hobby that is a big piece of who you are…

I’m gonna be bold and say that almost everyone raised a hand, an eye brow or made the “yup that’s me” mouth of agreement…

The side hustle life has its origins in so many things: The desire to build a life of financial freedom, a monetary safety net in case “those people” decide to act up and cut off your email and give you a pink slip (side note: do people still get pink slips? Is this for real a thing?); a way to expand on your creative life, or simply build on the spark of an idea in your spare time. Whatever it is, it’s nothing to do with your day job.

OK, here’s another question for you: are you public with your side hustle? Do you give as much effort and visibility to your 5-9pm, as you do your 9-5? I ask because this has been a place I have not been free. Let me explain. 

YOU GOTTA PLAY BY THE RULES…

As a child of immigrants, I am the antithesis of a rule breaker. I am very rules compliant, even as a grown woman. My parents never had to worry about me climbing out of a window to go to the club at night, because I was aware of the world of trouble I’d be in if I did. I never touched drugs because if I died as a result, my parents would come find me in the afterlife and beat my ass. My folks are old school Caribbean people. IYKYK. And I pay my bills on time because I was taught that not doing so was the road to certain ruin.

“Joanne, what has any of this got to do with not hiding your side hustle?” I’m getting there, stay with me…

The compliance of my youth - no surprise - followed me into the workplace. Arriving on time, staying late, coming in with ideas, going above and beyond on assignments at the detriment of my time, my relationships, my health. Work was the center of pretty much everything because I had to keep a job, no matter what. If I didn’t, bad things would happen. Attach healthcare to a job and … yea. Follow. The. Rules = Safety. In. Life. 

So, even though I’ve always had side hustles, I’ve operated on a “separation of work and state” basis. Meaning, my day job NEVER knows about anything I do outside of office hours. However: Operating in this way is shortchanging my future - and my sanity. I’m not showing up fully because I’m hiding something. I’m hiding me.

THERE’S A BUT HERE

If we (I’m including you in this) never invest in OUR things and give them TIME and ATTENTION and AIR, how can we ever expect them to grow? Basic science says plants need sun, food and water to stand a chance at survival, but here we are STARVING ideas that could be something. Why? Because of fear. Newsflash, there is no such thing as job security any more. You might go into work in the morning and be out by lunchtime. Fear won’t save you.

So how do I (and really I mean WE) do things differently? Well, The Get Free Guide is a start - a way of documenting my attempts to get free in this next trip around the sun, and hearing how others do the same. Because here’s the thing. Our ideas and projects are never just for us. When we don’t do or say the things that are put on our hearts, those things don’t have a chance to exist. And if they don’t exist, someone else who needs it won’t get it. So then they won’t do their thing.

There is no domino effect - all the pieces stand side by side, solitary, never touching, waiting for circumstances to change in order to move. 

So, don’t hide your hustle. Don’t hide all of who you are. Putting your light out in the world could be what someone else needs. And we’re all we’ve got.

TAKE ACTION

✨ If you’ve got a hustle you’d like to share or a story about the day job/side hustle struggle, drop me a line. ✨

🚀Get Your Life: Things to read, listen to, enjoy🚀

📚What I’m reading: How We Heal: Alex Elle

🎧What’s on the pod: Our Ancestors Were Messy by Nichole Hill. This is the BEST piece of storytelling I’ve heard in a really long time. Listen and support!

🎵 Soundtrack for the week: Hazel Scott, Fantasy Pieces, Op. 3: II. Prelude in C Sharp Minor. The speed of her performance is incredible!

THANKS FOR READING!

If you got something out of this issue of The Get Free Guide, share the love with a friend who is also trying to get free. We don’t gatekeep around here!

See you next Friday!