Hidden Hobbies: Singing in my bra

As a little girl, I was always into the creative arts. I took art, dance, did the morning announcements for my middle school for 3 years and my high school for one. My mother put me in tap dance...which was my least fav...drama and choir. I have found ways to use these in projects I do today from designing posters, assisting in music projects, hosting events & more. Of all the one I enjoy, the one I enjoy the most (although I may not be that great) still is singing. It's like a switch... a straight dose of drugs. As a teen, I would perform full-blown concerts in my room by pressing play to my Jennifer Lopez "On the 6" from beginning to end. The look on my classmates' faces when I would sign up for Karaoke in our choir class was priceless. LMAO!

After 2 kids, jobs, multiple moves, and life in general...I kinda had let it go. Not long ago, my son Johani downloaded some singing apps on his phone. I thought he was so cute trying to catch up to the beat and read the lyrics of songs he's never heard of. He eventually moved on to making beats and other things and I had forgotten about those apps...until last winter.

I always say you will always see me with at least one of my kids and if you don't...know I'm trying to make use of every minute I'm with you. I was home alone one day ( both kids in daycare and school) and decided in my mind that today was about me. See, usually, when I'm off or alone, I try to work on something to better myself, read something I been meaning to etc. but for some reason that day I said this to myself:

"Queen (my family nickname), today we are doing NOTHING!"

It was weird for the first hour as I sat and attempted to find a new show to watch or catch up on something else. After watching The Wendy Williams morning show, I started

perusing through my phone's app store and for some reason remembered those singing apps my son had. I found more than one which I was surprised and downloaded 3 apps. I tried the first one and was so amazed at how technology has changed. When I was younger and a teen, I had full-blown karaoke machines that I would record my own music and songs with my little keyboard. But now, there is a whole library that I can choose from, there are background vocals and different ways to sing all on my phone! I was so happy. I found a piece of happiness that I forgot I owned already. I was filled with life again.

It took me a bit playing around with it before I actually tried to post me singing. I haven't sung in front of people or seriously in forever and actually forgot how annoyingly loud my voice is ( I do host events and this helps me when speaking on the mic). I had to adjust MY ears first...LMAO. I kept hesitating to post me singing alone at first too. I would look for someone who was looking for a duet bc it's easier for me to try to feed off a better singer...and then I realized something: THERE ARE WORSE SINGER THAN ME WITH HUGE FOLLOWINGS!

I was spending so much time trying to sound "perfect" which was unrealistic, instead of just being my 15 yr old carefree self. Once I honed that power, I started singing and rapping and doing songs I only sang when I was alone and then something happened.

Not only was I feeling happy and enjoying myself, others enjoyed me enjoying it too.

I started getting followers and people complimenting me. See, what I failed to realize is that we are all just little kids in adult bodies. That we must keep that feeling of spontaneity, amusement, learning and being carefree like when we were children now as adults. Before we learned that the world is not what it seems, we had love, laughter, and freedom to express ourselves with no judgments. As adults, we say these people march to the beat of their own drum...and I always wanted to be a drummer ( did I mention I also wanted to do percussion!)

That day, the first day of me allowing myself to be free and on my own, I spent the entire day until my kids came home singing. Yes, I spent a whole day singing and rapping on a phone app. But the peace it gave me, the happiness it brought back, the engagement of people all over the world was priceless. I now do this once a week. I take my daughter to daycare & my son heads off to school. I warm up my Matcha Tea ( which we will talk about later) and do a couple of "me, me, me's" to sing my heart away. I can do it as soft or as loud as I want ( I have a basement in my house so I don't disturb the neighbors or ally cats LMAO)! It feels great, my body feels great and my overall happiness meter went up. an hour of goofy around with no reservation was the best thing I could do for my mood.

Look for those things that made you happy before life took over: painting, sculpting, writing etc. Whatever it is, find a way to incorporate that into your life to keep your sanity too! It has worked wonders for my personal mental health and I consider it #selfcare...and wanted to share that with you! Happiness is in your control and often not that far away. Here is a link to one of the song by Nancy Sinatra called "These Boots are Made for Walking"..like the throwback DJ's would say, an oldie but a goodie!

What is something that brings you joy? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. Like being social? Head over to IG or FB and let us know what you think by tagging me!

(all social media links on the homepage!)