Living & Breathing #BlackGirlMagic: 5 Tips to Feeding a Better You

Being in your #BlackGirlMagic mindset can get daunting. Here are five tips
that can help you bask in all its glory. 

Master’s Degree. Check. Managerial Promotion. Check. Book Launch. Check. First Panel Premiere. Check.

Women of color are exceptional. Although these things can be done by all women, what makes women of color exceptional is that they can still fulfill these incredible accomplishments given the fact that they began their journey well behind the starting line.

Photo by Clarke Sanders on Unsplash

 

Being in your #BlackGirlMagic mindset can get daunting. Here are five tips that can help you bask in all its glory. 

I’m sure many other women of color can relate to the feeling of always needing to be at the tippy-top of your game in every aspect of your life.

Now, I have my theories of where this feeling stems from — historically being put down as an inferior (race), 2nd class citizenship as a woman (gender), the world hating you and wanting to be you at the same time (#blackgirlmagic), to name a few— but that’s a topic for a later blog. The greatest revenge is your personal success and development, and I want to help you make sure that you continue to revel in it.

 

Here are five tips that will help you stay on track to entertaining both your naysayers and supporters, without burning out:

 

1. Refresh and Rejuvenate

The mind and body work best when well rested. They both essentially ask for the same thing: the time that you are inactive. For the body, ensure that you get 8 hours of sleep — boosting the likelihood that you will fall into a REM sleep (when your body really gets to work at rejuvenating your cells) — leaving you refreshed and re-energized.

As for the mind — for increased productively and energy — make sure that you are taking the time to clear your thoughts, so much that you can actually hear your body work (i.e: your heartbeat). This state of mind can be accomplished via meditation or breathing practices.

 

On the flip side, activity is also recommended in an effort to improve blood circulation, which ultimately helps with your energy. First thing in the morning (after your coffee, tea, or smoothie, of course) or even right after you get in after a long commute, get your body moving and blood pumping through light workouts involving stretches, yoga, and/or Pilates. Check out one of my favorite videos from Fitness Blender, called Goodbye Stress. It’s all in the name. 

 

RELATED: 20 Trailblazing Black Women You Should Know 

 

In addition to what’s listed above, I personally love to start my day with affirmations. For those of you who aren’t familiar, they are statements that you read aloud or to yourself, which hold the sole purpose of reinforcing positive thinking and self-empowerment.

I like to start with my appreciation & gratefulness statements such as “I am thankful for my creativity, ambition, and strength,” then lead into my claims, including “I will become a published author.”

The goal is to ensure that your affirmations are in present or present future tense, unique to you and your situation, and of course positive.

 

When you’re feeling like your crown is too heavy or starting to slouch, just take a moment to read your affirmations to yourself and continue to speak your aspirations and self-worth into existence. I can co-sign behind the fact that when you get to the bottom of that list you will feel renewed, empowered, and strong.

 

I also listen to the “Affirmation Pod” podcast led by Josie Ong available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. When you are looking to delve into affirmations for a specific topic or need, like “Affirmations for Success and Focus at Work” or “Affirmations When You’re about to Freak Out and Lose It,” check out Josie’s podcasts!

 

2.  Get Organized

Sometimes we tend to feel down & out when we have so much going on in our lives and just can’t get a handle on everything. Things start slipping through the cracks, you start to push things further down your to-do list, and meetings start to become meetings about meetings with no direction because everyone is just trying to play catch-up.

 

It’s time to get organized. No, I do not mean for you to just create a new to-do list or just look at your existing list and re-prioritize and shuffle asks/items around. It’s simple; the reason you are feeling overwhelmed is that your brain storage is overflowing. If our brains worked like our bladders did, we would be in deep trouble.

 

So what do you do? Empty your brain. Sounds scary huh? I promise it’s not. Just carve out 10-15 minutes to just let your thoughts flow. For every “oh yeah, I gotta do that” or “did I do that” moment, capture it and write it down.

At the end of your session, go down your list and mark items as TRASH or KEEP. The trash items are most likely items that have been taking up space for a month or so and obviously aren’t that important or won’t get done anytime soon anyway. Get rid them.

Now, this is very important, you have to write “TRASH” so that your brain fully registers that you don’t need to do this anymore. You’re essentially telling your brain,  “You can stop storing it and pushing your version of Outlook’s annoying 15 minute calendar reminder.”  

 

3. Get Inspired

In order to stay in a state of encouragement and confidence, you have to do a status check and see what type of environment and energy you are exposing yourself to. Sometimes we have a tendency of slipping into a stagnant mindset because we put in so much work, experienced some results, and now feel like we can “coast.” It’s in this coasting phase that we tend to feel unaccomplished, uninspired, and unmotivated.

 

Get back in the grove by thinking about times that you felt you were thriving. During those times, you were most likely feeding your brain positivity and encouragement through taking advantage of every unscheduled time slot (like your morning commute).

 

Use that time to listen to podcasts that push you to want to cross things off of your to-do list. One of my favorites is the “EntreLeadership podcast” hosted by Ken Coleman, available on a Spotify, offering tips on leadership & business.

 

4.  Stay Energized

When we are super busy and running from one endeavor to the next, the first thing that tends to slip is our healthy eating habits, or just eating in general. In order to remain focused throughout your busy day, you have to make sure that you take the time to fuel your body with the nutrition that it needs to provide you with the energy that you need.

 

Make sure to eat breakfast, pack protein snacks, and healthy lunches. Coming from a coffee drinker addict, trust me when I tell you that substituting several cups of coffee for a healthy, energizing snack is the best practice to avoiding the 3 PM slump.

 

5. Celebrate You

Finally, the best way to revel in your magic is to acknowledge it. Go ahead and touch that crown on your head real quick. You are still standing. You are still here. You are beyond worthy.

 

How do you live and breathe Black Girl Magic? 

By Joanne Augustin  

Joanne Augustin is a Copywriter between the hours of 9am to 5pm and a Writer/Content Strategist every other hour in between. She is the founder of the blog Career.Ambition.Growth, a resource for those who are trying to strive towards those three areas. The blog provides practical insights made to be easily implemented and turned into a goal to work towards. Joanne and her writing tone is the equivalent of black coffee with no sugar added — she is bold and without fear when it comes to providing guidance and giving an unexaggerated, realistic perspective on whatever topic she is presenting.