Shakita Dixon
Mourn no more

I don’t know about yall, but 2016 has been a nappy headed cabbage patch doll with one eye. This past week has been emotionally hard for me and I can only imagine the pain that my best friend and her siblings feel because they had to bury their mom two days before Christmas. I've been in a place where the words won't form, nothing makes sense but God is still God. It’s one thing to be on the painful end of having to say goodbye to a parent or loved one but it’s another thing to have to say good bye and then wonder “What do I do now?” Now that your loved one has gone on to be with God, what are you left here to do? How do you get there? I’ll tell you how. You grieve and move on.
Grieving isn’t something that people talk about. It’s something that we all will have to go through at some point in our lives. In my new book, “Deep Water” I dive into the subject of grief and break down the 5 stages of it. Yes, grief has 5 stages. No, you don’t have to go through all five of them at the same time and there is no timetable attached to it either. Grieving isn’t necessarily only attached to the death of a person. It can also be attached to a thing or a place: the loss of a marriage, long time job, a pet, moving far away, etc.
You cannot get around grieving. It is a must! In order to properly heal and move on, you have to grieve that which you have lost. But don’t get me wrong. I can’t tell you how long it will take for you to grieve but what I can tell you is, don’t stay there too long. Don’t allow your loss to become the place where you lay your head. Don’t make a bed there. Don’t allow it to become your identity. Hey David! Take off that sackcloth and ashes, clean yourself up and MOVE on! Everything in life has a purpose. Ecclesiastes told us that. There is a time to live and a time to die. This is for everything. But while we are living, let us live with a purpose and in purpose.
What is that thing that you are supposed to do? Where are you supposed to go? To those who have lost a loved one this year, don’t neglect to honor the memory and legacy of that which you have lost. While we are on this earth, we still have work to do and lives to change. Let us mourn 2016 and everything that has happened in this treacherous year but also, let us gear up for 2017 and take no prisoners. In the famous words of BJ Tha Chicago Kid, “If you want it you can come and get it!” This is the approach I have for 2017. Everything that I want (desire), I am going after it fervently. That means peace, love, freedom, deliverance, financial stability, etc. 2017 has all of that waiting for us. We just have to go and get it. I pray that you have the same approach.
Peace and Love,
Shakita