Not now but right now, whether you’re black, white or brown, whether you’re 6’1” or 5’2”, donning naturally, course locs or proudly flaunting a lace front, no matter if you’re a sample size beauty or a plus size queen, I need you, at this moment, to hug and kiss the female you were yesterday, embrace and protect the ‘she’ you are today, and look forward to meeting and greeting the woman you’ll be tomorrow. Matter of fact, I’m declaring that you reflect on where you’ve been, decipher who you presently are and build a formidable path to where you need, and want, to be. Emphatically speaking, I’m requesting for you to pause and POSE!
Not now but right now, I want you to rise, look yourself in the mirror, pause and POSE! Left hand resting atop head, fingers dangling, head and eyes, straight on, right hand on hip, POSE! Who is this woman? What makes her laugh? Cry? What does she want? What can’t she live without? Switch POSE! Arms folded across chest, head slightly tilted upwards, eyes, suggestive. Now, who is this woman? Is she confident, fierce, relentless? Is she happy with her single self? Or awaiting, happily, an anniversary? Is she living her life as dreamt, as expected? No, is she really living? Ok, this is the last time, switch POSE! This round, I shan’t give any directions, guidelines, or snippets from rulebooks as this final positioning is completely up to you! So what will it be? Move! Strike it! Now! Not now but right now! POSE! Hold it, hold it, few more seconds, almost there, done!
In like fashion, allowing others to manipulate your path? Done! Feeding into the stereotypes of what a woman is and how we should all be and act like ‘video chicks?’ Done! Allowing past experiences to negatively infringe upon your present and presence? Done! I beckon you to pause and POSE as reflection and self-inspection is needed, is critical, even, for you to position yourselves where you aspire to be. Knowing who you are, as well as who you aren’t is major. So go ahead and rise, look at yourself, staring deeply into the reflection evident in the mirror and ask those tough questions—questions, you’d rather wrap inside aluminum foil, place into a Ziploc bag, conceal in a packing-tape-secured box, then bury under mounds and mounds of earth. Questions, tough questions, that need an answer, that deserve a response, that await a reply because if you don’t know, others will assume. They’ll assume you like to be called ‘such and such,’ and that you’re comfortable and content with your current status, that you don’t reach for and seek more. I encourage you to know thyself for when that moment arrives, when you are asked or challenged, simply pause and POSE! Move! Strike it! Now! Not now but right now! POSE! Hold it, hold it, few more seconds, almost there, done! Let them get a good look at who you are…..
