I now understand why life gets better after your 30s.

I was a young girl of about twelve years old in high school. I was teased a lot for my dark complexion. It wasn’t so much what I was eating but what was eating me. I was an emotional eater. Certain things about racism are just hard for me as a black woman but I think of the Tupac song “Keep your head up”. I have often gone back or returned to writing in my journal and writing poems. I know now it has been something I felt like I was able to heal from years of past hurts, things that really affected me as a child. I kept journals. I was Karima wheat and I was told I was too dark too black but I got some compliments too. I never made a big deal about it. Sometimes when I think of Northern racism I remember so many unexpected beautiful surprises in my 30s. It’s been my best decade yet. I know this was a part of God’s plan for me. My advice to people is don’t plan your life. Let yourself just take it one day at a time. There’s no need to worry about the future. God is in control.