The Muse paid me a 5-hour visit ✨

Read time: 6 min 25 sec

Whatup Reader!

I’m gonna do a little reverse cross-posting for today’s Maestro Mail and bring Instagram content over here and let it serve as the main course.

Every now and again I’ll take emails and pull them over to the ‘Gram, laid out as a carousel post, with an invite to join the email list at the end.

I’m throwing down an Uno reverse this week and pulling from IG because last Wednesday I shared a carousel post that I’m INCREDIBLY proud of (if you already checked it out, THANK YOU), and I want to share it with my Maestro Mail family.

Since the election I’ve been consistent with this weekly email and my podcast, but Instagram has been sporadic.

I’ve chosen to show up when I want, how I want, and my posts have been pretty singular and narrow in focus, never sharing the full extent of where my head and heart were at.

I didn’t have the words.

Until last Wednesday.

The Muse decided to pay me a visit and graciously held my hand for 5 hours. Good things take time.

For those of you listening around the edges, let this be the permission to don’t need to cross-post your content AND to accept the reality that creating content takes tiiiiiiiime.

What follows is what I shared in quite possibly my favorite post I’ve ever created. I know this is a longer email, so thank you in advance for taking the time to read it:

Ya’ll, you think I want to be posting “political” content?

Absofuckinglutely not.

I would much rather be making dope Reels in my yard that utilize jump cuts and encourage people to take up space and do the thing.

Technically, I guess I’m still encouraging people to take up space and do the thing, but now it’s to fight fascism and authoritarianism and all of the other absolutely horrendous things we’re currently witnessing.

But, no, I don’t want to be posting about it. Not one bit.

I also don’t have any other choice.

The same way I couldn’t help but talk about biomechanics, the same way I couldn’t help but talk about using Instagram for online business, the same way I couldn’t help but talk about MOAR you, I can’t help but talk about the political happenings of present day.

You may not like this, and you are 100% are entitled to that opinion.

And THAT right there, your right to have an opinion that is different than mine, your right to live a life that is different than mine, is why I can’t help but talk about the political happenings of present day. It’s also why I’ve also become besties with the paradox of tolerance. More on that another day. For now, feel free to google it.

For no reason at all (insert sarcasm) I’ve been consuming a lot of Octavia Butler’s work lately, most notably Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. In Parable of the Sower, one of the characters states, “It is better to teach people than to scare them.”

I’m not an historian, or a political scientist, or an economist, but I can teach you about my beliefs. I can teach you about my intent in speaking up, speaking out, and posting this anti-Trump, anti-Elon, anti-authoritarianism, anti-fascism, anti-oligarchy, anti-whatever-other-terrible-bullshit-is-being-done-right-now content that I absolutely don’t want to be posting.

To start off, I don’t want to be right. That is not my main motive for posting. This isn’t a gotcha account. I don’t get my rocks off by play Nostradamus and then making content that says, “I told you so.” Why in the actual hell would I want to be right about democracy being dismantled and the impending takeover by a technofascist regime? I wear glasses, friends. I’m not trying to be in these streets fighting. I am no Sarah Connor.

I’m not under any kind of impression that the government, or any political figure for that matter, is going to save me. I am not anti-change, I simply believe that how we enact change greatly matters.

I’m not in search of a “soft” life, I’m in search of a joy-filled life. I want the space and time to truly experience life and pursue creative endeavors. I want the space and time to truly experience and enjoy the existence of others.

I believe that humans, when left to their own devices (aka when removed from the capitalism machine), are not lazy. Far from it. They are INCREDIBLY passionate. They will work obsessively to breathe life into the idea that is in their head. They will work through the night to put the finishing touches on something they built with their own two hands. They will forego food, and sleep, and all the creature comforts, often times without even noticing, because they have been seduced by the Muse.

I am a business owner who firmly believes that the opposite of scarcity isn’t abundance, it’s enough. (Shoutout to Jessie Rard for that one. 🧡) This is what I teach my clients, this is what I say in my content, and this is the lens through which I view capitalism and the billionaires that it produces.

I am Black. I am Puerto Rican. I am gay. So very gay. I am female (though I do be feeling meh about such labels for me personally). I am also a Georgetown University graduate. I am a former Division 1 soccer player. I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy with the student loans to prove it. I run a mult-6-figure business and live in an affluent beach town in SoCal. I’m 40 years old, and aside from these glass knees, I’m super healthy. I have a loving girlfriend, a big dog that was part of the package deal, a super handsome cat, zero human kids, and honestly, the biggest stress for me most days is the fact that I’m only 5’6 but love playing beach volleyball.

I say all of this to provide context, convey my relative privilege, and lay my cards on the table.

In some ways, I am in the crosshairs of current administration. In other ways, I have extreme privilege and my day-to-day will likely not be drastically affected overnight. My two pennies on this:

When you have more than you need, build a bigger table, not a higher wall.
It doesn’t have to happen to me for it to matter to me.

I will also say that my business is HUGELY dependent on social media, and sharing political content, well, it ain’t the best for business (as viewed through the conventional lens of business), but, for me, it’s the only way for me to do business. As much as I honestly don’t want to be sharing political/political-adjacent content, I can’t not.

To be clear, this is not an apology for a change in content. Ya’ll already know I ain’t about that life. The same way I’ve taught you that there is no need to apologize when you take a break from social media, there is no need to apologize when you take a different direction on social media. (Honestly, this isn’t really a completely new direction, but you know what I’m saying.)

I don’t know what said content will even look like, and I’m not necessarily thrilled to make it, but it is necessary. If it ain’t for you, you’re welcome to unfollow. If it makes you upset or if you’re angry that I’m not speaking out about a cause that matters to you, please cherish the fact that you still have the right to publicly express your opinion and perhaps consider taking action to protect that right.

Finally, I’d like to wrap this up by sharing words from Mo Husseini (@mohu) that perfectly capture my feelings and my response to those who come at me with anger or whataboutisms:

The nice thing about being ethically and morally consistent, is that I don’t have to check anyone’s nationality or religion or skin color or name before deciding if something is good or bad. It’s horrible. I mourn all the dead. Palestinian, Israeli, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. I condemn all the inhumanity and cruelty and hatred.

Thank you for reading.

The revolution will be Maestrofied.

Happy Tuesday, Reader.

Maestro out.

Do the thing.