Commentary

COMMENTARY: No More New Year’s — New You

NNPA NEWSWIRE — When you really think about it, why do we give OTHERS control or authority over our self-worth? It’s ours. Being fully transparent, you won’t find your self-worth in a day, a week or even a year. The journey can be long and is often emotionally painful, but it is necessary!

Published

5 years ago

January 2, 2019

Oakland Post

Morgan A. Owens, NNPA Newswire Contributor

Let’s be really honest, how often do we neglect our New Year’s resolutions after January? Many times, we set resolutions but don’t know where to start. We get stuck and revert to old habits that aren’t helping us bloom into the best we can be.

Often, we are our own worst enemy, second guessing, self-doubt and self-sabotage can get in the way of our success. We can try to blame others for our failures but sometimes we need to take a good look in the mirror and realize it may be ourselves.

Here are some of my tips on how to get to a better New You, right now.

Break the Rules

How many times have we looked at job descriptions for jobs we really wanted, seen one qualification that we weren’t well-versed at, and told ourselves, “why even bother applying? I won’t get an interview.”

How many times have we worked with a co-worker or manager and asked ourselves, “How did they get this job? They aren’t qualified at all.”

Many of our counterparts go after these positions without hesitation – maybe it’s a result of their sense of privilege, but it’s also fearlessness.

Go for it. Make a list of everything that you haven’t accomplished because you felt you weren’t qualified, or that it wasn’t the right time to pursue it. Once you see an actual written listing of the missed opportunities and chances you passed up, it really puts things in perspective. Use the same list and pick something on it to go after, right now.

Self-Worth is Key

When you really think about it, why do we give OTHERS control or authority over our self-worth? It’s ours. Being fully transparent, you won’t find your self-worth in a day, a week or even a year. The journey can be long and is often emotionally painful, but it is necessary! I didn’t get the opportunities I wanted until I became a person that is ready to receive them.

While we are building our careers, taking care of our families, let’s remember our why and our worth.

Self-care is Not Selfish.

Learn to say “no.” As women, we tend to think we have to do it all but really, we don’t. We tend to take on other’s responsibilities and use them as the reason why we can’t pursue our own passions.

When I learned to start saying “no,” my life began to flourish.

You can’t build a career or business from an empty tank. You just can’t. Learn to balance your career duties and your personal time. Easier said than done, right?

If you don’t have a schedule or a daily plan, create one now. Career without self-care is a recipe for disaster.

How can you expect to be your best if your mind, body and soul aren’t in alignment?

You’re Your Biggest Investment

We’re quick to invest in material things that won’t help our personal growth, but not in the personal and/or professional development tools that will. Investments can take the form of both time and money.

When I started my weight loss journey I had to invest my time into getting healthy by working out. Carving out time in my week to dedicate to my personal fitness goals and health. That sometimes meant saying no to other things such as hanging out with friends.

Try investing in a course to further your career, a workshop to help build your business or even time devoted to accomplishing a major goal. Your investment will pay off and more!

Let Your Haters Fuel Your Success

There will always be someone who has something negative to say about every goal or move we make to better ourselves. That can be a huge deterrent on why we don’t pursue something. Often, that person isn’t ready to grow themselves, so they are afraid of you growing. Sometimes, it comes from those closest to us. That can be very instrumental in making us give up on our dreams.

You have to stay committed and believe in your vision even when others can’t fully see it yet. Use that energy to prove them wrong.

Don’t wait until 2019 to be a better you. Start now. You’ll be glad you did.

To further connect with me visit www.morganaowens.com or follow me on IG at miss_morgan86

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Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

1 day ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!

Oakland Post

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Commentary

Commentary: Republican Votes Are Threatening American Democracy

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We needed to know the blunt truth. The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

Published

2 days ago

April 16, 2024

Oakland Post

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening. That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

By Emil Guillermo

In many ways, it was great that the Iowa Caucuses were on the same day as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We needed to know the blunt truth.

The takeaway message after the Iowa Caucuses where Donald Trump finished more than 30 points in front of Florida Gov. De Santis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley boils down to this: Our democracy is threatened, for real.

And to save it will require all hands on deck.

It was strange for Iowans to caucus on MLK day. It had a self-cancelling effect. The day that honored America’s civil rights and anti-discrimination hero was negated by evening.

That’s when one of the least diverse states in the nation let the world know that white Americans absolutely love Donald Trump. No ifs, ands or buts.

No man is above the law? To the majority of his supporters, it seems Trump is.

It’s an anti-democracy loyalty that has spread like a political virus.

No matter what he does, Trump’s their guy. Trump received 51% of caucus-goers votes to beat Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who garnered 21.2%, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who got 19.1%.

The Asian flash in the pan Vivek Ramaswamy finished way behind and dropped out. Perhaps to get in the VP line. Don’t count on it.

According to CNN’s entrance polls, when caucus-goers were asked if they were a part of the “MAGA movement,” nearly half — 46% — said yes. More revealing: “Do you think Biden legitimately won in 2020?”

Only 29% said “yes.”

That means an overwhelming 66% said “no,” thus showing the deep roots in Iowa of the “Big Lie,” the belief in a falsehood that Trump was a victim of election theft.

Even more revealing and posing a direct threat to our democracy was the question of whether Trump was fit for the presidency, even if convicted of a crime.

Sixty-five percent said “yes.”

Who says that about anyone of color indicted on 91 criminal felony counts?

Would a BIPOC executive found liable for business fraud in civil court be given a pass?

How about a BIPOC person found liable for sexual assault?

Iowans have debased the phrase, “no man is above the law.” It’s a mindset that would vote in an American dictatorship.

Compare Iowa with voters in Asia last weekend. Taiwan rejected threats from authoritarian Beijing and elected pro-democracy Taiwanese vice president Lai Ching-te as its new president.

Meanwhile, in our country, which supposedly knows a thing or two about democracy, the Iowa caucuses show how Americans feel about authoritarianism.

Some Americans actually like it even more than the Constitution allows.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1.