What you feed grows — what you starve dies🥗
So Summers over, and we’re changing up the decor in this room for Fall (DJ queue Drake’s interlude).
🛋️ This summer I…
didn’t become a homeowner but I did finish furnishing my high-rise apartment. Now, I get to watch the sunset every evening. It’s giving luxury. I didn't splurge on a wardrobe, but I did pay off my student loans (thank you God🥹). It's such an incredible feeling to finally embrace a debt-free life.
I didn’t lose a ton of weight but I maintained consistency at the gym and in my Pilates classes week after week. I didn’t get a bunch a new followers, but I invested my time in nurturing and growing my longstanding friendships. These relationships, some spanning 5 to 10 years, have deepened in ways I couldn’t have imagined.
This marked my very first summer spent inside, living my best homebody life — I didn’t travel to any exotic new countries. Instead, I stayed in Los Angeles and checked off most of my 2023 goals. It gave me a chance to read new books, keep up with my favorite mind stimulating podcasts, hydrate my skinnn. In all honesty, it's safe to declare that I was well-fed throughout the entire summer – my mind, skin, and stomach (2024 six pack loading). From home-cooked Nigerian dishes to new discoveries in the aisles of Trader Joe's, I have absolutely zero complaints.
🍜 More than a meal
If you know me forreal, then you know that lunch takes center stage in my daily routine. I’ve been intermittent fasting all summer, abstaining from food until the clock strikes 1 or 2 PM to keep my diet in check. But here’s the thing about fasting, It's not just about when I finally break my fast, but what I choose to feed my body with.
Now, if you think we're still discussing food, it's time to shift gears.
Back in my college days, I heard a pastor say “What you feed grows, and what you starve dies.” Those words have served as a guiding light that has shaped my approach to life ever since.
It's incredibly easy to feed things that are detrimental to our overall well-being, like fear, doubt, our past, the societal expectations echoed through social media, or thoughts that stray from our true purpose. In the process, we unintentionally nurture anxiety and insecurities.
This kind of sustenance only serves to amplify those negative forces in our lives. But what I've come to discover is that we don't have to accept whatever life serves us. We have the power to decline the “meal”, to deliberately choose to let it wither away, to starve the elements that no longer serve us, paving the way for a more nourishing and empowering path ahead.
✨Mastering the Menu
Recently, I’ve been participating in activities that inch me closer to the woman I’m called to be. In the Christianese language it's often described as "my walk with Christ." But let's break that down into practical terms.
For me, it involves:
📝 writing affirmations and setting them as my iPhone wallpaper or placing them strategically on my bedroom mirror—these serve as daily reminders of my aspirations.
đź“– carving out moments to read, study, and highlight scriptures in my physical Bible, focusing on who God says I am.
đź«‚ surrounding myself with people who inspire me to be the best version of myself in different areas of my life.
In essence, being well-fed is about deliberately feeding the right things so they can grow.
🍽️ Dining on purpose
In the spirit of intentionality with our diet, here's some food for thought as we step into the new season ahead — take what serves you best.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” John 11:40
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control 2 Timothy 1:7
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:24
As we begin Q4 (where is this year racing to!?), my hope for all of us is that we dedicate our time and energy to nourishing what truly matters to us—those actions that bring us closer to our purpose, allowing our true selves to flourish.
〰T.
