Monday Motivation | How to Carry the Load
I spent last week in North Carolina on a top-secret Black farm, surrounded by 15 other Black women leaders, each learning how to carry the load without letting it break them. We talked about land, power, legacy, and what it takes to show up in the work as healed, whole women.
We took our shoes off and walked the indigenous land, careful not to trod on the pasture of trees that we were told held an unmarked grave.
While there, I picked strawberries with a young master farmer named Genesis who told me that she and her mother were big fans of Black History Bootcamp. She mentioned by name the Mamie Till episode. I mentioned it to Morgan that same day, as we walked and talked about the spectacular life of Alice Coltrane live on Bootcamp.
If you tune in to Bootcamp then you know that the next day Alice Coltrane’s family reached out with words of support and to let us know they had been listening live. It was just one of the many confirmations from the week that told me to keep going, even though at times I was walking while not feeling physically well. I’ve shared on Bootcamp and on IG that I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism. It’s been a journey to make my body feel like a home again. I have felt disconnected, untethered, panicked, and sad. But something about last week’s sequence of events, the farm, Morgan’s companionship on the line, the love notes that pour in after each episode, all of it has kept me going.
The week felt very much like a soothing embrace from the ancestors. I was walking through the streets of Durham, walking through history with women from all over tuning in. I was walking for my own healing.
I also got to spend some time with my childhood friend, Joi. I still put “best” in front of her title, even though she didn’t know GirlTrek even had a podcast. She has never been active and has only walked with me once, two years ago when she was visiting DC. That’s why I was shocked when she told me that on that walk she met a woman who was walking slowly with her in the back and that they exchanged numbers and have been talking ever since that day. She told me the woman is a good friend now. That one walk, her only ever GirlTrek walk, was the catalyst for their friendship. As she told me the story, I thanked God. Somehow, someway, this movement will meet every woman where she is at, and if given an opportunity, it will sweep her up in the sisterhood. My best friend, from childhood, who didn’t know anything about a podcast, or 2 million downloads, who doesn’t own a GirlTrek shirt, did know and got to experience, the fact that you can walk into GirlTrek as a stranger, but you are sure to leave as a friend.
I wanted this sisterhood for her so badly, I am so glad that one of you let her in.
And, oh, how I want this for every woman reading this.
You need to be loved and cared for. You need a sister to walk with you.
It’s why I am so grateful that Morgan recorded this beautiful, 15-minute, training trek for all of the new women who will be out this coming Saturday hosting Welcome Walks. If you don’t do anything else this week, your assignment before you hit the pavement on Saturday is to download and listen. It’s all of your questions answered, directly by Morgan, in a beautiful format, while she is out on a walk.
After you are finished, make sure you drop a pin on the GirlTrek map and let us know where you will be walking this Saturday. Need some tips? Here’s how to post your walk and our FAQ. It’s our biggest call to action of the year. Help us let Black women know they are welcome here.
Thank you to every woman who has already answered the call. We see your blue shirts. We see your #girltrek post. We see you.
With love,
Vanessa
Special Note: This May GirlTrek honored those women who have stood as mothers, whether biological or not, aunty or mom, present or moved on with 54 miles and Mamathon photo shoots. The love and radical welcome were so clear on Mother's Day weekend. I hope you feel all that beautiful energy.
