Ep. 27: Let the World Catch Up: Part 2 of 2

In Part 2 of our "Let the World Catch Up" episode, host Dana Tenille Weekes dives into the remaining three of five mindsets to meet those moments in life when you feel like you’re onto something that you can see (but most people can’t see) or you understand (but most people can’t understand). 

What You'll Settle Into

• The three remaining mindset shifts that are necessary to let the world catch up: (1) dispel the myth that everyone must understand you; (2) let go of the notion that you've got to be fully ready to get started (you are not all-knowing); and (3) do not create any more villains in your life narrative.
• Reflection prompts to help us identify and challenge dominant narratives that keep us caught up instead of letting the world catch up to us. 

Key Quotes / Insights

• You don’t need everyone in this world to understand you. If you’re thinking that everyone must understand, you’re starting with an impossibility.
• Everything becomes. But to become, to be in the process of becoming, you’ve got to start somewhere; even your beliefs must start from somewhere. First, you have a thought, then an idea, then an understanding, then a knowing, then a belief.
• When you always create a villain in your life narrative — the one that keeps you stuck in your job, the one that tamps down on every idea, the one where you always take their actions personally and with offense — you are not letting the world catch up to you.

PODCAST TEAM

Host, Dana Tenille Weekes

Producer, Najmah Ahmad 

Editor, Sagheer Muhammad

Content Manager, Annabelle Oh

If this episode feels like a message or mirror, feel free to share it with someone who is looking to think about rest differently. 

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Until next time, rest, my friends.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Here's the truth. Everything becomes. But to become, to be in the process of becoming, you have got to start somewhere. Even your beliefs must start from somewhere. First, you have a thought, then you have an idea, then you have an understanding, then you have a knowing, and then you have a belief. Are you exhausted? On the brink of burnout, or beyond? Losing yourself to work, the demands of loved ones, and this dizzy world? Hello, I'm Dana Taneil Weeks, and on the Rest of Us podcast, we hold conversations, challenge the norms of self-care, and laugh together to help you navigate your life where you embrace rest as liberation. Join us. Well, we're finishing up on the two-part episode, Let the World Catch Up. We release part one as our season two opener, yay. And for you all, my friends, this affirmation, Let the World Catch Up, is for those moments in life when you feel like you're onto something that you can see, but most people can't see, or that you can understand, but most people can't understand. In the last episode, I shared two of five mindsets needed, you really need to embrace this mantra of let the world catch up. The two were letting the world catch up calls for you to pull yourself out of proving mode. And the other was letting the world catch up calls for you to have a vision of what you want that is so, so real, you're living it consistently. In this episode, I go through the remaining three, the remaining three mindsets to help you embrace this mantra of let the world catch up. So if anything in this episode feels like a message or mirror, share it with someone who is looking to think about rest differently. Let's settle in. So the third mindset that I want to share with you today is letting the world catch up calls for you to dispel the myth that everyone, everyone must understand you. I have talked to too many people, including my friends, including my friends in the past, I don't know, six months, eight months, really over my adult life, who these are people who are living their lives at the pace of people who are not rooting for them, or they cannot see what my friends and others can see. Often, when I tell my friends to let the world catch up, their response to an idea they have or a hard decision they must make, often they express some worry about whether everyone will understand it or will get them. And often, I'm saying often a loss, but it's true, often I respond, why are you fixated on impossibilities? Here's the truth. Not everyone will understand what you are trying to do. And here's another truth. You don't need everyone in this world to understand you. You really don't. If you're thinking that everyone must understand, must understand you, you're starting, my friends, you're starting with an impossibility. If what you want to do is complex, or if what you want to do requires a a new approach to thinking, the question is not, can the world understand it? The question is, my friends, how can I make this real part of me, this real, real part of me exist in the world instead of only in my mind? Where is it living? Living outside your mind, or is it living within your mind? Is it trapped? Someone somewhere is searching for the real you, for your words, for your idea, your your thinking. Someone somewhere is searching for the real you because it is this very thing that will help them see themselves. You're that someone's person, if I could put it that way, you're that someone's person if you're willing to work at the pace of you instead of at the pace of an impossibility. So I think it'd be helpful to give you an example of what I'm talking about. So when I write poetry, I don't write for the world to understand my work. To me, that's an impossibility. First and foremost, I write to honor my own truths. I do that first and foremost, and I think that's why poetry is a liberating activity for me. I also believe that the words in my work will resonate with people who are seeking them. I don't question if there are people out there. I just let those things, let my poems, my work resonate with people seeking them. I don't always know who these folks are specifically. I really don't, but I do believe that in the billions of people existing on this round earth, my words must resonate with some of them. But if I am concerned or was concerned that I must write for everyone to understand my poetry, honestly, my friends, I am setting myself up to fail because again, again, that is an impossibility. With that said, I will also add that you don't need to dumb down your ideas to get more people to understand them. I believe that social media, the marketing world, education, societal norms and approaches, many societal norms and approaches, have shortened our attention spans. They have neglected nuanced, they they have taught us to learn towards a test, or they've prioritized instant gratification. I could go on and on, but I'm just giving you a few examples to explain where I'm going with this. So, yes, that's what I believe. I believe that oftentimes uh we are trained or conditioned to dumb down our ideas to get more people to understand them. But who I want to be is I want to be in the habit of giving human beings the space to think and process. I want to give human beings more credit. I want to give them so much more credit for what we're capable of and to tend to our cognitive nature. So with that said, I'll say, I'll say those who understand you and are willing to open themselves to understanding you, not your ego, but the you, though you rooted in humanity and values, are the folks with whom you may seek to build community. But you must you must first give them the invitation to join you, to be in community with you. And that invitation is this moving at the pace of you, my friends, and not at the pace of what people can't see, but you can, or what people can't understand, but you do. And while that can feel it can truly feel isolating at times, it is also enlivening, my friends. And that enlivening feeling will be the gravitational force, bringing new support systems and new resources into your life. And here's the thing, here's a secret I'll let you in on you will not miss what you had to let go of. To be enlivened by your own intention, which must be again rooted in your humanity and rooted in your values, is a rest mindset, my friends. So with that, my reflection prompt for this mindset is write your own intention and impact statement in 300 words or less. But what is the intent and impact that I want to make that is centered in my humanity and values, which will make me and possibly others feel liberated? And when you become fixated on the impossibility that everyone must understand, must understand before you can move forward. I want you to read this intention and impact statement to yourself. In fact, I don't want you to just read it in your mind. I want you to stand in front of a mirror and read it to yourself. Okay, so with that, we are going to move to the fourth mindset. And the fourth mindset is this letting the world catch up calls for you to let go of the notion that you've got to be fully ready to get started, that you've got to be all-knowing. Here's the truth everything becomes, but to become in the process of becoming, you have got to start somewhere. Even your beliefs must start from somewhere. First, you have a thought, then you have an idea, then you have an understanding, then you have a knowing, and then you have a belief. Things don't require all the answers for you to start, my friends. The answers come when you're in the process of doing, of creating. So let me say this differently. The answers are in the making because now you've given the process the opportunity to make the answers. I'll say that again. The answers are in the making because now you've given the process the opportunity to actually make the answers. Things, my friends, things cannot show themselves until they've matured to the point of being ready to show themselves. But it really is that things cannot show themselves until they've matured to the point of being ready to show themselves. For example, a seed cannot become a fully grown magnolia overnight, but the seed is meant to be a fully grown magnolia over time. At the time of the magnolia being the seed, do we know how many blooms it will have? Do we know how many branches, how many leaves? No, the answer is no. But it will become and have all those things when it does it at its own pace. Again, my friends, your journey is not about being all-knowing. It's not about having all the answers at the very moment that you start. You must have a strategy to a certain extent. Sure, yes. You must have a strategy to a certain extent if you want it, sure, yes. Do you need to have a plan? Okay. But what I, what I am trying to emphasize in this episode is this when you trust yourself more and more at each step, that you're capable of figuring out the next step, then the answers will come. This is because now the journey is truly yours. You can you can trust that you can meet a moment, you can meet your moment because you are deeply connected to your agency. And I want you to remember this. My short-form definition of rest is to be deeply connected to your agency. Meaning, when you show up in your humanity and you show up in your truth, you can make decisions and confront the truths of this world, and you can act from your own liberation. So, for this reflection prompt, I don't want you to even think about the first step you must take or you can take. I want you instead to reflect on why your default narrative is to start with an impossibility, that you must know everything before you get started. When I must let the world catch up, how can I show myself grace and continue to exercise my agency when what I have is first a thought, then an idea, then an understanding, then a knowing, and then a belief. I'll read it again. When I must let the world catch up, how can I show myself grace and trust to continue to exercise my agency when what I have is first a thought, then an idea, then an understanding, then a knowing, and then a belief. Okay, my friends. And so the fifth mindset that we will explore to embrace the mantra of letting the world catch up is this letting the world catch up calls for you not to create any more villains in your life narrative. I'm gonna repeat that. Letting the world catch up calls for you not to create any more villains in your life narratives. Now, don't get me, do not get me wrong. There are people on this planet who do not want to see many of us win and will even go so far as to create harm to keep many of us from feeling our own liberation. But for what I am talking about right now in this particular episode, I'm not talking about those folks when I'm talking about quote villain. What I am talking about is when we are obsessed with always having a villain in our life story to distract us from our holding ourselves accountable in our own lives. If we focus on having a villain, here's the thing we stall our pace. Because now we're moving at our obsession, we're moving at the pace of our obsession over this so-called villain. We aren't interested in letting the world catch up when we're in this obsession mode. But actually, what we are doing is ceding our power to these individuals, to these folks. Again, we're not moving in our direction, certainly not. But what we are doing is that we are stalled or we're moving in reverse with high knees, high knees. So let me say this again. When you always create a villain in your life narrative, the one that keeps you stuck in your job, the one that tams down on every idea you have, the one where you always take their actions personally and with offense, you are not letting the world catch up to you. You are on, you are your own hurdle, your own distraction, because you are consumed in your fear and living in someone else's world who doesn't. This this person certainly doesn't wake up every day thinking about how you can live in your liberation. So this reflection prompt is instead of jumping to the villain narrative, ask yourself, what is the role I am playing in my own suffering? And how do I need to start holding myself accountable? I'm going to read this reflection prompt one more time. Instead of jumping to the villain narrative, ask yourself, what is the role I am playing in my own suffering? And how do I need to start holding myself accountable? So, my friends, we are nearing the end of the episode. Part one and now part two, I have encouraged you to think about doing that thing where you'll just need to let the world catch up to you. You're not gonna wait for folks to see what you see or understand what you are understand. And in doing so, I shared five mindset shifts for you to embrace. In the first episode, so in part one, those mindset shifts were letting the world catch up to you calls for you to pull yourself out of proving mode. And the second one was letting the world catch up calls for you to have a vision of what you want that is so, so real. You're living it constantly. And then in part two in this episode, the three were letting the world catch up calls for you to dispel the myth that everyone must understand you. The next one was letting the world catch up calls for you to let go of the notion that you've got to be fully ready to get started, that you've got to be all knowing. And the last one was, the fifth one was letting the world catch up calls for you not to create any more villains in your life narrative. So, with that, my friends, my question is which one resonated most with you? I want you to say it out loud. Tell me so that I can hear it. Okay, thank you. Thank you for those who did. Okay, now that you've told me which one resonated with you, I want you to explore that mindset shift and engage with its reflection prompt. And as I shared on the latest episode, or the last episode, I should say, of the rest of us, I encourage you to start integrating, let the world catch up into your daily narrative. When you begin doubting or questioning who you are and certain decisions that you know people can't see, what you see or understand, what you understand, I want you to tell yourself, let the world catch up. Well, my friends, we are at the end of this episode. If anything in this episode felt like a message or mirror, share it with someone who is looking to think about rest differently. But before you go, or before we go, this is a gentle reminder to download and listen to our newest segment of The Rest of Us Podcast, which we're calling Poetic Interludes. When a new episode of The Rest of Us is released, we'll also release two five to seven minute episodes featuring poets reading a poem and sharing with you a reflection prompt on rest. Remember, each poetic interlude holds space, including reflection prompts, to remind us that creative expression is a portal to rest as liberation. This week, one poetic interlude episode will feature poet Kira Tucker reading Off on Holiday. The second poetic interlude episode will feature poet Jasmine Feheola reading My Response When the Instructor Prompes to craft a poem about flowers at a time like this. Until next time, rest, my friends. Thank you for listening to this episode and being a part of the rest of us community. My friends, let's build a community together. Here are some ways. Subscribe and rate the Rest of Us Podcast five stars or the top rating and leave a comment a good one. I'm grateful for you doing so. Follow us on Instagram at therestofust.podcast and join us on Substaff to read afterthoughts, where guests and I will share our thoughts on select episodes. Or visit therestofuspodcast.com for information on every episode, including reflection exercises, background on our guests, and of course, the poetic interlude. You can also sign up for the podcast club and the rest of us email list to stay in the know about upcoming virtual and in person events. Until next time, rest, my friends.