The Two Books I read in 2024 that has greatly impacted my life and prepared me to WIN in 2025.
Another year has passed and I'm feeling very blessed to make it to 2025. I am so happy I get to share my reading journey on the blog. Every year I sink deeper into these books and I know I'm on the right path. Reading books and learning history has been such an essential part of my life for the last 10 years. I've learned and grown so much with each read, but there is still so much to know and understand. Knowledge is so infinite and each book has a different key that unlocks your mind.
The Groundings With My Brothers by Walter Rodney was a book club read that I read with Dr. Wade's book club at Anderson Bonner park. If you remember from my previous post, I joined Dr. Wade's book club in 2022. We often read historical books in historical places while discussing history and how that affects black culture today.
The location, Anderson Bonner Park, is significant because Mr. Bonner was a former enslaved man from Alabama. After gaining his freedom, Bonner married and then worked on a farm in the White Rock Creek Area. Bonner used his wealth to buy 60 acres of land. He began leasing his land to sharecroppers and bought more land with the money he earned. Mr. Bonner ended up owning over 2,000 acres of land in the North Dallas/Richardson area. He did all of this and never learned to read or write.
We gathered at Anderson Bonner Park to pay tributes to the legend himself while reading this phenomenal book by Walter Rodney.
Reading this book and learning this history came at the perfect time for me. I was dealing with some uncertainty in my career and I was trying to decide my next move.
I'd recently took a trip to Destin Florida, to be one with the ocean. I was finishing another great book at that time, "Skin of the Sea" by Natasha Bowen, and decided I needed to put my feet in the ocean. Due to that trip I missed the very first book club meeting but jumped right in and soon as I got back.
When I arrived at the 2nd book club meeting Dr. Wade had an amazing speaker talk about Grounding. We all took our shoes off and put our bare feet in the grass to become one with the earth. I smiled to myself in my mind thinking of how this was the perfect confirmation that this is where I needed to be. I drove 11 hours just the week before to put by body in the ocean. I needed to connect with nature.
The history in this book is perfect. My best take away was that our fight here in America for freedom and justice was not alone, other Afro Caribbean nations like Jamaica had to fight for their rights as well. Globally we are all connected. My favorite chapter in the book was chapter 4. It tells the history of Africa and where our people originated from. Throughout the book we are reminded of our greatness and what we can accomplish when we remember our roots and culture. After reading this book I was reminded that life was never promised to be easy. It doesn't matter if you can't read our write. It doesn't matter if we are being oppressed. It doesn't matter how things make us feel. We have to get up, show up, and do the work. It's not about one of us, it's about ALL of US being grounded together and rooted in this great knowledge of who we are. This book helped me to see the importance of community, building with others to make sure the next generation is GROUNDED.
The second book I read this year that surprisingly opened my mind was "WILL. "
Y'all this man has lived such an inspiring life! I read this one on my own in my quiet moments and not only did I get some tea but I got some motivation. Will Smith is one of the hardest working men in Hollywood but his work ethic was instilled in him by his father from a very young age. He took the basic knowledge of work ethic and applied it to his music and acting career. He is a BEAST!
My favorite part of this book is when he describes shooting the movie ALI in Africa. He had to train hard in order to get in the ring with real boxers and to look like the great Muhammed Ali. He talked about the people around him during this time. They all trained hard. They all ate what he ate to stay in shape. They didn't associate with anyone who was not working as hard as they were working to achieve the main goal.
He gave a funny anecdote about a friend he flew out to Africa to be his videographer and capture his Africa experience. Once his friend was there he ordered a box of snickers from home. Will's trainer wasn't having any of that around Will Smith while he was training to be Muhammed Ali. He told the friend " He don't need to be seein' yo ass chomping on no fucking candy bar! You either helpin', or you hurtin'. And if you not committed to helpin', then you need to take your ass the fuck home." Whew! That moment in the book really stuck with me. Often I have had goals for myself but I've been around the wrong people or in the wrong places and lost sight of those goals. When you have a mission to accomplish EVERYBODY around you has to support that mission or take their ass the fuck home!
He went on to discuss how his friend got into the best shape of his life while he was there. They called it "Fight Camp". EVERYBODY had to run 5 miles at 5am, work out in the gym, eat right, read, study, share new ideas, and EVERYBODY had to have DISCIPLINE. This whole book was full of GEMS but that part really spoke to me. Since then I've really tapped into having the right people in my circle and paying attention to rather they're helpin' or hurtin'. Now I'm beginning 2025 with one resolution, DISCIPLINE!
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