On scratching your own itch, What to do as a brown person in America, and Taking authority for your own life while acknowledging the system is flawed and you need to change it, but you also need to live in it
there is this mood sometimes
there is this feeling sometimes of jealously
and that is basically, well, you have people around you and you feel excluded or like you are missing something
and the person to whom you are feeling jealously, well, you get mad at them because you did not have any money all summer and they know that and now they are talking about money.
and you have to take a break from them.
so you click your red ruby slippers and are transported off into another world where you are on your OWN adventure.
but really, you should be happy. you know you should be happy for them. any success of a friend is good, potentially, because it means your network is stronger.
also having a boat is nice. having a friend with a boat is even nicer.
that is, having nice things and having a friend have nice things that you need people with, that is better.
being happy is better.
and the way to be happy is to realize that well, eventually you realize that it is in your control. at least you can start with realizing that it is in your responsibility. you may not be able to control everything your child does, but you are responsible for it.
you can blame genes or bright lights or the screen time or lack of screen time, but when it comes down to it, you are responsible.
for everything.
giving up responsibility is something that people want to do. they give up authority of their lives, and in their minds, they can give up responsibility of their lives.
The system is fucked, long live the system.
now here is the truth: some people have it easier than others. men easier than women. attractive easier than not. rich easier than not. white easier than not. tall easier than not. it is true. the system is messed up and it should change. but from a personal position, well, people in privelege need to realize that what they chalk up to their own hard work, dedication, and toil is more actually 'a huge lucky break' as warren buffet uses to describe his financial success.
what i mean to say is that the white, male, middle-management sales person who got their on his hard work, well, he is often less humble than warren buffet. why should he care? because he is not viewing the world correctly.
and what do i say to the other people? well i am one of the other people. and we need to change the system and figure the system out for ourselves. if all the jobs available to women are this maybe you can be the first that.
Some people win, study it, and do it in a way that 100% resonates with your ethics, fun, and effective. Do not do anything you do not want to do. Do what you need to do.
you need to figure out the system and the market.
and the beautiful thing is that, given the internet, the market does not care. who owns whole foods? they could be a racist and i doubt that people would really care. the white liberal moms might be agahst and it might make the news and there might be an anonymous petition dashed off, but at the end of the day, whoever that was either stays in their job, or changes job titles temporarily, or leaves with a luxious severance package. they still win.
so why don't you win?
you should win.
and with the internet, perhaps, you can win.
winning is about connecting with other peope like yourself. and for the first time, you have control over publishing, connecting, manufacturing, and marketing.
The Summary and the Point
you do not need red ruby slippers, you need the six year old laptop in front of you that you fixed so it would be functional for an entire decade, energy, time, and system to produce a volume of work.
you can be a full-stack business developer. a full-stack artist. you can be a filipino american artist. you can be an amboy artist who writes about productivity and the importance of working out and productivity for people with ADHD and addiction and who are high achievers and first generation immigrants.
and you can have an audience around that, and a business, and a rewarding, challenging, and engaging way of life that lets your happiness shine through and also, well, helps a ton of people.
you just need to put it together.