September 8, 2024 - A Year's Worth of Reflection

 

September 8, 2024

As I leave my Dirk Nowitzki year (41), where I fought hard to win a championship in life, I am now entering my Jackie Robinson Era (42) where all barriers must crumble and fall.

The 40s have indeed been more than I could have even imagined.

From travelling across half the world to relocating to a new society to of course fulfilling my grandparents’ wildest dreams, this new decade is the best one ever!

On today, I reflect on the last 365 days and how they are shaping the next chapter of my life.

1.    On Friendship, Family, and Love

The last 12 months have been about letting go and letting God in my friendships circle, family ties, and love life.

God has sent me a new friend who has become like a brother in many ways in Edson. He and I share many of the same viewpoints and perspectives about development in the East African region.

God is also doing a thing within my immediate family. I have a front row seat as my mother lives out her reality with Mrs.RosesBabies, and it has been nothing short of amazing.

Rather it be watching from a distance with her doing what she loves, caring for young people via education and exposure or her calling or texting me to find a document I have resent to her 4 times.

I love how my relationship with my mother is evolving. We have cleared many hurdles together. This one is proving to top them all as we keep and grow our relationship strong 8,000 miles a part.

As I consider my son and his evolution as a man, I am also reminded of the legacy that is being created with him as the heir to the throne I am creating. More about that in a moment.

Another great thing I have relaxed and taken time to recognize over the past 12 months is how my peers are walking in their glory. Sure, social media provides a mere snapshot, and conversations are mostly limited to texts, but the highlights are telling.

My childhood friend, Brad is a whole Athletic Director, and my friend Benedicta from Ghana is travelling all over the United States using her talent and gift of worship. I remember when we first saw that Cardi B, “Coronavirus!” viral video together. So, it’s good to see friends and peers living in their greatness.

One thing I have to include in this portion of the writing about family, friends, and love is my new love, Solo. She is just right, and I pray God will continue pouring a fresh anointing on our time together.

2.    Speaking on my grand daughter, Royalty

Speaking of being “a whole,” Royalty made me a whole grandfather.

As I scrolled my iCloud reviewing the last 12 months, I was able to see her grow from crawling to walking to talking to laughing. So, what Royalty has done is help me see and understand legacy and bloodline even more so.

I am grateful that her growth is happening while I am finding love once more. It helps me see the end goal in real time. We all want to leave a lasting legacy for our people to remember us by, and I am no different.

3.    My travel itinerary, or lack thereof

These last 12 months, if I am keeping it real, I was grounded.

While back in the States, I know I would have made at least a quarterly flight to some part of the country, but my travel-game was on kindergarten level the last 12 months.

The only place I went was to Jinja, Uganda. Which…It’s not bad to be able to say my travel itinerary included a stop at the source of the Nile River. However, I know more flights and less feelings are coming over the next 12 months.

4.    My Students keep me hungry and curious

The reason my travel was not what was in years past is that I am so invested into my Students, the “Enterprisers.”

This year I created a new curriculum called, “Capacity Building for Maximum Results.” We also introduced a new program called, the Youth Innovation Challenge. This came as a direct result of noticing the demands in the East African region for more programming related to mind shifting for the youth.

New programs are good, but seeing my current and former students progress is where the real energy is.

Like Marc from the DR Congo who when he could not afford to have his literature published via a print on demand entity, he bought his own printer and began printing and binding his own books. Or Guillaine, also from DR Congo, a refugee who has persevered to the point that she has a store front for her hand bags, WoSWIFT.

Then there’s Albert and Barbara, two students who always showed up during extra training sessions. Each of them received substantial funding in these last 12 months where they created new jobs and or are expanding their businesses into new markets, introducing new products and services to the communities they serve.

This is why I do what I do, for these types of success stories.

Finally, there is the new relationship between my work and Next Generation Robotics club. To see young Ugandans coding and designing robotics projects is nothing short of a dream come true for me. So, there’s that as well.

5.    I’ve taken “for the culture” to a new level

Number five thing I see as I reflect and review the last 12 months is being immersed in a new culture.

I’ve been attending social events attempting to build community in a place where while everyone looks like me, but not many think like me.

This past year, I was able to attend the Mantle of Deborah Ugandan launch as well as a very intriguing, promising, well organized showcase experience with BNI in Kampala.

Being in a new culture has also shown me a new appreciation for nature.

I see so many bird types that I have to be able to consider myself a bird watcher at this time. Oh, and fresh food. I was already a Farm Patch, Farmers Market kind of guy, so being in Uganda has only push me further away from ever even thinking about entertaining processed food at the rate I once did. 

I know coming home there’s really no way to avoid them all together, but being in this culture means processed food are really not all that available unless you looking for that trouble.

6.    The last 12 months have also been very much so more reflective.

Self-reflection is part of my healing.

And I am not one of those people overly concerned about trying to “heal.” We all have trauma or things that did not go how we may have wanted them to go, but not everyone is head over heels about having deep intense conversations where we concentrate on what happened. 

Me, I do enjoy reflecting, so the last 12 months I have continued that trend by continuing to consciously recognize where I have been over the last 1-2 decades of my life, and also concentrating on who I now.

What kind of man I have I evolved into.

At the same time, reflecting has made it easier for me to continue to dream bigger and to cast new visions. The better I understand where I have been and who I am becoming, the easier it is to look at the future from a lens of expectations, while also living in the moment.

Reflection creates an amazing balance. You should try it.

Speaking of living in the moment, reflecting is helping me view this moment in time from a perspective of what it  might mean in the grand scheme of history.

For example, what happened to Donald Trump in Ohio is history.

I paid close attention to that and took mental notes knowing that is a moment that my grand children will learn about in school some day.

We are certainly living in historical times (as are all times), and it is important that we remain present in these moments, because I know now better than ever, my actions too are shaping history.

This perspective also helps me become a better teacher.

I am reminded of what I learned about Confucius while in Hanoi, Vietnam. Confucius would always first help his students think a certain way or understand their life from a clearer lens, then he would help them learn a skill; it was almost like he was teaching them how to think.

This is what SHIFT is all about.  

From the work with SHIFT, more features and spotlights, and media Interviews are coming my way. While I enjoy sharing my story, …being ‘too known’ is not something I strive for.

That did not stop me from doing a few interviews these past 12 months including Black Wall Street Online and being the guest in February for Texas A&M University’s Former Student spotlight as part of a Black Alumni program. 

Also, I have to give credit to Zuckerberg and crew for the FB Memories. Mine remind me of not only years past, but also how in alignment I am with my true self. It always gives me pleasure to see a memory from 12 years ago that aligns with what I am doing and how I am living now. It’s powerful and a promising sign of progress. 

7.I am a CREATOR

While Facebook can remind me of my strong alignment with my mission, it remains on my shoulders to continue creating my own reality.

This is exactly what I am doing with the SHIFT Forward Centers. This beautiful story began with some Zoom sessions sharing the SHIFT pillars and then about six months ago, I announced that I would be leading a mixed-use development project to align with the digital and theoretical work of SHIFT.

So watch and join me as I create new experiences, friendships, and attract the necessary people, places, and things to make what I see in my mind appear in the tangible, physical world.

It is truly heaven on earth to take control of your mind and guide it towards who and what you want to be. “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is.”

One of the ways I have seen reality created is through some of my friends and co-creators.

Robinah and Julius are Ugandan leaders in their own right. They each have offered me a spotlight multiple times over the last 12 months as part of their own dreams turn reality.

With their help, I have been able to present SHIFT at the Trans Africa Investment Summit, Jinja International Investment Summit, Entebbe International Business Summit, and the Kampala International Business Summit. I had an inside track in watching the visionaries behind these events take these ideas from their head and bring people together for a common cause in the real world.

And again, I am grateful to have been included on each of the agendas for these events to share my own personal vision of growth and triumph.

8.    Shattering glass ceiling and constructing new doors of opportunity

What this type of creativity has done for me is help build doors of opportunity.

 The diligent man or woman is likely familiar with the approach that if opportunity does not knock, you are to build your own door. This is what I have continued doing over the last 12 months.

When I scroll my phone, my email, my WhatsApp or talk to just about anyone, I can tell even by the response I get from people how much progress I am making.

On a day like today, I pause to smell the roses of progress, and I say Thank You God. If I had 1,000 tongues, I could not express my gratitude in this season enough.

9.    My hero’s journey is an evolving storyline of which I direct

For me, what gratitude is doing in my life is expediting my evolution as a man. I told my aunt maybe six months ago, I do not even remember who I used to be. I am unsure if she understood that statement, because for some it could be taken as a bad thing, meaning I may have picked up some not too moral or unethical habits, but what I mean by that is I am growing, learning, and living. 

I am living with my eyes open. I am doing my best to out grow habits that no longer serve me. I am asking God to strengthen me where I am weak and lift me up where I am torn down. If I chose to stop evolving, it would not end well for me, because I am as we like to say, ”outside for real.”

What my evolution as a man means to me is that I am developing mental toughness, so I do not attack myself. I could pause and fall into pressure or anxiety, but my growth allows me to be protected from even my own thoughts of inferiority, lack, or not rising to meet the adversity that always stands between me and my next milestone.

Evolving even just over the last 12 months made me remain open to new experiences that stretch my mind. My mind is so stretched from what I have seen that it could never be the same. This also feeds into the above notion that, “I hardly remember who I once was.”

Although I am reminded of the great poet Shawn Carter who said, “You can try to change, but that’s just the top layer…” So for me evolving is about shedding old dead skin and growing new skin for the now and the road ahead. The only way to continue growing is to continue living.

And that living is what is forcing me to grow tall enough to wear the crown over my head

10.                  When my money got funny, it was no laughing matter

The most glaring thing about my life over the last 12 months is that I ran out of money and I had to keep figuring things out. Since 2021 when I first discovered East Africa in the flesh, I have been all in, investing my entire being; my time, my money, my knowledge, my everything for what I believe in, which is SHIFT Enterprise Academy. And this is what is encompassed within so much about the legacy building, mindset shifting, and evolution I am mentioning here.

To me, this work is a calling and I am the first person to try out everything I teach.

The past 12 months I have began actually pitching other people on my ideas so I can secure additional resources to continue telling this amazing story. A story about impacting the lives of those willing minds who want to become the best version of themselves in their personal and professional lives. It has tested my ability as a deal maker.

I have been an entrepreneur since 2006 when I made my first money on my own volition without a W-2. Since then, I have made many many deals. This new season and especially with low funds is making me become an even great deal maker. It is testing every inch of my being growing through this lean season. What I do know is that I am planting many many seeds, so the laws of nature say that I must reap a harvest. So, still I rise.

Even in all this, I am reminded of the people who I pitched in years past like Ronnie Jackson, former Youth and Neighborhood Director at the City of Bryan. The late Ronnie Jackson agreed to provide my first paid opportunity with SHIFT. Before that at a pitch competition, Mr. Roy Perry saw something in me and provided me with seed money to even begin SHIFT as we know it. Then Dr. Butler – Purry whom I pitched with my work ethic and my story while at Texas A&M, ensured I was provided an opportunity to finish something I started over 9 years prior.

While these events are not from the last 12 months, they have shown me what representation means. All of these people are African Americans who were in a position to make a difference in the life of an ambitious African American.

Maybe they each saw themselves in me, but their good deeds are part of what has allowed the last 12 months to be what they were, so for that I have to always pay homage and pay it forward. I have also attempted to do that.

In this season, where I represent so much to so many people both my fellow African Americans, those who want to visit, do business, or invest in Africa, but also my East African brothers and sisters who see me as the person who represents what their future can be.

What I know for sure is that miracles like feeding 5,000 people with two fish and a loaf of bread is indeed possible, because you would be utterly shocked to know how I have been able to accomplish half of what I have accomplished the last 3 years, the last 12 months, the last 3 months, with such a limited budget. So I thank God.

Finally, these last 12 months have officially put me in the group of people who truly enjoy sunsets and sunrises.

In the end, this is how simple this earthly experience can be.

 

To more life,

Ethan

September 8, 2024

9:43am