The Only Way Out Is Through

 Written By: MrJackBrickhouse IG:@mrjackbrickhouse Twitter: GotMYShades Linkedin: Jack Brickhouse

Website: https://linktr.ee/JackbrickhouseEl

My Books: Cigarettes & Bad Decisions, The S*** I'd Wish I'd Known

                   Blind Drift: Something Like A Screenplay

Spiritual Guidance: www.rmaz.org

Life is a trip, literally! There are twists and turns that are predictable and others that seem to appear out of mid-air, but require an almost immediate reaction to prevent you from driving off of a cliff. Some people adapt and become quite skilled at navigating around life's journey. Others never adapt and struggle their entire life to make sense of the journey s/he has experienced. The more efficient life navigators realize that the only way to conqueror life's journey is to face your roadblocks head-on and figure out a way to get through them. This process is often more challenging, but at the end of the day, the energy spent going through a roadblock is usually much less than the energy spent by individuals who attempt to avoid their roadblocks at the last minute and find a way around them, only to return to the original problem.

What am I talking about? I'm talking about choosing pathways to solutions to your problems. Do you fear confrontation and seek to avoid it at any cost? Do you know you have an addiction, but choose to try and hide it or convince yourself you have control of it instead of conquering your demons? The list can go on & on. Why does the way you choose to resolve life's challenges matter? Well, it doesn't matter to me, but it should matter to you.

Challenges are often placed into your life's journey to assist you in elevating your spiritual existence. The events, or roadways, leading to your challenge are packed with useful informational signs that are preparing you to face your challenge. However, if you just fly down the road and never read the signs, you will likely be heading full speed ahead toward your next roadblock. Just as there are rules to the road in real-world driving, life has rules as well. What you think you are, is all that you really are. If the only way you see yourself is lacking, then you will lack in everything you do. Instead of reading the sign that says construction at exit 10, find an alternate route to avoid delays, you choose to ignore the sign and acknowledge the roadblock only when it appears in front of you. But, now it's too late! Instead of at least digesting the negative feelings your family may have about a certain person in your life, you choose to overlook all the red flags that

pop-up on your “life dashboard” and ride until the wheels fall off on your journey.

While detours can sometimes assist you in navigating around a roadblock, oftentimes the detour has just as much congestion as if you were just going through the roadblock. So one may spend much much more time and energy navigating the detour than just planning a contingent strategy at the first sign of a potential roadblock appearing. In short, challenges help you to level up. Roadblocks are often checkpoints to test your spiritual endurance and evaluate your readiness to receive your Divine Life's Blessing. The only way out of your life issues is through them. Are you your own roadblock in your journey of life?

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

 By: Hollow Tip

“Your hands on my hips pull me right back to you” and just like that, I have managed to successfully be distracted from the extreme limitations of this pandemic.  Jill’s sultry voice in “Crown Royal on Ice” causes me to close my eyes, lip singing the lyrics as if I wrote them myself. Never mind that it is week 9 of me being on house arrest from work, right now I am officially on vacation from COVID19.  

Music serves so many roles: the ultimate healer, the great equalizer after an intense debate, the preacher when you need a word, the therapist when you need to vent, the agitator when you don’t have liquid courage available & the motivator when you can't find the initiative.

The soundtrack for this love letter (to music) is none other than the IG Live series “Verzuz”:  Erykah Badu vs. Jill Scott – some other motivational vices may be present as well, but that is beside the point.

While many have struggled (or thrived) during the COVID19 pandemic some have been able to enjoy an hour of distraction with “Verzuz”.  People have prepared for each battle as if they are pre-gaming for a concert. At this point we will take any form of social interaction we can get.

Although I may have my reservations about social media I believe this series has allowed the public to congregate while maintaining a politically correct sense of social distance.  I have had days in which I have not wanted to get out of bed, days where I felt like the world’s most useless and unproductive person. Who was this person looking back at me in the mirror because I don’t recognize her at all…ohhh this is the pandemic version of yours truly. The one that feels sorry for herself, the one who is frustrated and sends out invitations to pity parties any chance she gets. I’m really not feeling her right now, but I have a scapegoat named Corona. Music this is your cue….

Besides the IG “Verzuz”, I also (reluctantly at first) participated in a 10 album (cover) challenge on social media. Usually I ignore any and all “tags” that invite me to participate in a challenge, but this time I chose to play along because…. what the hell else do I have to do? The challenge called for me to recall 10 albums that had a significant impact in my life with no requirement to provide a lengthy explanation. The brainstorming sessions allowed me to reminisce and realize how much music has truly played a role throughout my life. Some brought me out of my shell while attending a new school that was predominately white. Some introduced my eclectic side and allowed me to accept being “different”. Some brought out a sense of confidence, while others allowed me to embrace and address any grief I may have buried. For instance, a while ago I heard a particular song that immediately took me back to my mother’s wake. As the piano played I was transported to the front pew in the funeral home while family and friends internally battled whether to approach me or leave me with my thoughts. Even though this is not a pleasant event, I appreciate music’s ability to force me to revisit pivotal moments in my life. Overall, I completed the album challenge with even more appreciation for the strength of music.  

The CDC may not allow us to gather in groups exceeding a headcount of 10, but we can all connect through various melodies. Singing in unison as we think back to specific moments in time that reflect that distinctive emotion, verse, bridge or chorus.

As I sit here struggling to find a clever way to end this summary, Badu’s “Bag Lady” has entered the ring so I will just imagine you can hear it too and utilize it as my outro, so…. ”Pack light”.

Hoop Dreams

Hoop Dreams
By: Hollow Tip

If you scroll down your newsfeed (on your social media platform of choice) you will most likely see a post that is inspirational or at least attempting to be. While I usually will read the post passively, one, in particular, caught my eye. “Your salary is not a bribe to forget your dream…” – WOW – you would have thought this post was a walking slab of BBQ ribs the way I stopped in my tracks. I went so far as to screenshot the image just to make sure I could reference it at any point of the day. Why you ask?

Lately, I have been balancing my corporate and fitness jobs in hopes of stumbling upon a burning bush or some extravagant sign from beyond to guide me. While I am in no way a highly religious person, I do admire those individuals that have the courage to step out on faith.  Faith is defined as “complete trust or confidence in someone or something”. The keyword in this term is “complete”, not partial trust, not circumstantial trust – just complete trust (no questions asked). In my situation, having complete trust would be dedicating 100% of my time/efforts to my love of dance fitness. It would mean replacing the security of my corporate salary with the uncertainty of my dream’s outcome.  

“Your salary is not a bribe to forget your dreams” – easier said than done when you lack the complete trust in yourself to successfully execute. I consider myself to be a confident person, but I still have my doubts. As we get older we tend to look for guarantee with the option to truly love what you do. We often convince ourselves that we are truly happy, but equate the happiness to currency. Rarely stopping to consider that our bribe can easily turn into an investment. To make up for the internal punk in me not having the faith to go all “Jerry Mcguire”, I have deemed myself the acting mediator in a tense negotiation for happiness.

As a result, my solution/compromise has been to use my corporate security not as a bribe to forget my dreams, but as a catalyst to pursue my passion. Doing so will ensure that I am on the path to living the best version of my life. So why daydream when you can live it? Essentially, living your dream is all about perspective, while many view the corporate salary as the slam dunk, I prefer to view it as my alley-oop!

The Idea Of Success

Take a second and scroll through the four pictures to the left.  Fantasize and imagine what it would be like if that was your life. Look at that house! It is clearly located in an area where the weather is always warm as it is surrounded by palm trees. That pool looks gorgeous right? I'm sure you can picture throwing an epic party poolside. Now check out the bottom floor and notice the fleet of cars parked in the garage. I mean you could drive a different car every day for like two weeks!

So you have the mansion and the cars, whats next? The spouse! Look at these two! Looks like they are closing out a huge wedding complete with sparkles and possibly fireworks. Look at this guy, he is so excited, he is taking off his clothes already! Damn brother!! LOL

Alright, you survived the honeymoon and now it's time to get back to the office and get back to your reality! You kiss your new spouse goodbye and head into your corner office, recline back in your office chair, and gaze out the window of your corner office with floor to ceiling windows. Oh isn't life great?? I mean look at this guy! Sheesh!

 After completing all of your meetings at the office and heading home early for the day, I mean you are a boss so you do what you want, you decide you better check on the finances to make sure all of your purchases have cleared and you discover this is your balance. A cool million dollars! Look at you! Give yourself a pat on the back. You are the definition of Awesomeness!



Is this previously mentioned life attainable? Of course it is. Social media and television bombard us everyday with images of those who have attained this status of living. Whether its blasting Lebron James' new $150 million dollar contract in our faces or talking about who sits on top of the Forbes list of billionaires for the year, this idea of success is forced on you daily! As you listen to the radio or watch your favorite YouTube video, you are subjected to ads that make you feel bad for not being wealthy and attempting to perusade you into spending money so that you can learn how to be rich. The more of this type of media you are subjected to, the worse you begin to feel about yourself as you compare your life to your peers and celebrity lives.

The issue with lusting after this type of success is that while it is attainable, there is a large part of the storyline that is left out. The images that you are subjected to are the outcome of a ton of hard work and dedication. Let's take a look at some of the images that should accompany those previous images of success.

Let's start with the most obvious thing, Bills! Oh yes! Those bills haven't gone away, they simply multiplied and increased. That million dollar home comes with at least $100k in maintenance yearly. If this happens to be your salary of $200k to the left, that's half of your salary!

Now you are under pressure to meet deadlines at work and balance all the bills at home! What does that lead to? You get this shit to the left! He's stressed! She's stressed! Neither of them wants to talk to each other at this moment. As they sit here upset, they both reflect back to that $75k wedding they had in New Orleans. You decide that you can make everything better by just working more hours at the office to make more money. That solution is absolutely possible except you are not kicked back in that corner office anymore!

It looks a lot more like this guy. It's great you decided to take on more work because in the first meeting of the day, your CEO just informed you that you are in charge of the new account your company just landed. She informs you that your salary will increase by about $100k a year but you will also average about 90 hours a week because you will be traveling coast to coast twice a week! You have to pay the cost to be the boss!




So what's the moral of this story? Be yourself! Set your own goals and figure out what your idea of success is. If your dreams align with the millionaire life I mentioned above, go for it. Just be ready to endure the million dollar problems and issues that go with it. I'm not saying that to discourage you, I just want you to realistically prepare for what you are in for. As a Certified Business Mentor for the SCORE organization, I encounter many would-be entrepreneurs who dream big but are searching for a shortcut to achieving their definition of success. The journey of an entrepreneur is a difficult one to say the least. So either "Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable" or keep your day job and stay out of the way of the real hustlers of the world!