Hello Y’all!! Its been a minute and I am so glad to be back. Walking into work Monday morning, I have to say that whoever invented eye drops deserves a Nobel prize in my opinion. Having bloodshot eyes from trying to sleep in a crammed position on a plane for several hours non-stop is not one of my best looks. And of course, I look like I spent the last 72 hours partying it up which unfortunately was the exact opposite.

Now I have been a Star Trek – Next Generation super fan for a very long time – dating back to the early to mid 1990’s. My favorite characters were: Captain Picard, Commander Data (the android), Commander Riker, the blind guy with the super cool eye wear, Lieut. Wolf (the Cling-on) and a few others. This doesn’t imply that I would be caught on any given day wearing any costumes or attending any festivals – bored to tears would be an understatement 😦 nevertheless,  I love space fiction.

Star Trek – Next Generation had a lot of structure to it which is one of the reasons I loved the show. We had the Federation – this was the universal government that owned a fleet of spaceships that explored the galaxy. The Enterprise – a space ship that was one of the spacecrafts that went on many voyages into unknown worlds. This is what the story line or premise for the series is based on. During such expeditions, one of the things I enjoyed seeing was the fact that whenever the Enterprise would encounter an unknown species or spacecraft that appeared hostile even after several attempts to hail or establish some form of communication; the Captain would give the order to have the ‘shields up’. This was a magnetic field of sorts that enveloped and protected the Enterprise from the impact of an assault thereby ensuring the safety of the Bridge (the control room) and the crew on-board.

A shield is an object that resists or protects a person or thing from outside influence and boy do I see a parallel even as it relates to real life. A shield is not influence specific meaning: It can protect you from both good and bad external influences. The question now is:

What Do You Have Your Shields Up Against?

External influence is oftentimes a barometer showing where we’re at in life. Sometimes when we strive to succeed or do the right thing is often when we get the most push back as opposed to laying down, being silent or playing dead… literally. The ideal is to put our shield down for those things that are healthy and positive; those things that stretch us to be and do better in our lives as a whole. We should have our shields up against unhealthy, toxic or negative things that attempt to put us down or scare us back into the shadows of conformity and complacency.

We can choose to live out our lives in an assembly line like existence – but only if we want to. A life where we toe the line – like everyone else. We live like everyone else and sad to say ‘die like everyone else.’ One thing we all have to realize (according to a colleague of mine) is: None of us is getting out of here (Planet Earth) alive so we need to make the best use of life while we still have it. 😐 😀

Everyone and I mean E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E gets beat down by experiences in life and sometimes so much so that some  of us no longer feel the need to get back up or feel we have any fight left in us. I am fortunate to have older friends, some who talk about themselves in past tense as if their time was up even though they are still living. All their dreams are stored up in nice little boxes they keep along with other items of when they really dared to live – and dared to try; whether it was a business, a hobby or an attempt at something they had a passion for.

But, I have made up my mind to grow into one of those old people you come across every now and then who still have the sparkle in their eyes and are excited about new adventures and new ways of thinking and are still not afraid to get their hands dirty trying out something new.  So feel free to share with me in what areas  you have your shields up against and in what areas you need to let in more positivity? It feels awesome to be back guys. Thank you for the emails and comments 😀 Until I come your way again next time, I remain

Periwinkle Starr