Get Some Soul Food

As a kid I found myself in many situations at school where I was the butt of a joke or the focus of a group’s mocking.  That was the reality of being a shy overweight kid in school in the 90’s. 

Something that I ask myself regularly and something I try to teach through the content that I create is the idea of using the power of perspective to turn difficult situations into sources of strength.  When I was growing up there was a rap song that I loved called “Soul Food” by Atlanta Artists, Goodie Mob.  Being black and from the south, I understood what soul food was from the perspective of southern cooking but I also understood what it meant to have food for the soul.  

At that time I still believed in God and Christianity is very much a part of Southern Culture.  This was important at the time because belief in a higher power allowed me to create a narrative around the suffering that I was experiencing that essentially went something like, ‘The difficulty I face now is making me stronger for the challenges that lay ahead’.  Interpreting being bullied in this way helped me make sense of it and there was a belief that God was forging my character through this process.  

In the song part of the hook was:

“Everythang is for free,

As Good as it Can Be.

Come and Get your Soul Food”

There was my practical reality and the actions I was taking to change that reality and there was my perspective that helped create a mindset that fueled those actions.  Practically, I was an overweight kid, very timid, little to no athletic ability, and not the smartest in the world.  Practically, I was working out on my own regularly, I was studying on my own all the time, and I was doing my best to change my diet.  I had a ferocious commitment to putting forth my best effort in all three.  Anything that I thought might help fuel that process, I grabbed on to.  

Like the song says ‘Everythang is for free’.  When kids picked on me and called names and left me on the sidelines watching them play sports, it was for free.  When my mother and sister were abusive towards me as they struggled with huge problems of their own, it was for free.  Every summer I worked my ass off trying to lose weight, only to get heavier and have to go back to school and deal with the criticism and name calling all over again, it was for free.   Every bit of heartbreak and disappointment that I experienced growing up and even until this day, it’s for free.  Even though I don’t believe in God, I think the concept of a soul is helpful in visualizing how our mentality and character can be fed nutritious ‘soul food’ by shifting our perspective on painful experiences.  

Pain is free in life but our ability to shift our perspective on pain and see it as a character builder is a conscious choice that must be made daily.  Learn to love ‘soul food’.