A Shepherd’s reclaimed courage.

My mom always told me as a kid, when life serves you lemons, make lemonade. Even Beyoncé took her troubles and created a hit album from her trials and tribulations. Both of these inspiring women were setting me up to embrace the courage I never knew I had.

With that being said, I’ve taken a moment to find some joy in recognizing my life within the retrograde we all are experiencing.

Since I don’t have the luxury to quit living or stop being human, I can’t and will not stop the progress I’ve made during my journey thus far in life and leather.

However, this phase has shown me what I need to do to navigate differently, with the information and wisdom I have been provided.

It shows me who is who, by revealing how quickly people jump on bandwagons without knowing the facts or the truth in many situations.

All because they get an opportunity to show you who and what they truly are.

It shows me how many wolves have been in full sheep when I was deceived into thinking they were in full cow.

I consent to allow them the opportunity to peel back their leather skin, so I can truly see each and every one of them for who they pretended to be all along.

The people in my journey who took their time to truly get to know me, are the ones who acknowledge what I’ve done with my time within the community, they are the ones who validate my existence, not those who were ”only fans” of what I share on social media with just mere admiration without any real connection.

However with that being said, I also have to acknowledge the people who I’ve shared my leather experience with, the ones I’ve physically, and financially shared my personal leather experience with, the few persons who have had the privilege of being alongside me during pinnacle moments while cultivating leather culture.

Stones are being thrown, but rather than throw them back, I have chosen to use them to build the empire that once protected them. These are now the people who have taught me to value myself, and the energy I’ve generously given so freely in the past. They are the ones who have shown me my true purpose in life.

Because it takes courage to do what I do, it takes courage to be different, it takes courage to think outside of the box. It took courage for me to take ppl to places they had never been before, and it took courage for me to be successful at it! So it takes that same courage to win the battle I am in because I have come too damn far to turn back now!