Daredevil = Word of the Month

Live life on the edge, and I'm not talking about the "reheating your Thanksgiving leftovers four days later" edge either.

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Growing up, I was a certified daredevil. I jumped out of planes, swam with jaguars, and fed iguanas like they were house pets. If there was a chance to step out of my comfort zone, I took it no questions asked. That boldness wasn’t just a phase; it was a part of my personality, a reminder that adventure is always on the other side of fear. Somewhere along the way, though, I got a little too intellectual. I started calculating risks more than taking them (naturally so). The stakes got higher, the risks felt heavier, and playing it safe became the easier choice.

Roatan, Honduras 2018

But this month, as I inch closer to 30, I feel her brewing again, that fearless version of me who didn’t overthink or hesitate, who trusted herself to leap. Daredevil December for me isn’t about chasing adrenaline; it’s about reclaiming a sense of fearless energy and combining it with the confidence to embrace the unknown.

Maryland, 2016

The truth is, life gets louder, but the daredevil in us never disappears. And this month I’m letting her take the lead and be as loud as life, if not loud-er. This December, I’m reconnecting with the version of me who didn’t pause at the edge, no matter how long the drop was.

But arriving at this mindset wasn’t a smooth landing at all.

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A Feast of Emotions

In November, I asked the universe for newness, and it universe served me — but not without a side of chaos. You really have to be careful mindful of what you ask for. I thought stepping into “New Era November” would feel empowering, like a fresh coat of paint on my life before I step into Sag Season.

But instead, it felt like someone handed me a Thanksgiving plate piled high with every emotion and feeling imaginable : gratitude, doubt, excitement, fear, you name it, and said, “Bon appétit.”

Some emotions were sweet and easy to digest, others were bitter and overwhelming, and of course, everything touched. (I hate when certain foods touch) The uncertainty spilled over into the excitement, the doubt soaked into the ambition and made it soggy, and I was left with no appetite. I was raised to not waste food, so even though I wanted to, I couldn’t just throw everything away. I had to make it work, because what else was I going to do?

The thing about newness is that it comes with hella uncertainty and ambivalence on the side. For every opportunity to grow, there’s excitement, but a little hesitation. For every idea, a lightbulb moment, but a million strategic questions. And for me, all that uncertainty bubbled into a mental habit I picked up called binary thinking.

Binary thinking is a defense mechanism. It’s basically your brain splitting things right down the middle to make it easier for you to relate to something. Which makes sense because mentally, it’s a much lighter load to label a mistake as a failure, instead of sitting with it and assessing how it was really a lesson.

Binary thinking isn’t always a bad thing and should be used in certain situations—like when I’m deciding whether or not I should eat a slice of pizza knowing i’m lactose intolerant (spoiler: I always do). But when you’re making creative decisions, it can feel like you’re sitting on the edge of a waterfall.

I’m not gonna hold you, it felt like I was on the edge of a waterfall all month: Do I jump or not? Is this idea genius or trash? What will be the outcome of this? See the thing is, I turn 30 in a few days, and sh*t just ain’t a game no more. I mean it never was, but now it’s really like aight girl, show me what you got. Instead of embracing the clutter of the newness, I tried to sort everything into tidy little boxes. And that’s where I stayed, stuck. Paralyzed by the pressure to “make it look nice”.

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Don’t Chase Waterfalls.mp3, Jump off Them

Limon, Costa Rica 2024

Speaking of waterfalls, I recently co-hosted a Creative Wellness Retreat in Costa Rica in partnership with The Intuition School. One of the days, we hiked to this gorgeous waterfall. Normally, I’d take a few pics, feel the mist, and keep it moving. But this time, the founder El, said something that stopped me in my tracks: “You have to jump in. It’s tradition.”

I laughed. Absolutely not. I told her it’s certain things Black girls just don’t do, and jumping into cold waterfalls is one of them. But then I looked around at the women I was hosting—women who got their passport for the first time, to fly across the world to learn from me how to trust their intuition, and dig deeper into themselves.

How could I teach them to trust themselves if I couldn’t trust myself enough to jump?

Standing at the top, my heart raced, and every logical reason not to jump played in my mind. The water was cold, it was a long way down, and the water wasn’t that deep. It was risky, it wasn’t “necessary.” But then my fear turned into adrenaline, and adrenaline unlocks a part of me that doesn’t think in binaries. It makes me see things for what they truly are: layered, complex, and bigger than just “yes or no.”

So I jumped. And when I hit the water, all that tension and fear left my body and became one with the water I jumped into. When I came up for air, I didn’t just feel alive—I felt free. New Era November promised a fresh start, but I realized newness isn’t about clean slates; it’s about jumping into the mess and finding clarity in the chaos.

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Channeling My Inner Daredevil

When I think about that jump, I realize it wasn’t just about adrenaline. It was about stepping into the unknown and finding a new part of myself. I wouldn’t have gotten the same experience if I had just walked down the side of the waterfall. You have to quite literally jump. Daredevils, whether they’re jumping off cliffs or digging miles beneath the earth, share one thing in common: they trust that something incredible is waiting on the other side of their fear.

People see dare devils and assume they don’t get scared. No, Dare devils are in fact scared pretty often. What makes them unique is their willingness to do something is stronger than their fear of doing it. It’s about the quiet moments afterward, when you realize you’re not the same person who jumped.

This December, channeling daredevil energy for me looks like :

• saying yes to the risks I’ve avoided

• executing that crazy concept without thinking about how it will be perceived

• sitting with the messiness of new projects & rough drafts

• knowing that everything won’t be calculated for me to make a decision

• and trusting the process, even when I can’t see the full picture

Daredevils don’t just take risks for the thrill; they take them because they trust there’s more on the other side. Freedom, inspiration, and self-awareness live in that space beyond fear. Every jump teaches you something new about yourself : your resilience, your capacity for courage, your ability to handle whatever’s at the bottom. The jumps might look reckless to the outside world, but to a daredevil, they’re essential.

Creativity & Adrenaline are Cousins

When I was writing this newsletter, I googled “dare devil jobs as a profession” and miners were at the top of that list. The deepest mine in the world is in South Africa, and it’s 2.5+ miles underground. It’s hot as hell (140 degrees Farenheit), dangerous, and unstable, but miners take the risk because they believe in what’s buried deep below. The insane thing about mining is that the deeper you go, the more dangerous it becomes. The closer to the core of the earth you get, the hotter it gets, and the higher the risk is of a deadly earthquake or the cave collapsing.

I thought about how similar that is metaphorically to being on a creative journey. Creativity and adrenaline are kin—they both live in the rush of the unknown, urging you to dig deeper, face the heat, and unearth treasures that only those brave enough to venture can claim.

If you stay on the surface doing what’s safe, predictable, or familiar, you’ll never find the gold. You have to keep putting that shovel to the ground, mining past the heat, fear, pressure, and uncertainty. And after a while, you will hear that *klink*. That unmistakable sound that lets you know that you reached something valuable. And when you do, the reward isn’t just what you find; it’s who you become in the process.

Depth > Motion

November at times felt like I was running creative suicides—going back and forth from one baseline to the next. Binary thinking told me I wasn’t going anywhere, but depth made me realize I was building stamina. Energy is never destroyed, only transferred.

When I look at all the scribbles I put in my notepad during November, the direction to be a dare devil and go deeper has never been clearer : I’m right on the edge.

You’re right on the edge.

This December, I’m not measuring anything based off whether or not I’m going forward or backward, I’m measuring things based on how deep I can go. How high can I jump off the waterfall. Depth means sitting with the hard questions, even when you don’t have answers. It means embracing the messy middle and trusting that freedom and clarity will come on the other side. It means turning inward instead of just moving forward.

This December, I’m channeling that same daredevil energy I found in Costa Rica, In Honduras, in that Sky Diving Plane, and the same dare devil energy that is in Sagittarius, my sign. I’m diving into the why behind my ideas. Excavating the layers, the nostalgia, and the stories that make them uniquely mine, and trusting the depth to lead me somewhere transformative. I’m letting go of binary thinking, and as I prepare to celebrate my 30th birthday in a few days, I’m reminding myself that it’s really just another year, and it’s okay not to have it all figured out. What matters is that I’m still digging and still jumping.

To everyone reading this: What’s the jump you’ve been too scared to take? What’s the gold you’ve been too scared to dig for?

Here’s to finding freedom, inspiration, and depth this month.

Disclaimer: I am not a licensed psychologist or mental health professional. The concepts and terms I discuss are meant for reflection and inspiration, not as a substitute for professional psychological advice or treatment. If you are experiencing significant emotional or mental challenges, I encourage you to seek guidance from a licensed mental health professional.