Hustle

Hustle  - Urban dictionary defines it as anything you need to do to make money ..be it sellin cars, drugs, ya body. “If you makin money you hustlin”

Webster’s Dictionary defines it a tad differently – to convey forcibly or hurriedly, to obtain by energetic activity.

I think my current situation would fall somewhere in the middle of the two definitions.  I am not “sellin cars, drugs or my body” but I do obtain my money by mostly energetic activity….if frenzied rush and huge amounts of stress powered by even more huge amounts of caffeine counts as “energetic” or “hurried”.

During the last 6 years I have almost always had two jobs. My 23 year old self decided to get married and be a stay at home mom decorating my white picket fence rather than completing my degree. As a result when the fence blew down and I had to dig out my resume my work experience was all out of date and I wasn’t qualified for much. Luckily I had friends and family who were willing to help me out and I found two part time jobs that equaled one full time job. I was grateful.  I still didn’t go back to school because my kids were small and I didn’t want to leave them alone in the proverbial fenceless yard all the time. They needed a parent present full time to do the parent stuff. That parent is me.  I will never regret that decision because the end result is that my kids are productive members of society, heretofore with no prison records and no ridiculous psychological damage. 

In the past few days I have been complimented for my “hustle” a few times, close friends and coworkers making mention of how hard I work to hold things down. Maybe because they noticed I’ve been a little bummed out, because I have been.  Maybe just because they are kind souls, which they are. With the need to hustle also comes the fact that shit is hard. If it wasn’t hard you wouldn’t have to hustle so much right? I don’t know. It’s been such a long time since I’ve rested on my laurels that I don’t even know where they are.

My kids are good but the rest of my world is laggin to be honest. The yard is a mess. The car needs maintenance. I still haven’t unpacked all the boxes from when I moved out of my Barbie dream house. My “hustle” runs a little low by the time I get home from job number two and I prioritize what gets the remainder of my energy. Don’t we all? I guess my point in all this is we ALL hustle. We all work hard and do our best every day to get shit done.  Our priorities may differ but the people I gravitate to are the Hustlers. Not the shade peddlers only looking out for themselves but the people who do honest work, treat others with respect, work on their own mess and own their shit. No one’s perfect but with a little hustle you can be better than you were yesterday and that should be the goal.

Cheers to your hustle…