The brown turtle is a representation of how I see myself functioning in the world as we know it. The brown being the obvious part (I’m black, but the black turtle sounds like some mediocre evil villain) but the turtle represents how I move through life. I don’t live fast because I know how precious life is, yet I’ve got to always consider that I’m a young black man living in america.

I never truly had one specific goal in life, but I did have a vast imagination. That still holds true today, but being a 21 year old college undergrad sure makes life a bit tougher. I did however gain a lot of wisdom as a result of my aging and experiences. I’ve learned that patience is extremely important at this age. We really need to understand that no one has life figured out until they’re at least 30, and even most of them still don’t.

It took me a long time to realize that you don’t have to be anything specific and that it takes time to figure out what makes you truly happy. I assumed you could choose your own spirit animal, so I did, and I chose a turtle because it describes me so perfectly. No it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m slow, but we do all know the story of the hare and the tortoise (‘the brown tortoise’ was not in the conversation for this blog title), and who won the race.

That mentality and philosophy on life I believe is going to bring me to a better place. I think if we could just slow down every once in a while, get rid of overriding distractions and concentrate on ourselves, we’d all be happier people and this world a happier place. Though I don’t have the remedy of the world, I am the solver of my own problems, the captain of my own ship, the designer of my own catastrophe.

-DW {TBT}