iterations

I’ve been sitting with the concept of “iterations” in recent weeks.

A post came across my IG feed talking about Ludacris and his multi-decade career, and how once upon a time he was known as Chris Lova Lova during his time as a DJ. Because of the era I grew up in, I had only ever known him as the former, THE Ludacris- but I wondered how being a DJ made him a better rapper. That sat with me and I started think about others who had sometimes seemingly unrelated “previous lives” or versions.

I thought of The Rock, who with his charisma and skills performing in front of large crowds as a wrestler, became one of the world’s most standout entertainers. And one of my faves, Jason Statham, who before he was the ‘undefeatable action star’ was a serious competitive diver and martial artist. And Whitney whose roots in gospel rippled through her vocal strength and technique in pop and R&B. Organizations do it too- LEGO enabled people to creatively build physical structures with plastic bricks, then built and brought to life worlds through film, video games, and theme parks. The thing about these examples is they didn’t just pivot or abandon the former things and experiences, but they grew and evolved, taking their core DNA with them.

As I celebrated The Blessed Rogue’s now 3+ years of existence as of April, I reflected on the different lessons, forms, and attempts it took me to get here. I remember being in undergrad and creating a website for myself, a landing page with my name as the url that simply talked about what I stood for and the kind of work I aspired to do. Post-grad school, I created another site for a nonprofit/experimental meta-project focused on amplifying good people and good orgs doing good work and researching spaces and concepts on the edge of the future that I co-launched with a multi-generational, multidisciplinary team of individuals.

Years later, I created iteration 1 of TBR’s website- not the greatest admittedly but a deeply significant gesture to myself that I was committed to finding pathways and spaces that honored my authentic self and unique skills, even if I had to build them. And now we have the newly revamped version of TBR that more clearly points to my unique value and “zone of genius”, the future builders I want to support, and the stories of their impact I want to tell. Through all of this though- the DNA was the exact same. I didn’t reinvent myself, I reimagined myself. The form it took and the methods used just evolved as I grew more into who I was and how I saw the world. I didn’t evolve because I didn’t know, but because I did at my core.

I was having a conversation with a friend about this and she asked me if I thought this was “It”, if this iteration was the arrival.

No.

But that’s the point.

I have visions for myself, my work, and the variety of ways I want to impact in the world- and each attempt, creation, and revision gets me closer to those visions, and also to things I have never conceived of. There’s more to come and more to be built from the foundations lain here, as the iterations before laid the foundation for this present moment.

Maybe there’s something to those kinds of people- those willing to iterate, adapt, become, evolve, and be taught, corrected, re-formed, or reinforced by life. It’s like the spectacular and the unexpected have the capacity to happen because they not only accept and yield to the journey, but they befriend it.

Maybe those folks are “crazy” enough or bold enough to mess around influence and change the world.

Being able to reimagine yourself (multiple times) and publicly (especially in front of people you respect who may have had other ideas of who or what you’d be) is no small thing. Call it brave, naive, dumb, risky, inspiring. I just call it being you, and committing the unveiling that comes with leaning in and living out what the path of authenticity dares of you. Both magical and at times daunting, it will ultimately never lead you astray.