If we are fortunate, we have those vivid memories of cooking meals in the kitchen with our mom. Whether after a long day of work or school, prepping for Thanksgiving or Sunday dinner, those moments are etched in our hearts and our minds forever. Thankfully. For Erique Berry, cooking in the kitchen with her mother was an integral part of her childhood. In the beginning, she sat back and watched her mom create masterpieces like her beloved chicken and dumplings or pineapple upside down cake. 

Social media is something, let me tell you! I didn't have social media in high school and only started to get into that world in college. You know, posting my daily selfie before class and looking to see what people were tweeting while I was procrastinating to study. Now, it's a whole different ball game. Social media is great if you're running a business or a blog, and actively use it to support your brand. It's also great tool to keep in contact with people, but there's a flip side too. It's an energy sucker. At one point in time it was a relief, then it seemed to turn into a competition. How many followers you have, how many comments you have, who does this better or just people putting up the front like they never have bad days and everything is perfect. 

Mental Health Awareness month is coming to a close. This month has been full of emotions. People are still having to social distance, which requires people to either be with loved ones or by themselves for extended periods of time, which is rough either way. The virus has hit Black and Latinx communities harder due to long standing disparities in practices and policies that contribute to many factors, including underlying conditions. The beginning of this week brought about another recorded police involved death that was like a punch in the gut. We're hurting. Our community is hurting, and with everything that we're already dealing with in the world, to be reminded that some folks are determined to view you as less than human is painful. Not only are we frustrated, but we're tired, and fearful of what could happen to our children or our loved ones when they go out into the world. 

It takes a toll on our health, physically and mentally. Unfortunately, there's still a stigma in our community against counseling or therapy. Though, it can be an incredibly helpful outlet for personal peace and staying grounded, which is something that we could all benefit from during this time and beyond. This post is to remind you of some of our favorite black sitcoms that lowkey hype therapy. Even if our community doesn't always praise therapy, some of our on-screen favorites did or at least gave it a try when their characters were ready. 

​Let’s talk about food. How’ve you been managing your diet during this quarantine? I know that it’s super hard to say the least. It’s so much easier to eat up all the junk food and processed food that you have in your place during this time. Personally, at the start of the quarantine, I went a bit overboard. Chips. Donut sticks. White cheddar popcorn. I had it all! The only thing that worked to my benefit may have been the fact that I drank a bunch of water. Last year this time, I decided to do away with drinking my sugars daily and made the switch to drinking water as my main source of hydration.

​The older I become, the more that I realize that we as humans don’t really know how to take care of ourselves. Like, seriously! We are aware of the basics like eat fruit, eat vegetables, drink water, but the older we get the more it becomes so complex. We are aware that we’re supposed to eat a “balanced meal,” but really, how do you balance all the food groups each day to get the nutrients that could be found in a multivitamin? Okay, so I know that it isn’t healthy to eat fast food all day, every day, but even if the food isn’t “fast” there are reports that say you shouldn’t eat red meat multiple times a week and you should limit your intake of bacon at breakfast. Well, if bacon intake is limited during breakfast each day, then it almost seems like we’ve reached out weekly pork max before adding in barbeque pork or pork roast, etc. If you couldn’t tell by now, I was clearly raised in the south and I’ve always thought of food as my comfort. Food has always been around during each occasion, happy, sad, or indifferent. I’m still a young lady, but the past year has taught me that I need to pay closer attention to the food that I put into my body.