On April 24th I turned 40 years old. I am a firm believer that age is nothing but a number. That the spirit inside of you truly defines your age. About eight months ago my family, we moved to New Orleans, Louisiana from Oakland, California. Two months ago, leading up to my birthday I looked in the mirror and my inner spirit was screaming loudly, “take better care of me!” and “work out!” “eat healthier!”). Nola living is good, rich and relaxed. For example, the entire city shuts down to celebrate Mardi Gras (two weeks of massive parades and parties), music (all genres but particularly jazz and Beyoncé) is embedded in the culture and the food is so good (and fattening)!
Every year I try to use my birthday as a time of self-reflection, a time of self-evaluation and most importantly a time of self-love. In my life I feel extremely stretched, as CEO of China Royal, 5 months into my executive MBA program at the Freeman School of Business at Tulane, I recently began hosting and producing a new radio show, “The Praise Report,” all while being wife and mother to our four children, Maia (20), Keyshawn Jr. (17), Maya (12) and Monique (5). God is so good.
When I scheduled to do my 40 days of fitness, 40 consecutive days of fitness, I was not excited or happy about it. The first week was tough. But as the days went by, the challenge began to be apart of my routine, remembering to etch out a space for it during the day or night. For accountability, I put the challenge on social media. Although I had a schedule of work outs, I didn’t always follow it, but I always did workout. The last two days of the challenge were, for me, the most rewarding. On the 39th day I ran in the Diva Run half marathon (13.1 miles). On the 40th day I gloriously finished the challenge in City Park doing yoga.
Below are some of my favorite days and here is the link to the entire challenge #ShikiriIsTurning40! Thank you all for helping me push through it and your kind words on social media! Please tune in every Wednesday to the, “Praise Report,” 10AM-1PM CST, Nola time, streamed worldwide on inspirationradiolive.com, 8-11AM PST and 11AM-2PM EST. I’m looking forward to including you all in the challenges and collectively we can forever grow, learn and get better on this beautiful journey!
“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (II Corinthians 12:9-10 NKJV)
