An Evening with Jada Pinkett Smith – Jewel Guy | jewelguy.co

An Evening with Jada Pinkett Smith

“Outside of my marriage, my kids, and my career, who am I? – Jada Pinkett Smith

I love hearing people’s stories in their own words.

It cuts out society’s chatter, popular/unpopular opinions and gets up close and personal with the source. This book does just that.

Back in September, My hubby and I secured seats to Jada’s book discussion at the Central Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, which sold out in mere minutes! A whole month and a half before the actual event, people were ready to come face to face (our at least in the same building) with the one who the whole world was beginning to talk about….again.

Sidebar: We have a propensity to keep people’s names in our mouths. Especially people that we don’t know personally and will probably never have the opportunity to be real friends with. But I digress.

On the date of the discussion, we arrived to a line that began to cascade around the building. Fans appeared to be in full anticipation to enter the venue, secure their free signed first edition copy of Worthy, and hear a curated discussion. People discussed their thoughts while they were in line…

“What do you think she will talk about?”

“I want her to talk about….”

“I think her & Will…..”

“I hope she talks about the Oscars.”

Lots of thoughts. Lots of opinions. The hour ahead would be our opportunity to hear what SHE wanted to share and that’s all that mattered to me.

When she graced the stage, we could barely see her over the crowd. She is small in stature and graceful in her speech. The initial part of the interview felt like a news story, but after about 25 minutes, Jada left the script and began giving us the real!

She talked about how social media goes into a frenzy over soundbites. She talked about self-betrayal. She talked about getting tired of appearing to be well and unraveling quickly on the inside. She talked about her considering and planning to die by suicide. She talked about how she had to come face to face with HERSELF…her thoughts…her beliefs…her behavior.

Photo Credit: Enoch Pratt Free Library Facebook Page

There is nothing more sexy than personal accountability.

There is a confidence that is built when you know and accept yourself and the parts you play in your happiness and demise.

That night, she said the one thing that most people wanted to know about: “Will & I are life partners. I’m not going anywhere and he’s not going anywhere.”

I appreciated her honesty. I appreciated her willingness to share HER story.

Honesty requires us to accept our station in life (in this moment) and look at it with love. Not that we have to be in that place all of our lives, but we don’t try to run from it either. We can sit in it. We can experience it. We can be open to and extract the lessons we need for our personal and spiritual growth.

Many of us aren’t honest because our thought process says, “How could anyone love me after doing this?”

We’ve all been there. Maybe you’re there now. The beauty is that greater honesty is a by-product of self-awareness and self-reflection. And the necessity to grow does not skip over anyone…not even so-called celebrities.

We are spiritual beings having a human experience. So just as the seed is placed in the dark soil (unfamiliar ecosystem) and watered (nourished) so that new life can spring forth, so are we living in these bodies.

Think about this for a second:

If your life was on display for ALL of the world (almost 8 billion) to see and comment on, how would you respond?

What toll could that take on you?

It’s one thing to have your nuclear family in your business, but it’s another thing to wake up and see your face and “your story” on the media outlets. I applaud her for living her life in a way that was and is conducive for HER and her family.

I think it’s about time that we all realize that we are all on our individual journeys. How you would do something is not the way someone else should do something. We are all mirror to each other. The thing that you may not like about someone else actually has nothing to do with the other person…It’s about YOU. Check in with yourself and see where that dislike stems from. Does it serve you? Is it productive to you?

At the end of the day, my takeaway was this…

Drinking water and minding my business is the safest place to be when it comes to other people’s lives (close or distant). If someone wants me to know something, they’ll tell me and I’ll make sure that I am in a position to be a safe space for them.

If you haven’t grabbed your copy of Worthy yet, it is a great read. I recommend it to people who are on their own journey of self-discovery and working on telling their truth. Also those who are interested in reading/listening to Jada tell her life story and defining moments that changed the trajectory of her life.

It may just inspire you to be the narrator of your own story.

Be Well 💛

Jewel