For Chambers Features highlights the journeys of folx in our community. They are willing (and brave enough) to offer an authentic account of where they are in their journey.
We hope that a peek into their journey will help you along your own.
Next Up - William Johnson.
William is a certified strength and conditioning coach and community leader. William is making a positive impact in his community - mind and body!
William is wearing the OMJ Shirt.
Where are y°u™?
“I am here, present, living, learning, and imperfect but appreciating the beauty of all that comes with being William. How did I get here? Glad you asked. Let me explain. I thought I had it all figured out until what I figured all ran out. Coming off one of the toughest years of my life I forced myself to look in the mirror and not recognizing who I was I said the words that I feared for so long. “I NEED HELP...Im going to therapy.” You see I hid behind all the ideas that manhood is said to be, what a real man does, what a real man thinks, and any other frail thought that can be tossed in the air about manhood. Truly breaking that statue I made of “manhood” helped me to build authentic manhood in my eyes, have authentic conversation, digest my experiences, and broaden my understanding of being a black man. I mean it all sounds easy: love yourself, take care of yourself, choose you. Unfortunately it wasn’t until I learned how to do those things that I begin to open up and embrace me. So here I am being William Johnson.”
Instagram: @thewilliamjohnson