Common puts her wellness journey on paper in new book ‘And then We Rise’

Health and wellness have not always been prioritized by the Black community. Things like therapy have long been considered taboo, especially for men of color. For award-winning musician Common, that’s what he sets out to challenge with this book. And We Rise: A Guide to Loving and Taking Care of Yourself.

In his new book, the Chicago native shares his personal experiences, tips, and many practices he’s adopted in his health journey. Across his 224 pages, Common focuses on physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health to create a practical program for achieving holistic health on both a personal and professional level. We provide our readers with advice, recipes, and even playlists.

“I wanted this book to be about empowering readers, because I’m just telling my story,” says the author. “Veganism may not be for you. Nor is meditation. You may want to meditate in a different way. You may want to do physical exercise in a different way. I explained these things because they are simple methods that work for me.”

And Then We Rise It has been put together for people who are looking to incorporate a health plan into their lives. His book outlines simple changes you can make today to start the new year off on the right foot and lay the foundation for a better tomorrow through an approach to self-love and self-care.

To celebrate the release of his new book, Common spoke to ESSENCE about his own mental health journey, why he wanted to write this book, and what he hopes readers will take away from it. Told.

Essence: Why did you decide to write the book “And We Rise”?

Common: I wrote this as a letter to our people. And when I say “our people,” I mean especially Black and Brown people who don’t have access to some of the health and wellness resources that I’ve experienced and have been blessed to encounter in my life. It refers to seeds. I felt it was beneficial to me in my life journey, my path. I feel that part of the change I want to see happen in our community starts with us loving ourselves and taking care of ourselves. So part of my evolution in many ways is self-affirmation and self-love. My whole mind, body, and soul connects it with being our best selves. In reality, some of the negative, dark energies that exist do not need to vibrate at the level that they exist.

So, in practical terms, I think I wanted this book to be a guide for people to live a better life. And I wanted to tell our community. Health and wellness has no color, but I know that many people within our community don’t have the information or access. This is a letter to me, delivered in the form of a conversation. It’s like a staircase. In fact, I talk to the people who have been my guides: my therapists, my trainers, and the chefs I employ, including vegan chefs and integrative doctors.

I’m glad you talked about therapy now. In this book, I discuss physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health, which I think is extremely important. As a Black man, why do you think things like prioritizing yourself and therapy have been taboo in our community?

I think my belief is that in order for us to survive in many ways, we need to say to ourselves: Otherwise, you would not be able to feel these emotions and live as a black person in this world. You can’t feel these emotions. Or you shouldn’t show weakness, and you’re weak even if you cry or get hurt by things like that. ” And I can also understand why our generation probably felt that way. Because they were dealing with some really difficult situations. And I can’t even think about how they had to find a way to survive, considering how they would survive and what that would be like if they went back to slavery. So I think some of the actual emotional outlets were not allowed because it was a survival thing.

But I think at some point we all miss all that trauma, all that pain, and we keep carrying it with us. It manifests itself in ways that are not helpful to ourselves, our communities, or our people. It doesn’t help the world. If you carry all the things that hurt you, you might go out and hurt someone. Almost everyone, everyone, that I meet when I go out and talk to people who are incarcerated, they can trace their violence back to something they were hurt at an early age. Therefore, if these traumas are not addressed and without mental health support, we can become destructive to ourselves, those around us, and our families.

So it’s something we need to address to do our best. We talk about being kings and queens, living richly and having everything. Mental health is one of the keys to becoming the best version of yourself. And you have to deal with the problem. I was talking to some friends in Chicago, and three people in their circle had lost loved ones to violence. Well then, the three of us. Do you know how traumatic it is to lose a loved one in that way? And in order for you to move on and be your best self and heal, you have to deal with it. It won’t. Therefore, I see mental health and wellness as an important component. It’s just as important as diet and exercise. It has to be among the pillars of what we do for life.

Can you pinpoint when in your life your health journey began?

Yeah. I think I started when I was around 24 or 25 years old. I was listening to hip-hop and there were a lot of artists (not many) talking about different things that dealt with wellness without even having a wellness framework. KRS-One was talking about being a vegetarian and not eating certain things. He had a song called “Beef” and he explained to us in a fresh way why beef is bad for you. He didn’t immediately stop eating beef, but then an idea occurred to him and he started hearing Rakim talking about fish and such. Cats just do it naturally and it got to me and sparked my curiosity. Then I was around different people who were studying Islam and they taught me about those foods. And I started getting different books that taught me that.

So, in my mid-20s, I was starting to think, “Oh, this is how I was raised, this is just how we live.” But that’s another option. It’s a choice, something that might be more beneficial to my life because I wanted to get better. I wanted to get better at my career, so I was looking for ways to become a better version of myself. It started with me spiritually searching for more to find God. But at the same time, I started finding the foods I wanted to eat and started feeling different. And when I felt a difference, that was all I needed to know. At that point, I didn’t need to read much more and things started to become clearer. I began to feel more powerful. And my vocals also sounded better on my records in terms of clarity.

So I continued that search and when I came to New York, I was surrounded by people who were naturally interested in health and wellness. It wasn’t until maybe six years later, when I was dealing with something, that he was able to get treatment. I kept repeating the cycle of relationships throughout my life. For me, repeating something is like walking down the street and stepping into the same hole every time. I’m smarter than that. So I’m thinking, “What can I do to improve myself?”

So I tried therapy. My acting coach suggested it. I tried it, and by going to therapy and learning about myself, I started to feel like I was getting better. That’s always the way, brother. I still have frustrating days. You need to understand what is central to you. What keeps me centered? I’m not saying, “Okay, once you start on the path to health, everything will be fine.” But you begin to feel the sun from within. You begin to feel that life from within. And when you are dealing with different problems that the world gives you, you have better power to deal with it.

So, as an active musician and author, how have you been able to consistently manage your health? What advice would you give to someone who wants to prioritize their health but has a busy schedule? Do you have any advice?

I think the most important thing, more than work, more than some of the duties we do every day, is to take care of ourselves and make sure we nurture ourselves. This allows you to immerse yourself in your work and be your complete self. That way, you can treat your family equally. I know that parents tend to think, “I have to give everything to my child.” But if you run out of energy, you can’t do that. You are not giving everything. So my advice is to try to do the assignment sometime during the day, usually at the beginning of his day. You can start your day with just 5 to 10 minutes of prayer, or you can just start by thanking God for the day and then put something good into your body.

For breakfast, I usually drink coffee, but sometimes I add fruit to it or have a green drink. Then try doing anything physically possible, such as a workout or a walk. It’s worth getting up early. You will feel more energy. Some days I have to start work at 8am to get something done. I’m still going to wake up at 6am and do my routine. If I have to slow down my training a little bit, I will. But they help me become the best version of myself. You have to take responsibility for your day and say, “This is how much time I’m going to spend.” You can start small, but that’s all you need. During the pandemic, I was just doing push-ups. It only took 5 minutes, but it felt good. Push-ups and sit-ups. And I was eating better and had a lot more time to read. I was reading books and praying.

But if you can combine mental and physical activity with a healthy start, something good to start your day with, your days will be better. They call it a lifestyle because it becomes you at some point. After a minute, you’ll see that it’s not difficult to train your mind.

When I think about the pandemic, I thought, “Oh, what are we going to do about this and that?” But within that period we adapted and people just got used to doing the things we had to do during the pandemic. Think about whether you practiced prayer in the morning, did some light exercise in the morning, and started eating food. Even if you don’t feel great yet, just do it. Eventually it will start to become you and you will notice the difference. And that’s what I want people to do, to take a little bit of time out of their day.