Ep 3 Mini Series : Give Yourself the Damn Award

What if the recognition you're seeking isn't waiting on a stage somewhere, but right here in your own hands?

Recognition isn't just a trophy on your shelf—it's a form of rest. That sacred breath between survival and becoming. After four years of podcasting through empty seasons, echoing rooms, and uncertain words, I decided to give myself the damn award. No permission needed, no red carpet required. And it wasn't just celebration—it was interruption of an unhealthy cycle.

We often push ourselves far beyond reasonable limits, only acknowledging our need for rest when we're already operating in crisis mode. As the wise Olivia Pope once said, "By the time you realize you're in crisis, it's already too late." This raw, celebratory episode explores what happens when we honor our journey before burnout forces us to pause. When we recognize that the work behind the work—the showing up, the consistency, the vulnerability—deserves celebration too.

You don't need panels of judges or viral success to determine your worth. The honest admission that you're doing your best is enough reason to celebrate. Whether it's taking yourself out for sushi, writing your own acceptance speech (thanking coffee and "Beyoncé's internet"), or simply pausing to acknowledge how far you've come—these moments of self-recognition aren't self-indulgent; they're self-preserving.

Take this as your accountability partner's nudge: stop waiting for permission to slow down. Celebrate your journey not because you've finally done enough, but because you are already enough. Share this message with someone who deserves to celebrate themselves too, and stay tuned for a new season of Time for Tea with Makita coming soon, plus No One Acts dropping this fall with stories that shift your soul.

Chapters

• 0:00 Recognition as Rest

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Sometimes the recognition is the rest. It's that breath between what you survive and what you're becoming, and I want you to take that in. Hello, my friends, and welcome back to another episode of Time for Tea with Makita. This is the mini series. So this is your behind the scenes. Look at what it looks like to not just film a podcast but to have some crazy stuff happen and just be in the moment. So I am spilling all the tea with you guys. On the last episode I did a Q&A, but in this episode we're just going to be in this space, all right, because this is where we not just inhale but we exhale. We take a moment between the hustle and the healing to get honest about the work behind the work. So this episode is going to be raw, it's going to be celebratory and it's absolutely for you okay. So let me just say this right now for anyone who needs to hear it Give yourself the damn award. You heard me. No permission needed, no red carpet required. So I say this because a few weeks ago I made this post. It was about me winning my first podcast award. You know it was an imaginary trophy, but it was real. It was real for me because I wanted to honor myself right Four years in a podcast game, like showing up even when I didn't want to, when life was hard, when you felt battered and bruised.

Speaker 1: 1:43

And I did this because sometimes you got to hit pause. You got to give yourself your own flowers and not just the likes. Don't get me wrong. I love a like, I love a good DM, I love followers, but sometimes you have to recognize that you do this also not just for other people, but for you. You know. Give yourself flowers for surviving and thriving in ways that no one else saw. I've shown up to the mic when I was empty. I've recorded in rooms that echoed, sometimes closets that felt too tight and in seasons where I wasn't sure I even had anything to say, but I kept showing up. And if you've been doing the same in your life, in your business, in your healing, in your becoming then baby, you deserve that award just as well. So honor yourself, give yourself a trophy, get glammed up, get pretty, take yourself out. Just celebrate the fact that you've been through something and you are still standing tall. And, I'll be honest, the idea of rest, like real deep soul rest, sometimes it's it's. We have to honor that as well, because sometimes we don't even feel like it's available to us Right. Even now I wrestle with it, but when I was watching this clip because it's easy to get down a rabbit hole right, especially on TikTok getting the reels, but it was a clip from how to Get Away with Murder. Now stay with me All right.

Speaker 1: 3:21

So Annalise Keating was in this intense moment in her classroom and she asked this question to the class how do you know when you're in a crisis? Maybe not an exact same phrase, but you get the drift. And people were answering it, but they were getting it wrong. And this was an episode where Olivia Pope guest starred. So she answered and she was like by the time you realize you're in one, it's already too late and I don't know it. Just that hit me like, because I have watched all of how to Get Away with the Murder. But hearing that again in the in the season that I was in that line felt like it was dragging me and just like girl, here is your unspoken truth Because, listen, by the time we admit that we need rest, we've often pushed way past the line. We're already in burnout, we're already in crisis mode, operating, making decisions in crisis. So this is where this connects.

Speaker 1: 4:29

When I gave myself that award, it wasn't just about celebrating, it was about interrupting the cycle. It was a way of saying I see you, I honor your grind and you don't have to crash before you pause. Sometimes the recognition is the rest. It's that breath between what you survived and what you're becoming, and I want you to take that in, not just you know, makita, just talking stuff and just going through things, but I want you to take it as facts, real life facts. You don't need panels of judges, you don't need a hundred thousand downloads, you don't need the whole plan figured out. You just need to be honest enough to say I'm doing my best and that deserves to be celebrated. Okay, now that we've had that moment of truth, and before I get back into that, I just want to say I loved presenting myself with that award. It felt good all right. Now back to something light, because life is both sacred and silly.

Speaker 1: 5:41

So when I gave myself myself an award, it was like this moment of truth and I don't know, next year I might show up with a acceptance speech and it might go something like this I like to thank coffee, ambient lighting, my husband for not letting me quit. Thank coffee, ambient lighting my husband for not letting me quit, and Beyonce's internet for letting this podcast exist. I don't know, but you know. What I do know is that you deserve a moment like this too. So take it, make your own trophy, do a happy dance in the mirror, take yourself off of sushi or wine or whatever your soul craves, because no one else is living this life for you. No one else gets to define what winning looks like for you. So here's your homework for me. So, to be your accountability partner, I want you to hit pause, celebrate, recognize when your breaks need to happen and not when you're already operating in crisis mode, and stop waiting for a crisis to give yourself permission to slow down. You've earned this moment, not because you finally did enough, but because you're already enough. All right, you guys, this is it.

Speaker 1: 7:01

This is the final episode in the mini series, giving you a behind the scenes look and reminding you to give yourself the damn award. Show up, give yourself the flowers. I hope this resonated with you. Send it to someone who deserves to celebrate themselves as well. As always, you guys, it has been an honor to spill some tea with each and every one of you. Stay tuned for new season of Time for Tea, with Makita coming to you soon, and also stay on the lookout for no One Acts which drops this fall with stories that shift your soul. Until next time, my friends Namaste.