Not Sure Who Needs to Hear This, But . . . : WE THE URBAN: Beautiful Reminders for the Soul

by Willie Greene

Overview

A collection of signature affirmations and empowering essays on self-love, inner peace, growth, and more from the founder of the popular Instagram and media entity WE THE URBAN.

"Be proud of your growth. This version of you has a lot less tolerance for the things you used to accept, and that is a beautiful thing."

Since its inception, WE THE URBAN has established itself as a platform centered on healing, in all its many forms. Founded by Willie Greene, WE THE URBAN posts uplifting and inspiring quotes that encourage self-love, many of which are accompanied by the message, "Not Sure Who Needs to Hear This, But . . ." Gaining traction during the first lockdown of 2020, these affirmations have gone on to touch the lives of millions, whether they’re sharing posts with friends, saving them as gentle reminders, displaying them on walls of their homes, classrooms, and offices, or incorporating them as cherished parts of their daily routines.

Willie extends the ethos and magic of WE THE URBAN to this compelling collection through powerful essays interspersed with the platform's signature quotes and affirmations, many appearing exclusively in this book for the first time. Bringing readers through the ebbs and flows of the human experience, these pages venture through the process of finding inner peace, attaining the love you deserve, unlearning negative perceptions of yourself, and so much more. This book is not just a read; it's an experience. Empathetic, inspiring, and empowering, it's a daily companion for anyone on the journey toward self-love, self-acceptance, and self-liberation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780593796207
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	10/08/2024
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	721
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 7.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

In 2009, at just fourteen years old, Willie Greene founded WE THE URBAN from his bedroom in North Carolina. What began as an online community celebrating fashion and art, notably championing Black creativity, soon became Tumblr's first blog to transform into a nationally syndicated print magazine. Evolving with time, Willie shifted towards a more vulnerable, authentic, emotionally intelligent content strategy, offering daily introspective and inspirational messages, often stemming from his own real-time, real-life experiences. These resonated worldwide, particularly during 2020, as WE THE URBAN emerged as a sanctuary for millions seeking comfort and healing through life's challenges. Today, with over one billion impressions across Instagram over the years, WE THE URBAN stands as one of social media’s largest destinations for empowerment, guiding the world towards self-discovery and resilience under Willie's leadership as founder, writer, and designer.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

Peace

Through every experience you have in this life, turbulent or otherwise, a boundless space exists within you. It’s a secret sanctuary we all carry, that we can all access. It may seem elusive at times, drowned out by the noise of anxiety, grief, and regret, but it’s always there, patiently waiting for you to cherish its presence and make decisions that align with protecting it. This refuge is your inner peace.

Your inner peace should flow like a river, traveling forward despite the rocks and boulders that arise. Adapting and persisting, knowing that your journey is dictated not by obstacles but by your unwavering pursuit to transcend them. This endurance and resilience is not passivity; it’s an understanding that peace is not something that demands an escape from the chaos of your life, but rather invites you to find serenity within the very heart of it. The moment you start acknowledging that peace is not an external place but an internal commitment to self-awareness and acceptance, you unlock the door to a life less anxious and more tranquil.

Even so, attaining inner peace can be a daunting quest, especially if you’re someone like me, who feels everything deeply. However, I’ve learned that these qualities of sensitivity and peace have a unique relationship. In fact, they can exist in harmony. This sounds paradoxical; how can feeling every emotion intensely lead to inner peace? Well, it fuels your imagination and serves as a wellspring of creativity. It enhances your intuition and allows you to appreciate the beauty in the tiniest nuances of life. It makes you want to listen more, understand better, and empathize more deeply with others. You get the privilege of engaging with life, love, and connection in the most vivid, profound way. Your sensitivity can become a gift that empowers and protects you. It’s a quality you should never shame yourself for having. With time, introspection, and a big helping of mindfulness, you can access inner peace in a space of sensitivity. 

The pursuit of peace can also lead us to seek comfort in fleeting relationships, places, substances, and possessions. These are common traps we’ve all been caught in at some point, but the reality remains the same: peace built on external distractions is as fragile as a house of cards in a hurricane. Authentic peace can only be cultivated from within. It demands the hard work of confronting yourself and demolishing the walls you’ve constructed from your fears. It calls for the bravery to cease the war within yourself, to declare a truce between the parts of you in conflict, and to treat yourself with more kindness. When you make peace with your inner turmoil, your outer world begins to mirror this tranquility.

Throughout this process, your strength lies in identifying and amplifying the thoughts that serve your mind, body, spirit, and future. Let them be the architects of your day. Your mind’s focus determines your reality—what you pay attention to, you give power to, so you must choose with fierce intentionality. Let the stillness of your inner peace, and the energy of unapologetically protecting it, be the compass that directs your thoughts. This is a conscious exercise of selecting, moment by moment, the thought patterns that lead you to a more peaceful existence. By channeling this mindfulness, peace becomes more than just a concept; it becomes a practice.

Envision each day as a fresh chance to refine this practice. Just like you might train for a marathon or learn a new language, cultivating peace is a skill. It means choosing not to snap in anger, taking a deep breath instead of taking a defensive stance, or finding that moment of gratitude on a tough day. It’s the determination to persist after rejection, the relief in releasing long-held grievances, and the awareness that holding on to anger harms you more than anyone else.

Peace is your right, your responsibility, and your remedy. It is the brave decision to wake each morning and forgive. Forgive each day for its trials, forgive others for their faults, and most importantly, forgive yourself for your missteps. It’s in this forgiveness that you free yourself, lifting all burdens and opening the gates to true inner calm.

Inner peace means respecting that not everything deserves your energy and granting yourself permission to walk away from fruitless conflicts. If something disturbs your peace, you have the right—and, indeed, the responsibility—to address it, to modify it, or to remove it altogether from your life. Sometimes, the most powerful armor is a smile and the decision to let go. Protect your peace like you would your dearest loved one.

True peace? It will always be a choice. It’s a series of decisions you make every day. Sometimes it’s the decision to release, other times the decision to hold on, but it’s always the decision to reflect and grow. It’s about accepting the unchangeable and finding your power in how you respond to it. With each decision, you step closer to accessing the calm you seek.

So, here’s to the journey of accessing your well of inner peace, hand in hand with your sensitivity—a journey of introspection, understanding, and giving yourself the space to feel and the permission to heal. Continue to approach yourself with grace and move forward at a pace that honors your growth. Trust that with each action you take, you’re gaining wisdom and finding your balance, navigating your way back to that serene sanctuary that is ever-present within you.