You can’t have a testimony without a test 😮‍💨

April 15th, 2025

You Can't Have A Testimony Without A Test.

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It's been a while...

I’ve been a bit quiet in the newsletter, largely because I’ve been recovering from ACL knee surgery since January 30th.

I won’t bore you with the intricate details of my recovery, but there's a video on the channel that shows how I prepped for it, and I'm editing a vlog from the first month or so post-op.

"You can't have a testimony without a test."

I was reminded of this phrase from the show Master of None S3. Lena Waithe’s character is going through a bad breakup, and her mother says it to her over the phone.

Often, we see others succeeding and think, “I want to get to where they are,” not realizing they are there because of the trials and tribulations they faced. They are there because of the test.

And so, now, 2.5 months post-op, I want to give you these words not just as inspiration for your endeavors, which can be a fleeting feeling, but for the discipline to persevere through the “middle” of whatever you’re endeavoring to do.

Remember, the kairos.

I don’t have any tattoos, but if I ever get one, it’ll probably be related to the word “kairos” or its symbol.

In Greek, there are (at least) two words to describe time. There’s the Cronus, which is chronological time as we know it. Measuring time in days, months, minutes, hours, and every nanosecond. And then there’s the Kairos.

It loosely translates to “the appropriate or opportune moment.” It’s the philosophical idea that something happens whenever it’s meant to. In the Bible, it’s associated with “the time of God” or the divine timing for things. It’s that serendipity that you feel in a moment where everything just seems to align – almost inexplicably.

You're in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, and knowing the right people.

I've had a few Kairosian moments, both professionally and personally.

Meeting my husband. Becoming an Adobe Creative Resident. Getting a grant from YouTube. These are just the few that come to my head as a type. There are so many more.

But while recovering from this surgery, I've struggled to respect and honor the kairos. Throughout recovery, the surgeon, Physician's Assistant, and the rest of the medical team all measure your progress in the Cronus.

"At X weeks, you should be able to bend Y degrees…"

And the Virgo in me loves a tangible goal to obliterate! But the truth is, your body doesn’t recover, operate, or give a rat’s ass about the Cronus. It works purely in the kairos.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't take the process seriously. The discipline remains even though the inspiration is gone. I'm religiously doing my physical therapy at home, working on my bending and building back my strength. In this time of great uncertainty within my physical being, I'm controlling what I can control so that when the kairos comes, I'm ready.

Sometimes, you don't know what you're building toward, yet you continue to lay the bricks.

*click to watch on YouTube

This week, I'm posting a daily vertical vlog on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube (shorts), wholly shot on the Osmo Pocket 3, to challenge myself to create more content while continuing to lay the bricks.

Check it out, and let me know what you think!

As always, please respond to this email with any questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, affirmations, and motivations. This is my email, and I enjoy hearing from you. May the kairos come to you.

Endeavoring to persevere,
Hallease