Allonte Hart

Title of Tip: Diving 

Name: Allonte Hart, [age]

Statement: I’ve always wanted to make clothes, but growing up, my friends and family never supported me, so I suppressed it. But this is my life, so I’m going to dive. Diving is being relentlessly focused on something you care about and giving yourself entirely to that. It looks like being up all night, working through the day, and not letting negativity get to you. Maybe you cook well and keep making different dishes, and people are like, “Oh, this is good. You should do a food truck.” Figure out how you can do it. People will respond if you are good at something; you just need to get over any insecurities. You can do anything you put your mind to. If you dive into something, it can literally save your life. A euphoric feeling can transport you out of any state of mind. At first, you won’t get appreciated for it, but it’s not about that. It’s about loving the thing you do. Eventually, you’ll get so good that people will start to appreciate it.

Diving saved my life. It changed my mindset. There’s a term in the streets called crashing out. It’s when you don’t care, and you do something reckless and either die or go to jail. It saved me from crashing out. A lot of people in my family have gone to prison. It’s not because they don’t know right from wrong; they’re scared. You don’t feel like you deserve to be a successful person after you’ve been through so much trauma. To make things happen in life, you need a mindset that says, “You deserve to be happy, to be successful, you should get all the money in the world,” if that’s what you want. You just need to put yourself in a place to get it.

Instructions: Think about what you like to do. I don’t care how embarrassing it is. Maybe you want to do what Mr. Rogers did: recreate a neighborhood and play with puppets. It should be something that you would regret not doing when you leave this earth one day. It’s probably something you wanted to do as a kid. You’re the most honest with yourself when you are a kid. Once you acknowledge what it is, figure out how to make it happen. Do your research. Ask people if you don’t know the steps. Once you know the steps, then you put thought into action. But just remember that you’re going to die, so why not go after what you want in this life?

Learning: I learned it from praying. I got shot and almost died. I was in the street, laid out, bleeding, thinking I was going to die. Then I prayed, “If you’re real, save my life, and I’ll change,” and I meant it. It was a trade-off. And by some miracle, I woke up. And now I have to change. But it’s okay, I don’t have to carry it anymore. To understand that God is real changed everything. You need to know there’s something bigger than you.Story: I’ve been going through relationship issues. A person I was with didn’t want to be with me, which hurt my feelings. She got me; she understood my little jokes. Normally, when my feelings are hurt, I will lash out. I will post pictures on social media like, I’m good without you. Many people respond by trying to prove to the person who hurt them that they are fine without them. But instead of focusing on that negativity, I dove into my art and clothing. And she was watching me but wasn’t playing that game. I did not participate. It doesn’t matter if they’re losing out. What are you gaining? And that’s when I realized, just keep going.