004 | The ANDs of Being Biracial and Growing up an American in Liberia with Hassan Hodges

07/14/20 • 37 min

Hassan Hodges’s journey into living in the And originally began as a young biracial boy growing up as an American while attending a British school in Liberia. Like many, his childhood experiences helped shape his views of privilege, power, and oppression as well as how Americans can tackle social injustices, racism, and inequality. Hassan is also an entrepreneur and professional photographer. In addition to his social activism efforts and running his photography business, Hassan is also in the process of launching a mindfulness app as well as writing two memoirs.

Hassan joins me today to share what it’s like to be a biracial boy growing up as an American in Liberia. He explains how he perceives race, privilege, and oppression differently, despite growing up in a racially diverse culture. He shares the challenges he experienced with trying to understand his racial identity after moving from Liberia to the United States and why ‘color blindness’ regarding race is destructive and ineffective. He describes why he believes racism in America is a systematic issue instead of an individual problem and what he believes we can do to end racism. Hassan also shares the story of how his daughter was diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), his own diagnosis with Adjustment Disorder, and how these diagnoses inspired him to build a mindfulness app.

“To fight racism, we need to identify it as a system problem, not as an individual problem.” - Hassan Hodges

This week on Life in the AND:

Hassan’s experiences as a biracial boy growing up as an American in Liberia
How Hassan sees the world differently, despite growing up in a racially diverse culture
Hassan’s struggles with understanding his racial identity when transitioning from Liberian culture to American culture
The difference between racism and colorism and the oppression he has seen within black communities
Why ‘color blindness’ about race is ineffective and destructive
Why Hassan believes racism is a systematic problem, not an individual problem
What Hassan believes we can do to fight racism
Hassan’s daughter’s diagnosis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and why he decided to develop a mindfulness app
How Hassan pulls out the ‘ands’ in the people he photographs
The ‘ands’ Hassan believes everyone can benefit from

Resources Mentioned:

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Connect with Hassan Hodges:

Embrace Life in the AND

Thanks for tuning into this week’s episode of Life in the AND, the podcast helping you embrace the AND in your life to cultivate more authenticity, creativity, inclusiveness, and love in every area of the world around you. If you enjoyed this episode, please head over to Apple Podcasts to subscribe to the show and leave a review.

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“To fight racism, we need to identify it as a system problem, not as an individual problem.” - Hassan Hodges

This week on Life in the AND:

Hassan’s experiences as a biracial boy growing up as an American in Liberia
How Hassan sees the world differently, despite growing up in a racially diverse culture
Hassan’s struggles with understanding his racial identity when transitioning from Liberian culture to American culture
The difference between racism and colorism and the oppression he has seen within black communities
Why ‘color blindness’ about race is ineffective and destructive
Why Hassan believes racism is a systematic problem, not an individual problem
What Hassan believes we can do to fight racism
Hassan’s daughter’s diagnosis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and why he decided to develop a mindfulness app
How Hassan pulls out the ‘ands’ in the people he photographs
The ‘ands’ Hassan believes everyone can benefit from

Resources Mentioned:

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

Connect with Hassan Hodges:

Embrace Life in the AND

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit our website.

Previous Episode

003 | What Would You Do if You Were Afraid? How to Be Fearful AND Fearless.

Fear is so uncomfortable and unpleasant that we often try to get rid of it. It often stands in our way of the things we want most in our personal and professional lives. In fact, we often idolized people who we perceive as fearless. For many entrepreneurs, becoming a fearless leader is often a goal we strive to achieve, but getting rid of our fear and learning to become fearless is a catastrophic mistake. Instead, we need to use our fear as a tool to motivate us to step out of our comfort zone and take action on our big goals and dreams.

Today, I share why I believe being fearless is a crushing mistake for many entrepreneurs and leaders, and why I believe you can be fearful AND fearless. I share how I perceive fear as a “red light” and a “green light,” depending on the circumstances and situation. I share the strategies I use to face my fears - head-on - while taking massive action toward achieving my goals, my dreams, and my mission in life and business. I also discuss the similarities between fear and courage and the importance of taking baby steps when striving to conquer a big fear.

“Being bold, being courageous, being risky requires being afraid.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

Common fears everyone experiences that can hinder our success in life, love, and business
Why I believe that striving to be fearless is a critical mistake
The benefits of using your fear to your advantage
The “Red Light, Green Light” concept regarding fear
Strategies to become fearful and fearless - at the same time
Getting to the root cause of your fears
Leveraging your fear of not moving forward to overcome your fear of moving forward
Taking baby steps to face and conquer big fears
The similarities between fear and courage

Embrace Life in the AND

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.

Next Episode

005 | Life is a Dataset. Put On Your Scientist Labcoat AND Feel Your Feelings Too

Wouldn’t life be so easy if we didn’t have feelings? If we could just collect data and be analytical without silly things like feelings and emotions getting in our way. But feelings and emotions are critical for our mental health. They serve as natural reactions to the events that are happening around us. They help us cope with injustices and wrongdoings and help us make decisions based on our beliefs, morals, and authenticity. But the longer we suppress our feelings and emotions, the more likely we’ll experience adverse effects on our physical and mental health like stress, anxiety, depression, weight gain, and chronic pain. So, how do we balance our desire to face life analytically without losing sight of our emotions?

It’s an ‘and.’

Today, I discuss how life is like a dataset and why we shouldn’t lose sight of our emotions and feelings when evaluating all of the data life tends to provide. I share the negative impact that suppressing your feelings and emotions can have on your physical and mental health. I discuss the challenges we face with striking a balance between being analytical and feeling our emotions. I also share strategies for finding a healthy balance between your emotions and the analytical data in our businesses and lives.

“Though data don’t have feelings - humans do.” - Erin Baker

This week on Life in the AND:

The negative impact of treating everything you do as a dataset
Why your feelings and emotions are important for your physical and mental
Finding a healthy balance between feeling your emotions and remaining analytical

Embrace Life in the AND

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn and share your favorite episodes across social media. And for more great content and information, be sure to visit my website.