Susan Kelechi Watson in Good Housekeeping March 2019
This Is Us: Susan Kelechi Watson on How Beth Is Finding Her Identity Apart From Randall
![On pushing through circumstances to achieve your dreams: "I had to really press through to get to being the artist I am today. There was a time when I just didn't have the opportunities, which meant going without things in my life — whether it was clothes, or food, or money — and living a really bare-bones life. What I did was try to become the person I wanted to be in the future. Even though I didn't have everything I wanted, I wasn't like, Oh, when I get to that place, things will be great. I'd go, I have to make where I am now be great . . . and then that will be great. There is no better than now. So if I wanted to feel something in my future, I'd bring it into the present: If I want to be mentored, how do I mentor somebody else? If I want to be in a good financial place, how do I start that now? How can I incorporate the principles that I want in my future into my life now? You have to practice the life you want, regardless of what the circumstances are."
On enjoying getting older and her future dreams: "I take a lot [of direction] from my great-grandmother. I would tell my future self to enjoy getting older . . . but not to get old. Hopefully I become a grandmother, and hopefully I'll live into my 90s like my great-grandmother did, but not seem old. Stay active, stay involved, surround yourself with people who have a firm life and continue to laugh a lot."
On not letting her circumstances dictate her value: "For a while, people were using these gold dollars in New York, I guess because in the subway, when it gave you change, it was in coins. I dropped one in the dirt once, and I looked at this coin in the dirt, and I was like, Huh, you know what? This coin is sitting in the dirt, but it is still worth a dollar. It doesn't matter that it's in the dirt. It doesn't change the value of the coin. It was such a lesson for me, because I didn't want my circumstances to change what I thought was my value. I think so often we can let our circumstances dictate what our value is. And I have to remember that my value is the same whether I'm in the dirt or I'm picked up and dusted off. It taught me about still valuing myself, still holding my head up in the midst of not being in the place I wanted to be."
On her personal mottoes: "I have a few Jamaican proverbs I live by. So a Jamaican would say, 'What's mine can't be un-mine' and 'We run things, things no run we.' The idea 'We run things, things no run we' motivates me, and 'What's mine can't be un-mine' settles me; it makes me feel at peace. Life should flow from you, not be happening to you, you know what I mean? That's something I learned a long time ago, to let it flow from us and not let it toss us all over the place. There are things you cannot control, but you can find some balance in all of it."](https://media1.popsugar-assets.com/files/thumbor/sNsEWQ6KrCdAhAwJbURDtvab-WM/fit-in/1024x1024/filters:format_auto-!!-:strip_icc-!!-/2019/02/12/775/n/1922283/06d9d50bc32612e9_GH_March_19-Susan_Kelechi_Watson_2/i/pushing-through-circumstances-achieve-your-dreams-I-had.jpg "On pushing through circumstances to achieve your dreams: \"I had to really press through to get to being the artist I am today. There was a time when I just didn't have the opportunities, which meant going without things in my life — whether it was clothes, or food, or money — and living a really bare-bones life. What I did was try to become the person I wanted to be in the future. Even though I didn't have everything I wanted, I wasn't like, Oh, when I get to that place, things will be great. I'd go, I have to make where I am now be great . . . and then that will be great. There is no better than now. So if I wanted to feel something in my future, I'd bring it into the present: If I want to be mentored, how do I mentor somebody else? If I want to be in a good financial place, how do I start that now? How can I incorporate the principles that I want in my future into my life now? You have to practice the life you want, regardless of what the circumstances are.\"
On enjoying getting older and her future dreams: \"I take a lot [of direction] from my great-grandmother. I would tell my future self to enjoy getting older . . . but not to get old. Hopefully I become a grandmother, and hopefully I'll live into my 90s like my great-grandmother did, but not seem old. Stay active, stay involved, surround yourself with people who have a firm life and continue to laugh a lot.\"
On not letting her circumstances dictate her value: \"For a while, people were using these gold dollars in New York, I guess because in the subway, when it gave you change, it was in coins. I dropped one in the dirt once, and I looked at this coin in the dirt, and I was like, Huh, you know what? This coin is sitting in the dirt, but it is still worth a dollar. It doesn't matter that it's in the dirt. It doesn't change the value of the coin. It was such a lesson for me, because I didn't want my circumstances to change what I thought was my value. I think so often we can let our circumstances dictate what our value is. And I have to remember that my value is the same whether I'm in the dirt or I'm picked up and dusted off. It taught me about still valuing myself, still holding my head up in the midst of not being in the place I wanted to be.\"
On her personal mottoes: \"I have a few Jamaican proverbs I live by. So a Jamaican would say, 'What's mine can't be un-mine' and 'We run things, things no run we.' The idea 'We run things, things no run we' motivates me, and 'What's mine can't be un-mine' settles me; it makes me feel at peace. Life should flow from you, not be happening to you, you know what I mean? That's something I learned a long time ago, to let it flow from us and not let it toss us all over the place. There are things you cannot control, but you can find some balance in all of it.\"")
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