Where I've Been...

Where I'm Going...

& What Guides My Journey

I started my therapy journey five years ago, not realizing it would become the catalyst for intense and transformative change in my life. At 25, like many others my age, I was experiencing a quarter-life crisis because I had not met stereotypical standards of success—high income, a partner and family, luxury material items, and happiness. This feeling was intensified by unhealed trauma, which reverberated through my body and was deeply embedded in my unconscious.

I had to find my self-worth to begin transforming my dirty pain into clean pain. The beginning of this journey was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, as I had to confront myself and ask, Is this how I want to show up for myself and in the world? With the guidance of my Black woman therapist, whom I’ve had the privilege of working with for the entire five years, I shared and unpacked my feelings, purged emotions through free and guided journaling, read books, and repeatedly asked myself, Who am I, and why do I love me? Learning to love myself wholly and unapologetically was frightening, but it has led me on a journey of freedom—freedom from societal norms and stigmas. It allowed me to realize there is another way to live, one rooted in safety, care, and love for myself and others.

My Grounding Values

Joy

Care

Love

Integrity

Comfort

Creativity

Authenticity

Justice

Accountability

Gaining emotional stability led to mental clarity and a desire to learn more about myself and the world. I picked up books like Be a Revolution, Black Fatigue, I’m Not Yelling, and Healing Justice to deepen my understanding of where my ancestors have been and to challenge my perceptions of how the world works. I then fused this knowledge with my 29 years of lived experience to cultivate a path I hope will lead me, Black communities, and other marginalized peoples toward justice, freedom, and liberation.