Answering the Call

wassup family? how’s your heart?

before we get into it, why don’t you grab a cup of tea. the invitation is to sip slowly while you read and receive. i love this practice for down regulating the nervous system and bringing us into the present moment. using the senses is a wonderful way to do that. if you have other unmet needs, please take care and come back when you’re done.

we are witnessing a time of egregious and audacious actions by our government. policies and decisions that attempt to strip us of our rights, our humanity, and our dreams. but we meet that audacity with our own. we meet it with the boldness of Black femmes unapologetically chasing their dreams, stepping into their power, and creating the lives they deserve — because why not? why should we not claim abundance, joy, and liberation in a world that has tried to deny us all of it?

there comes a time in every healing journey when the call becomes too loud to ignore. it rises from within, from the spaces in our bodies that have held too much, for too long. it echoes from our ancestors, reminding us that we are the living manifestation of their dreams. and it moves through the world around us – nudging, stirring, opening doors we once thought were locked.

for much of my life, i have wrestled with this call. i have been reduced by systems that sought to define my worth, by expectations that tried to contain my brilliance. i have known the exhaustion of over-explaining my needs, the grief of being unseen, the quiet rage of having to ask for permission to simply exist as i am. but i have also known something deeper, an ancient, unwavering knowing that i was never meant to live in limitation.

healing, for me, has been the process of reclaiming everything that was always mine. my body, my talents, my time, my energy. my right to rest, to create, to move at a rhythm that honors my spirit. it has meant releasing the grip of fear, not by forcing it away, but by making space for it - by understanding that fear is simply a remnant of past wounds, not a prophecy for the future.

i have spent years weaving my gifts into my work within non-profits, moving with purpose in spaces that needed transformation, yet often demanded my labor without nurturing my spirit. i have seen the cycles of burnout and scarcity that keep our most brilliant healers, advocates, and visionaries stuck in survival mode. and i, too, have played my part in that dance – believing that my worth was measured by my output, by how much I could endure before breaking. and i broke.

but the road has opened. my ancestors whispered, then shouted. the signs became too clear to ignore. at first, i resisted, seeking comfort in what i knew – the structure of a 9-5, the safety of a steady paycheck, the illusion of stability. but they said no. now is the time. you must go it alone and learn to fly, little bird.

stepping away from the non-profit space to fully invest in my gifts as a spiritual guide and wellness practitioner has required courage, bravery, and a willingness to experiment. it has meant surrendering to the unknown, allowing myself to be a student again, embracing the discomfort of learning new things and finding my own rhythm outside the pace and frequency of capitalism. it has meant leaning into patience, understanding that things take longer when you are building something from the soul.

i do not take this privilege lightly – the ability to take this leap, to stay with my parents, to have a home base as I grow into this next version of myself. i recognize that not everyone has the space to step away, to unlearn, to reimagine their livelihood from the ground up. and so, i move with deep gratitude, knowing that this path is not just for me but for all those who will come after me.

i am learning to trust myself again. to surrender, not as an act of giving up, but as an act of allowing. allowing my intuition to guide me. allowing my gifts to take shape without needing them to be immediately understood. allowing life to unfold in ways i could not have planned, but that serve me in ways i never imagined.

for me this is what it means to answer the call. it is not about striving or forcing. it is about returning, again and again, to the truth that has always lived within us. it is about reclaiming the fullness of who we are, outside of systems that have tried to diminish us.

and so, i invite you into this unfolding. into the practice of listening, of reclaiming, of dreaming without apology. your healing is your own, but you do not walk alone. you are carried by generations who dreamed you into being, by a future that is waiting for you to step fully into yourself.

The call is here. The path is yours. Are you ready?

invitational journal prompt: what would it look like to fully trust the path unfolding before you, even if it feels uncertain or uncharted? where in your life are you being called to surrender and step into your gifts?