Becoming the Fire Turning pain into power — reclaiming your voice.

As I sit here looking at my hands, I see more than just mine. I see the hands of two beautiful women. I see my grandmother, Ellen Louise. I see your strength. Your hard work. I see the sun spots from all the countless hours you spent outside planting and tending to your gardens. I see you digging up the backyard just to make me a swimming pool — with a canopy, I might add. I remember you using cow watering cans just to make sure I stayed cool in the summer. I see the pride you carried in these hands with every meal you made for your family, cooking with love every single time. But I also see the pain you endured. The times you weren’t seen. The times you weren’t heard. The times you were misunderstood. You stayed because that’s what women did. You carried it quietly, and you kept loving anyway. Then I see the other set of hands — my beautiful mother, Diane Rose. Your strength looked different, but it was just as powerful. You fought the fight, Mom. You never gave up. You never said you couldn’t do something. Even in a wheelchair, you believed you had no boundaries, and you were determined to prove everyone wrong — even the doctors. I watched you fight again and again to beat the odds stacked against you. Momma, your heart was so big. You cared for everyone, even when people treated you wrong — men and women who saw you as less than. But you never saw yourself that way. Your elegance was more than beauty. It was class, with a little touch of “bougie,” just like you used to say. You always said a woman doesn’t need to show her body to be classy. And if you couldn’t be rich, you could at least look rich. No matter where we lived — even in the roughest projects — you made it a home. You made it ours. I am so grateful for your wisdom and your guidance. I wish you could see me now — healed, full of love, full of joy. I wish I could sit with both of you just one more time and say thank you. Thank you for the tough love. Thank you for the lessons. Thank you for never giving up on me, even when, in my pain, I told myself stories that you didn’t love me or that you were bad mothers.

What is the guilt and shame you have had to swallow. Put this week’s writing on this post.

Let’s go live at 7:30 writing into the wound sisters and brothers. Let’s go live. I’m feeling that there is a need to do alive. I feel some heavy emotions. @Erika Mathis @Liz Matheny @Lamar McAllister @Liam David @Luniver Lago @Mellissa Rhoades @Hollena Matthews @Tamika Brown @Dawn Burgess @Jen Borgstadt @Nicole Banker @Nybria Forrest @Jay Dimick @Elizabeth Matheny @Angie Flunker @Jessica Rose @Manda Jackson @Sierra Meyer @Savannahh Y @Erica Stoll @Keon Vance @Jessica Rose

Are you ready to start th new year off correctly let’s think about what was 2025 really about for you? Was it looking within and healing the underlying negative beliefs and thoughts that has rented space in your head for 5, 10, 15, 20+ plus years. What if I could help you break that trauma looping. I want honest response not what you could afford but what is it worth to you. To live a life free of those thoughts? Answer below new year let’s jump into our New Year’s resolution self love self care @Alice Barrows @Angie Flunker @Dawn Burgess @James Bansbach @Jay Dimick @Liam David @Elizabeth Matheny @Erica Stoll @Nybria Forrest @Hollena Matthews @Jay Dimick @Jen Borgstadt @Jessica Rose @Keon Vance @Lamar McAllister @Luniver Lago @Robbye Venice@Teresa Payne @Nicol Mathis @Nicole Banker @Manda Jackson @Manda Jackson