For as long as I can remember, I have put others’ needs before my own. Where did this come from exactly? Was it a taught behavior? Was it a way to protect myself from the unpredictability...
Encouraging/Empowering Others
THEY CAN NOT BREAK US
Today, I realized that I am so strong, because I have three stories like this. Three times someone tried to rape me—first, when I was eight years old, [the] second time when I...
Survive
Covid affected all of us. We had to stay in our homes and become sick of each other if not of an illness. We had to rely on technology and become zoom-bies. But some of us teenage, black...
Strive To Be Better Than Who You Were Yesterday.
Two of the most prime dates in my life are 12.14.2020 and 19.01.2021. It was on these two dates (respectively), that I gave my acceptance speech to my country for being celebrated as the...
You will overcome!
The quote reads ‘Things either make you or break you.’ I believe at first, my life really broke me. But when I started to comprehend how wasteful I was being with my existence, it was...
Finding my birth mother
Being adopted didn’t give me a better life, but it changed the route of my life journey and I’d like to share a little bit about that with all of you this evening. One day when I was 8...
My whole life I have been struggling with self love
My whole life I have been struggling with self love. I have felt lost like I don’t belong anywhere, I have been trying to look for validation from everywhere else and have felt...
Seeing a future after attempting suicide in grad...
For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled with anxiety. My earliest memory of it was in the first grade. I talked in class, trying to make a friend – unfortunately, I did it while...
It wasn’t your fault
Trigger warning: Before reading this post, please be aware that it contains references to rape. It’s hard to believe I’d ever have a story to tell. Some days it’s easier and some days...
The Reminders My Body Gives Me
This past weekend I noticed acne on the back of my shoulders and neck. At first, I was annoyed – 32 years old and religiously doing skin maintenance and I am still breaking out. Then it...