Seeking Care Safely After Harm: Language for Survivors and Providers
Many Survivors have told me some version of this:
"I knew something felt wrong. I just didn't know what to call it."
That is more common than people realize.
You do not need perfect words to deserve help.
You [...]
Survivor Affirmation: For Patti LaBelle, the Beautiful Assertion
Before the world knew her as Patti LaBelle, she was Patricia Louise Holte, a girl from Philadelphia with a voice that could rise from the church floor and shake the rafters loose.
Then came the name: LaBelle.
Beautiful.
[...]
Survivor Affirmation: For Opal Lee, Who Walked Until the Nation Had to Remember
Some people wait for permission.
Opal Lee did something older, wiser, and stronger. She walked.
She walked with history in her bones and freedom in her feet. She walked for Juneteenth when many people treated it [...]
Black Classics Reading List Created by Chelsea Yvonne
In the spirit of Juneteenth, free your mind!Â
These Black literary classics are worth a read or re-read.Â
Gratitude to Chelsea Yvonne for compiling this list of all-time greats.
🌤️ Clarity After Chaos [...]

Hidden Black Film Herstory: Stompin at the Savoy | Directed by Debbie Allen
Sometimes Black women’s films are praised for being “nice,” “nostalgic,” or “beloved,” while the craft gets undercounted. Stompin’ at the Savoy was not just charming. It was skilled. It was layered. It had emotional architecture [...]

For the Hate Crimes Prevention Act: Affirmations for Black People Carrying Too Much Hate from Too Many Directions
racism chases us down for miles.....
On this day, the anniversary of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on October 28, 2009. It expanded fede [...]
Emotional Bandwidth: Why You Sometimes Can’t Be There for People You Love | Dr. Tracey Marks
Emotional bandwidth explained: why cognitive load and stress make empathy harder, and why low bandwidth looks like emotional unavailability in relationships. Take my FREE 3-min Brain Quiz to master focus & [...]

A Juneteenth Reflection for SurvivorAffirmations: Not a Bill. A Bridge.
Some of us grew up hearing about sacrifice in ways that hurt.
“I did everything for you.”
“After all I gave up.”
“You owe me.”
Those words can land heavy in the body when love has been tied to guilt. Survivor [...]

10 Facts About Lift Every Voice and SING!
So my childhood was spent learning this song. We sang this and other songs like it for assemblies. I get out into the world and learn not only have others not heard the song but they see it as "hateful"?
Me: But you don't kn [...]

There Are Souls Beyond the Scoreboard: A History Lesson in Hope, Radio, and Second Wind (podcast episode)
We are not living in the time of afterschool specials, radio dedications, and songs that reached through the static to touch a hurting child’s heart.
So sometimes we have to borrow from the past.
We have to go back to song [...]

Before You Yell “Cocaine,” Learn What 1980s Black Joy Looked Like
I get it. You see the far less expensive gas, housing prices, and food prices, and from 2026, that must look like heaven on earth. I get it. In the early 2000s I had a beautiful two-bedroom townhouse apartment for around $535.00 [...]

Dr. Tracey Marks: People Who Drain You vs. People Who Energize You
Why do some people calm your brain while others drain it? One of our favorite psychiatrists, Dr. Tracey Marks, explains how your nervous system regulates with safe people—plus a simple body check.
[...]
What “Find 100 Ways” Teaches Us About Uplifting the People We Love
There are some songs that do not simply play.
They enter the room.
They adjust the light.
They sit beside you with a kind of grown tenderness and remind you that love was never supposed to feel careless.
James Ingram [...]
The Playlist: Funk, Soul, and Body Release
Some anxiety does not need another explanation. It needs a doorway out of the body.
Sometimes anxiety does not leave through thinking. Sometimes it leaves through the shoulders. Through the jaw. Through the hands. Through the b [...]

The Empty Nest is a Healing Space
The empty nest is not the end of motherhood.
It may be the beginning of a woman’s re-encounter with herself.
Not just a quiet house.
Not just “the children are gone now.”
Not just a season people joke about with sadness, lon [...]
When Dismissal Tries to Turn You Against Your Own Body
“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.” Toni Morrison
Mistreatment often tries to make th [...]

Elizabeth Packard: The Woman They Called Insane Until She Changed the Law
Elizabeth Packard was not simply a “wronged wife.”
She was a mother. A thinker. A religious dissenter. A wife under the rule of a husband who believed disagreement was disobedience. She was a woman living under laws that trea [...]
AFFIRMATIONS AND SELF LOVE
25 Survival Foods of Slaves on Plantations
“I do not wait for permission to create—I design, I build, I transform.”
“Every problem I face carries within it the [...]
HEALING JOURNEY
Survivor Affirmations: The Beauty of Sharing Joy
https://www.tiktok.com/@showdemmovement/video/7583544318443523383?
is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=74812796269856210 [...]
Survivor Affirmation: I Appreciate Me for Being Me (featuring poet Steven Willis w Youtube video link)
Affirmation: I speak to myself in the tone I once searched for in others—
gentle, unhurried, faithful to my becoming.
Oh how I love, adore, and a [...]
Survivor Affirmations: I Tend My Own Light (w video)
We might not be able to be friends and that's okay.
• Part of my healing is recognizing that not every person deserves access to my spiri [...]
Emotional Bandwidth: Why You Sometimes Can’t Be There for People You Love | Dr. Tracey Marks
Emotional bandwidth explained: why cognitive load and stress make empathy harder, and why low bandwidth looks like emotional unavail [...]
✨ Survivor Lesson: When You Rise, You Don’t React the Same
Affirmation + Spiritual Empowerment for Protecting Your Peace
Some people exist to disturb the peace of others. (or so it seems)They push buttons. Th [...]
10 Signs Someone on Your Journey Doesn’t Want the Best for You
Not everyone who walks with you is truly walking for you. Some people clap when you’re down and grow silent when you rise. Here are signs to watch for [...]
CONFIDENCE/POWER/RESILIENCE
I Don’t Have to Explain the Boundaries That Keep Me Safe
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
You’ve explained enough.
Why you stayed. Why you left.Why you didn’t speak sooner. Why you [...]

Being Silenced Doesn’t Mean I Was Wrong
SurvivorAffirmations.com | Inspired by WeSurviveAbuse.com
When the world doesn’t want to hear your truth,they may call you "dramatic", "bitter", "att [...]

I Choose Boundaries, Not Codependency: An Affirmation for Healing
Sometimes, the language of “codependency” gets weaponized against people—especially women—who were raised to care, to
nurture, to serve. Humans [...]

Survivor Affirmation: Moving My Feet In Rhythm is a Sacred Metaphor
 Double Dutch is such a sacred metaphor — playful on the surface, but underneath it’s about rhythm, timing, breath, courage, community, and ancestral [...]
HEALTHING JOURNEY
Holistically Rah | The Truth About Playing Small (That No One Wants to Admit)
The Truth About Playing Small (That No One Wants to Admit) This video reveals the hard truth about why you’re still playing small—when you know you’re [...]
You Didn’t Ask to Be the Mirror
✦ [SurvivorAffirmations.com] ✦
Dear Survivor,
You didn’t ask to be the mirror.But here you are—living, healing, choosing joy.And without even tryi [...]
🌺 You Are the Proof — Not the Problem
They said you were the problem.Too loud. Too soft. Too different. Too much.But the truth is, you were only ever too real for a world addicted to pre [...]
You Do Not Have to Keep Company with Those Who Only See Shadows
You do not have to keep company
with people who are incapable of sharing light.
Some folks walk into the room
and instead of lifting the load,
t [...]
🌿 Josephine Baker: She Found a Place Where She Could Breathe
Joséphine Baker did not just “move to France.”
She left a place that constrained her…and stepped into a place that, for a time, allowed her to expand [...]
Survivor Affirmations: I Choose To Walk Away from What Tries to Shrink Me
There is strength in walking alone when the crowd demands your silence.It takes courage to leave the circle when the cost is your voice.But silence bo [...]
She Is AMAZING
Keep the Faith for Better Dayz: Healing Affirmations for the Weary Heart (video by Kirby)
Affirmations for Better Dayz inspired by the insanely beautiful and talented Kirby!
I am walking past the haze of yesterday and stepping into t [...]
🌺 Marielle Franco: She Spoke. Even When It Was Dangerous to Speak.
Marielle Franco was a Black woman from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
She knew violence.Not from headlines.From proximity.
From lived experience.
F [...]
12 Reasons Lauryn Hill Deserves More Respect for Her Impact on Music (w/affirmations)
The only reason that men question Lauryn Hill's
accomplishments
is because they can't find a way
to take credit for them.
Lauryn Hill was never j [...]
🌿Josephine Baker: She Refused the Limits Placed on Her Body
Joséphine Baker was born in the United States.She knew segregation.She knew what it meant to be looked at and not seen.
So she left.
And in Paris… s [...]
Linda Creed: This Song is With You for the Moments You Stop Choosing Everyone Else Over Yourself (podcast/audio)
People make the world go round.... lyrics by Linda Creed
All these issues people are having with the humane practice of DEI (diversity, equity, and i [...]
They Tried to Erase Her: The Black Woman Behind the Internet
Just because some people don’t clap for you doesn’t mean your victories aren’t worth celebrating. “Innovation is my birthright—I claim it boldly.” [...]
ART HEALS
Life Calls Us to Evolve Culturally Too: Sinners Dancers Revealed !! Juke Joint Scene Explained — Dance Styles, Symbolism & Forgotten History
Life does not call us to evolve through advancements in technology only. Life calls us to evolve culturally as well.Â
Without cultural evolution:
[...]
Theme Music Playlist for the Storms
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Surviving Abuse Daily: I Can’t Do This Without Laughing
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Hidden Black Film Herstory: Stompin at the Savoy | Directed by Debbie Allen
Sometimes Black women’s films are praised for being “nice,” “nostalgic,” or “beloved,” while the craft gets undercounted. Stompin’ at the Savoy was no [...]
JOURNALING/WRITING IN A HEALTHIER WORLD
WE Survive Abuse Podcast















