Artist Jossie Harris Thacker: Building On Where You Come From — Without Going To War With It

Some of us were taught that “healing” means disowning everything that shaped us.

The accent.
The neighborhood.
The elders.
The songs.
The faith.
The grit.
The way we survived.

But healing isn’t about waging war on the very ground that held us up when nothing else did.

Survival was not a flaw.
Survival was a blessing.
Survival was wisdom gathered under pressure.

The work now is different:

• We keep what is strong.

• We set down what is harmful.

• We learn new ways without shaming the old ones.

Because while we’re busy rejecting our foundation, there are always others quietly studying it, borrowing from it, profiting from it — and praising themselves for “discovering” what our grandmothers already knew.

You deserve to grow without erasing yourself.

You deserve to rise without apologizing for your roots.

You deserve to heal without rewriting your story as shame.

Your history is not your enemy.
Your history is the soil.

And soil can be enriched, tended, watered — not destroyed.

Affirmations

• I honor the people and places that carried me this far.

• I bless what helped me survive and release what no longer serves me.

• My roots are not a burden — they are strength, memory, and guidance.

• I build forward with gratitude, clarity, and confidence.