✨ Nella Larsen was one of the most brilliant yet often overlooked voices of the Harlem Renaissance. Born in 1891 to a Danish mother and a West Indian father, she carried the complexities of race, belonging, and identity in every step of her life—and wove them powerfully into her fiction. Her novels, Quicksand (1928) and Passing (1929), capture the struggles of Black women navigating colorism, gender roles, and societal expectations with a depth that still resonates today.

Though her literary career was brief, Larsen’s work continues to spark conversations about authenticity, survival, and the price of silence. She reminds us that stories do not need to be many to be mighty—they only need to be true.

<p>The post Quotes from Harlem Renaissance Author Nella Larsen first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

• “Your story is not just what happened to you—it’s what you dared to do next.” – WeSurviveAbuse.com

• “Every step you take toward peace is a victory no one can erase.” – Survivor Affirmations

• “You are not the sum of what was taken; you are the abundance of what remains and what you’re still becoming.” – Tonya GJ Prince

• “Even in the ashes, you carry the blueprint of your own rebirth.” – WeSurviveAbuse.com

• “Your boundaries are not walls—they are gardens where your life can grow in safety and joy.” – Survivor Affirmations

• “Healing isn’t about going back to who you were—it’s about becoming the version of you who knows her worth without question.” – Tonya GJ Prince

• “You are proof that light can break through in the deepest night.” – WeSurviveAbuse.com

• “Your voice is a lantern—every time you speak your truth, the path becomes clearer for the next Survivor.” – Survivor Affirmations

• “You don’t have to rush to be whole; even in pieces, you are still worthy of love and protection.” – Tonya GJ Prince

• “Survival was your first miracle. Living fully will be your next.” – WeSurviveAbuse.com

<p>The post 10 Uplifting Quotes to Inspire and Empower Survivors on Their Healing Journey first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

They raised us on a steady diet of sorry.

Sorry for being too loud.
Sorry for taking up space.
Sorry for saying no.
Sorry for wanting more.
Sorry for not smiling.
Sorry for speaking truth.

But here’s what they never expected:
That one day, we would stop saying sorry.
That we would remember:
There is nothing wrong with us.
There never was.

💥 Unapologetic Is Not Rude. It’s Revolutionary.

To be unapologetic is to:

• Speak with your full voice, not a whisper.

• Leave places where your soul is shrinking.

• Say “No, I’m not explaining that again.”

• Take care of yourself first — not after everyone else is done eating.

• Refuse to play small for their comfort.

It is to know that your clarity is not cruelty.
Your boundaries are not betrayal.
Your confidence is not arrogance.

It is to know, deep in your bones:
You do not have to justify your own existence.

🔥 What Being Unapologetic Sounds Like

• “I trust my no.”

• “I don’t need you to agree for me to stand firm.”

• “I said what I said — with love and with finality.”

• “I don’t owe you softness just because I have the capacity to nurture and love deeply.”

• “My life is not a negotiation. It is a declaration.”

Let’s tell the truth:

• When we grieve too loudly — we’re called angry.

• When we lead too boldly — we’re called intimidating.

• When we protect our children — we’re called aggressive.

• When we refuse to bow — we’re called ungrateful.

But we are not angry. We are not ungrateful.
We are unapologetic.

We are holy fire.
We are divine disruption.
We are no longer asking for permission to be free.

🌿 Affirmations: I Will Not Apologize for Being Whole

1. I do not owe softness to systems that have only offered harm.

2. I speak truth without shame.

3. I do not need to be palatable to be powerful.

4. I am not here to make everyone comfortable — I am here to be free.

5. My full, unedited self is a sacred offering — not a mistake.

6. I will no longer betray myself to keep the peace.

7. I was not born to apologize for existing. I was born to embody liberation.

✨ Benediction for the Journey: On Being Unapologetic

May your tongue speak truth before fear finds it.
May your feet carry you boldly into spaces that were never meant to hold your fullness.
May your heart never again shrink to fit into someone else’s story.
And may you remember, always:
You were never too much.
They were never ready.
And you do not owe them your silence.

<p>The post The Sacred Right to Be Unapologetic first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

You were not created to be small.
You were not born to be a whisper in someone else’s legacy.
You are not furniture in someone else’s story —
You are the story.
You are the center.

They will call it arrogance.
They will call it attitude.
They will call it inappropriate, ungrateful, angry, difficult.

But let us be clear — what they fear is your freedom.

✊🏽 Womanist Truth: Our Bodies, Our Minds, Our Voices Deserve to Breathe Fully

From the time we are little girls, Black women are taught to shrink:

• Shrink our tone.

• Shrink our needs.

• Shrink our beauty to avoid envy.

• Shrink our brilliance to avoid backlash.

• Shrink our pain to make others comfortable.

But enough.
Enough of swallowing truth.
Enough of making ourselves digestible to systems that still spit us out.

We are not here to decorate the world.
We are here to move it.

🔥 You Deserve to Take Up Space:

• In rooms you were told you weren’t “qualified” for.

• In movements that try to erase your labor.

• In relationships that want your love but not your limits.

• In healing circles that only speak from one lens.

• In your body. In your culture. In your power.

🔥 Affirmations: I Take Up Space Because I Belong Everywhere I Am

Say these aloud. Daily. Fiercely. Without apology.

1. I am not “too much.” I am exactly who I was born to be.

2. My body is not a burden. It is a map of survival and divinity.

3. I am allowed to take up space — in my voice, in my truth, in my healing.

4. I do not shrink for systems that would rather digest me than protect me.

5. My joy is revolutionary. My boundaries are holy.

6. I do not owe anyone softness, silence, or smallness to be worthy of life.

7. My existence is not for debate — it is a declaration.

8. I belong wherever my spirit dares to rise.

9. The room doesn’t make me valid. I bring the room to life.

10. I am the answer to a prayer my ancestors whispered. I will not shrink.

✊🏽 Quotes

“I am not afraid to be seen. I will not hide my Blackness, my womanhood, or my brilliance for anyone’s comfort.”
— Toni Morrison

“I came as one, but I stand as ten thousand.”
— Maya Angelou

“Your silence will not protect you.”
— Audre Lorde

“I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified… Because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves.”
— Audre Lorde

“Even in silence, I am not small. I am sacred.”
— Tonya GJ Prince

“I stand. I speak. I stay. I take up space. I will not apologize for my presence.”
— Nikki Giovanni

🌿 Say This With Your Chest:

I will not apologize for my size, my sorrow, or my sound.
I will not shave down my brilliance to make it more palatable.
I was never “too much.”
I was more than they were ready for.

✨ Benediction for the Journey: On Taking Up Space

May your hips swing wider with pride.
May your words stretch out and settle where truth lives.
May your presence linger long after you’ve left the room.
May your very breath declare:
I am not here to fit in.
I am here to fill in what was missing before I arrived.

<p>The post 🌍 The Sacred Right to Take Up Space first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

There is a world that fears your full presence.
Not just your voice — but your volume.
Not just your story — but your entire truth.
Not just your survival — but your sovereignty.

And yet… you are still here.
Still becoming.
Still refusing to be erased.

That refusal — to be small, to be silenced, to be erased —
is sacred.

🖤 You Have the Right:

• To take up space.

• To speak without softening your edges.

• To be seen in your pain, your joy, your rage, your healing.

• To not be edited into someone else’s comfort zone.

• To not be only visible when useful, only loved when quiet, only safe when smiling.

You were not put on this earth to be a background character in someone else’s story.
You are the story.

🔥 Quotes to Carry

“I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.”
— Audre Lorde

“When I dare to be powerful… to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.”
— Audre Lorde

“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.”
— Audre Lorde

“I am not wrong: wrong is not my name. My name is my own, my own, my own.”
— June Jordan

“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
— Maya Angelou

“To be a Black woman is to be sacred and endangered at once.”
— Tonya GJ Prince

🌿 Survivor Affirmations: To Be Seen, Loud, and Whole

Say these aloud. Say them often. Say them like your soul is listening.

1. I am no longer dimming my light to make others feel comfortable in their shadows.

2. I deserve to exist loudly — in every room, every story, every timeline.

3. My truth does not require permission.

4. I will not shrink to be more palatable to systems that never protected me.

5. I am not too loud. I am not too emotional. I am not too much.
   I am a full and sacred being reclaiming my space in the world.

6. They can fear my power — but they cannot silence it.

7. My joy is not performative. It is revolutionary.

8. Being fully seen is not vanity. It is divine justice.

✨ Closing Blessing

May you unlearn the lie that survival means silence.
May you remember: your voice is your inheritance, your visibility is your weapon, your wholeness is your offering.
And may every room you enter learn to make space for the sacred sound of a woman who refuses to disappear.

<p>The post 🌺 The Sacred Right to Be Seen, Loud, and Whole first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

<p>The post Keep on Movin: Quotes on Perseverance from Black Women first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

The extraordinary and deeply gifted Queen Latifah has always been intentional about protecting her private life. That boundary deserves respect.

And still, years ago, she chose to share something sacred: that she is a Survivor of sexual violence in childhood.

For many Survivors, moments like this matter more than people realize. Seeing someone who has built joy, artistry, strength, and a full life after harm can quietly steady the heart. It can soften the loneliness. It can remind someone, in the middle of their own long night, that survival is real and wholeness is possible.

Sometimes it isn’t a speech that carries us forward.

Sometimes it’s simply a light.

A small, honest light that says: you are not alone, and your life is allowed to be more than what happened to you.

---

• “When I was around 18, I looked in the mirror and said, ‘You’re either going to love yourself or hate yourself.’ And I decided to love myself. That changed a lot of things.” 

Queen Latifah

 

 

• You just have to connect with people who believe in your vision and who will work with you and advance your cause.

Queen Latifah

 

• No one ever got ahead by going through the motions. You have to constantly be improving yourself. Make your life the masterpiece you want it to be.

Queen Latifah

 

 

 

“instinct leads me to another flow”/Queen Latifah

 

 

• “I am a strong woman with or without this other person, with or without this job, and with or without these tight pants.” 

Queen Latifah

 

 

• The reality is, I like imperfection. You take away from the world when you’re not yourself. Whatever is unique and special about you was designed by God. And when you try to be someone else, we don’t get you. Who knows what you would have contributed to the world had you just been yourself, if you had just celebrated who you are and just walked boldly?” 

 

Queen Latifah

 

 

• Fear can be good when you’re walking past an alley at night or when you need to check the locks on your doors before you go to bed, but it’s not good when you have a goal and you’re fearful of obstacles. We often get trapped by our fears, but anyone who has had success has failed before.

Queen Latifah

 

 

• Let your inner queen’s voice come through loud and clear. Be strong, be authentic, be you, and you’ll do her proud.

Queen Latifah

 

 

• I really don’t know how to be anyone else, and whenever I try to be anyone else, I fail miserably. Or I disappoint myself. It doesn’t build my self-esteem, and it doesn’t help me grow me at all.

Queen Latifah

 

 

• Sometimes I pray when I really feel like I need God to help me with something, and sometimes we just have conversations. We just kick it.

Queen Latifah

 

Thank you, Queen!

<p>The post 10 Inspiring Quotes from Survivor Queen Latifah first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

🌟 Resilience & Strength

1. “You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” parade+2meQuilibrium+2Medium+2

2. “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” Human Rights Careers+1Time+1

3. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”Medium+1meQuilibrium+1

4. “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”A-Z Quotes

5. “Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant.” Goodreads+3Pinterest+3Burning For Success+3

6. “I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.”

7. “I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.”Medium+1meQuilibrium+1

8. “I’ve learned that making a ‘living’ is not the same thing as ‘making a life’.”

9. “I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision

<p>The post 9 Quotes from Maya Angelou to Nourish the Survivor’s Soul (Part 2) first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

Self-doubt can be sneaky, but it doesn’t have to control your life. Here’s how you can silence it and step into your power:

1. Challenge the Negative Voice

When self-doubt creeps in, ask yourself:
🔹 Is this thought actually true?
🔹 Would I say this to a friend?
🔹 What proof do I have that I’m not capable?

Most times, self-doubt is just fear in disguise. Flip the script by replacing negative thoughts with empowering ones like: “I am learning, growing, and improving every day.”

2. Stop Seeking Constant Validation

You don’t need permission to be great! Trust your own instincts and choices. The more you rely on external validation, the louder self-doubt becomes.

3. Focus on Your Strengths, Not Perfection

No one has it all figured out, and that’s okay. Shift your focus to what you do well, instead of obsessing over what you lack. Progress is more important than perfection!

4. Take Action—Even When You Feel Unready

Self-doubt thrives on inaction. The best way to silence it? DO the thing you’re afraid of. Start small, take a step, and watch your confidence grow with each win.

5. Surround Yourself with Positive Energy

The people you listen to shape your mindset. If you’re surrounded by negativity, self-doubt will feel louder. Be intentional about your circle—choose people who uplift and encourage you.

6. Practice Self-Compassion

Instead of being your own worst critic, be your own best friend. When you stumble, remind yourself: “Mistakes don’t define me. I am still worthy of success and happiness.”

7. Visualize Your Best Self

Close your eyes and see yourself thriving—confident, successful, and happy. How does she walk? How does she speak? Step into that version of yourself right now.

💛 You are more powerful than your doubts. Trust yourself and keep moving forward!

<p>The post How Survivors Intentionally Silence Self-Doubt first appeared on Survivor Affirmations.</p>

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