Hello!

I became conscious of the need for self-love around 2018. I was two years into being a new mom and I was going through what I believe was postpartum depression that was undiagnosed and untreated. I was under an immense amount of stress and i felt unstable, as I had a lot to manage in my home and professional life. I was a student, mother/auntie with small children, caretaker, and birth worker. I was tired and irritated all of the time and I had physical symptoms that indicated something was not right. 

I knew that in order to cope with my circumstances, I would have to take better care of myself. My mother made arrangements with my uncle for me to go on sabbatical. I had 3 weeks away from my family to try to get myself together. I used those three weeks to start working out again, establish a self care practice and reflect on next steps. I chose something small to start with, somthing I could commit to every day. I started with baths.

Even though I could not control my circumstances, I could manage to take the time to prepare a healing bath every night. No matter what I had to do or what I had going on, I would prepare a bath with epson salts, baking soda, and essential oils. This helped me feel better physically and it started to help lift some of the mental fog I was experiencing.

In 2019, I decided to address the physical symptoms I had been experiencing. In 2017 I began noticing excessive hair in the shower and a strange rash on my face that started small but began to spread across my nose. Because I had so much going on in my life I ignored my symptoms and continued on with my very hectic life. It wasn’t until I went to get a tapered haircut that I really learned what I was dealing with and began to understand that severity of the symptoms I had ignored. 

I found a few pictures of styles that I loved and saved them to my phone. I wanted something bold that I never would have tried before. I was going to shave off the sides of my hair and cut the top medium short. As the barber began to work on my head she stated that should could not cut my hair as short as I wanted because I had a bald spot and it would show. I did not believe her and went home to show my friend my new cut.

Later that night I washed my hair so my friend could help me style my hair. As she was working on my hair she mentioned the bald spot. I thought the stylist knicked my hair and blamed it on a pre-existing bald spot. Little did I know that was not the case

I went home and processed what occured. I started to think of all the times I saw extra hair on the shower floor or the times that my head was tender but I had not experienced anything that would make it sore. After a few months of trying short hairstyles I shaved off all of my hair to see where I had bald spots. I then schedule an appointment with a dermatologist. Blood tests and a skin biopsy showed I had markers for discoid and systemic lupus. A couple of years prior, a biology mentor noticed my rash and mentioned lupus. He gave me a recommendtion but I did not take action at that time.

After confirmation about my lupus, I visited my wholistic primary care doctor for guidance on how to to proceed.  I had already allowed the disease to progress for so long. I was advised to eat an anti-inflammatory diet and to take measures to address the stressors in my life. It was hard and it has taken me several years of trial and error.  

While on my healing journey, I have learned many invaluable lessons about what wholistic health really means and how to achieve it. I learned that for people to truly be whole, they must acheive a healthy body, mind, spirit, AND soul. I also learned that self-love was the key ingredient to achieving it all.

My desire is that I can help you on your healing journey by sharing some things that have helped me through mine. As I continue my journey to self-love and wholeness, I invite you to join me on the way.