Healing Roots On Up

Healing Roots On Up Mental Health Advocate • Veteran • TBI Survivor • Focused on healing, resilience, and strong families

Before deconstruction, I shared my testimony the way I was taught to share it. Looking back now, I can see how much of t...
03/14/2026

Before deconstruction, I shared my testimony the way I was taught to share it. Looking back now, I can see how much of that story was shaped by the expectations of the community around me. Deconstruction didn’t erase my story. It helped me tell it more honestly.
What has your experience been around testimony time? What patterns have you noticed?

03/13/2026

How many of us grew up performing versions of ourselves just to belong? I know I did. I adapted to the people around me, amplified certain interests, and played roles that felt acceptable because rejection felt worse than losing myself. The truth is when we wear masks to fit in, we’re not really letting people know who we are. Letting go of that performance has been uncomfortable, and yes, my circle has gotten smaller. But authenticity has a way of bringing the right people into your life. I talk about this journey in my book From A**hole to Alright. What role did you play to belong, and are you ready to let it go?

03/11/2026

Learning to really hear my kids changed everything. When children feel safe to express themselves, trust grows and relationships get healthier. I talk about this growth in my book if it resonates with you, link in my bio.

03/10/2026

Shame is often misunderstood. Embarrassment says “I did something wrong.” Shame says “something is wrong with me.” When you grow up around criticism, emotional neglect, or environments where it didn’t feel safe to be fully yourself, that belief can quietly shape your identity. It can show up as people-pleasing, anger, perfectionism, shutting down, or always being on guard. For some of us it didn’t look like shrinking. It looked like fighting. A quick temper, defensiveness, needing control just to feel safe. When I started understanding that what I carried wasn’t a broken personality but learned shame, things began to change. If this resonates with you, you’re not broken. You adapted. And you can heal.

When I was deeply tied to my beliefs, I didn’t realize how much my identity depended on them. It wasn’t just that I beli...
03/06/2026

When I was deeply tied to my beliefs, I didn’t realize how much my identity depended on them. It wasn’t just that I believed certain things about religion, politics, or the world. Those beliefs were holding up my sense of who I was. So when someone presented facts or perspectives that challenged them, I didn’t experience it as information. I experienced it as a threat. If the belief cracked, then my certainty cracked. And if my certainty cracked, then who was I? That’s why so many of us struggle to hear factual information that conflicts with what we’ve been taught. It’s not always about intelligence or honesty. Sometimes it’s about survival of identity. What slowly changed for me was realizing that certainty is not the same thing as truth. Certainty feels safe, but objectivity requires curiosity. It requires the willingness to say “maybe I’m wrong” and still be okay. The more I loosened my grip on certainty, the more room I had to actually think, learn, and grow. Losing certainty didn’t destroy my identity. It gave me the freedom to build a new one that isn’t afraid of questions.

03/01/2026

If you would rather listen than read, check out the link in my bio.

02/26/2026

Most of us did not choose the beliefs we started with. We inherited them. Family, culture, religion, politics, even how we see relationships. Awareness is where real freedom begins because once you see the pattern, you can decide if it still fits you. Growth is not betrayal. It is evolution.

A lot of people living with complex PTSD do not even realize their nervous system adapted to an environment that was not...
02/24/2026

A lot of people living with complex PTSD do not even realize their nervous system adapted to an environment that was not safe or emotionally healthy. When chaos, inconsistency, criticism, neglect, or emotional volatility becomes normal in childhood, we often carry those survival patterns into adulthood without questioning them. That can show up as people pleasing, hypervigilance, difficulty trusting, emotional shutdown, or choices that later leave us wondering why we keep repeating certain cycles. None of this means you are broken or weak. It often means your mind and body did exactly what they needed to do to survive. Awareness is not about blame toward caregivers or yourself. It is about compassion, understanding, and creating space to choose differently moving forward. If you are starting to recognize these patterns in yourself, you are not alone and you are not too late. Healing is possible and it often begins simply with naming what happened and giving yourself permission to matter.

02/20/2026

I thought prayer or the right medication would take the pain away. Most meds didn’t help, and faith often kept me stuck in shame. Real healing came through therapy, self-reflection, and questioning what I was taught. It’s ongoing, honest work.

02/19/2026

Cognitive Processing Therapy helps you identify the unhealthy core beliefs shaped by trauma and conditioning, gently challenge them, and loosen their grip so you can live from truth instead of fear. Healing begins when the story you’ve been telling yourself is finally examined.

02/19/2026

Growth started the moment I stopped defending who I was and got honest about who I had been. If you see yourself in that journey, this conversation is for you.

02/18/2026

Sometimes faith deepens not by believing harder, but by asking better questions. The Bible didn’t just appear as we know it today. Books were chosen, others were left out, and history shaped what many of us were taught. Curiosity isn’t betrayal, it can be the beginning of awareness, growth, and healing.

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