Learning Yourself

Faith, Mental Health, and Learning to Trust the Woman God Created Me to Be

For many years, I worked in mental health and healthcare. I began this journey at the age of eighteen, and as I look back over my life, I realize something powerful: I remembered what I needed to remember when I needed it.

There were lessons I learned years ago that I did not fully understand at the time. There were experiences I stored away without realizing how important they would eventually become. There were conversations, classes, people, cultures, spiritual experiences, and professional encounters that seemed unrelated—but years later, the pieces began coming together.

For a long time, however, I doubted myself.

Then something changed.

The Moment I Began to See Myself Differently

I experienced what I describe as a spiritual awakening around 2010. During that period of my life, my hunger for understanding became deeper. I wanted to understand mental health, healthcare, human behavior, spirituality, culture, and why people make the decisions they make.

I began consuming information from many different areas. My professional experiences exposed me to people dealing with mental illness, trauma, physical illness, family struggles, grief, behavioral challenges, and circumstances that could not always be understood by looking at the surface.

My spiritual life caused me to ask another set of questions.

What makes us who we are?

Why do we respond differently to similar experiences?

How much of who we become is shaped by our environment, our families, our culture, our experiences, our beliefs, and our choices?

And perhaps most importantly:

Who did God create me to be?

I studied my cultural background and genealogy. I became interested in natural approaches to wellness and began recognizing how strongly I was drawn toward a more naturopathic and holistic understanding of the human experience.

I was no longer interested only in symptoms. I wanted to understand the whole person—mind, body, environment, history, relationships, culture, choices, and spirit.

The Day I Released What I Had Been Carrying

At one point, I took a class that required me to deeply analyze myself. I spent hours examining my thoughts, experiences, emotions, reactions, and patterns.

Something happened during that process that I will never forget.

I released an enormous amount of negative emotion.

I felt lighter.

And somewhere in that process, I began to stop doubting myself.

That does not mean I stopped asking questions. In fact, I probably began asking even more questions. But there is an important difference between questioning something so that you can understand it and doubting yourself because someone else does not understand you.

I learned that distinction.

My experiences were still my experiences. I could examine them. I could learn from them. I could challenge my interpretations when necessary. I could continue educating myself. But I did not have to erase my own experiences simply because another person had not experienced life the same way.

That realization changed me.

Understanding My Empathy

As I grew older, I also began recognizing something about myself that had been present for much of my life: people felt comfortable talking to me.

People would share deeply personal things with me. Sometimes they would tell me things they had not told many other people. I found myself naturally listening, encouraging, helping people think through situations, and trying to understand what was underneath their words.

Eventually, I began describing myself as empathic.

For me, empathy does not mean knowing everything another person feels or possessing supernatural knowledge about someone else's life. It means recognizing that I have a deep sensitivity toward people, a strong desire to understand them, and an ability to create a space where people often feel comfortable opening up.

My years in healthcare and mental health gave me professional knowledge. My life experiences gave me perspective. My faith gave those experiences meaning.

Eventually, I stopped asking, "What is wrong with me?"

And I started asking:

"What if there is something right with me that I simply haven't understood yet?"

That was liberating.

God Gives Different Gifts to Different People

One of the greatest lessons I have learned is that God does not create everyone exactly the same.

Scripture teaches:

Some people are gifted teachers. Some are caregivers. Some are encouragers. Some have extraordinary compassion. Others are analytical thinkers, leaders, organizers, creators, or people with strong discernment.

We can spend years comparing ourselves to other people and wondering why we do not think like them, respond like them, or experience life like them.

But perhaps we were never supposed to.

Normal is not one personality, one way of thinking, or one life experience.

Understanding that helped me become more comfortable with the woman God created me to be.

My faith does not require me to stop thinking critically. My education does not require me to abandon spirituality. My professional experience does not require me to deny the personal experiences that shaped me.

For me, faith, education, experience, culture, and self-examination have all contributed to my growth.

Spiritual Understanding Changed How I See Life

My relationship with God has taught me that spiritual development requires intentionality.

Prayer, reflection, studying Scripture, learning, examining my behavior, and spending quiet time with God have helped me see circumstances differently.

There are things that make sense to me spiritually that may not make sense to someone who does not share my beliefs. And I have learned that this is okay.

I do not need everyone to validate my spiritual life.

At the same time, spiritual maturity has taught me to remain teachable. Discernment should not make us believe that we can never be wrong. Wisdom requires us to examine ourselves, seek truth, learn from credible knowledge, and remain humble enough to grow.

Faith and wisdom should work together.

Be Careful About the Company You Keep

Spending time around different cultures, faith traditions, personalities, professions, and communities taught me another important lesson:

Our environment influences us.

Spend enough time around certain behaviors and they can begin to feel normal. Spend enough time around constant negativity and it can affect the way you think. Spend time around people committed to growth, accountability, faith, learning, and purpose, and that influence can affect you too.

That is why I have become intentional about my associations.

This does not mean believing that I am better than anyone else. It means understanding that I have a responsibility to protect what I am cultivating within myself.

I want to continue growing.

I want to flourish.

I want to become wiser.

I want to become healthier emotionally and spiritually.

And I want to continue becoming the best version of the woman God created me to be.

Scripture says:

Who we allow into our inner circle matters.

Stop Allowing Other People to Define What God Put Inside You

One of the most damaging things we can do is allow people who do not understand our journey to convince us to distrust everything about ourselves.

There is a difference between accepting healthy correction and surrendering your identity to someone else's opinion.

I welcome knowledge. I welcome education. I welcome accountability. I welcome wisdom.

But I no longer believe that another person's inability to understand me automatically means that I should doubt myself.

Jesus repeatedly used the language:

Not everyone will understand your spiritual journey, your calling, your growth, or the gifts you believe God has placed within you.

That does not give us permission to become arrogant or unwilling to listen. It gives us permission to become discerning about whose voices receive authority in our lives.

Some voices correct us because they love us.

Some voices teach us because they know something we do not.

Some voices challenge us because we need to grow.

And some voices simply create confusion, fear, and unnecessary self-doubt.

Wisdom is learning the difference.

Becoming the Woman God Created Me to Be

Today, I understand myself differently than I did years ago.

My journey through healthcare and mental health taught me about people. My education taught me how to ask questions. My cultural exploration helped me understand where I came from. My experiences taught me resilience. And my relationship with God taught me that becoming who you were created to be sometimes requires releasing who other people told you that you were supposed to be.

I am still learning.

I am still questioning.

I am still growing.

But questioning no longer automatically means doubting myself.

The more I searched for answers, the more answers I found—and sometimes those answers led to even deeper questions. That process transformed me.

There were changes within me that felt so profound that, at the time, I could not fully explain them.

Now I understand something I wish I had understood much earlier:

You do not have to apologize for becoming more aware of who you are.

You can honor your faith while continuing to learn.

You can trust your experiences while remaining open to evidence and correction.

You can embrace empathy without carrying everyone else's burdens.

You can protect your peace without hating anyone.

You can choose your associations without believing you are superior.

And you can acknowledge the gifts God has given you without needing everyone else to recognize them.

The goal is not to convince everyone that you are gifted.

The goal is to faithfully cultivate what God placed inside you.

So when someone tries to make you doubt everything you have learned about yourself, listen carefully—but discern carefully too.

Not every voice deserves authority over your identity.

Continue learning. Continue praying. Continue examining yourself. Continue seeking wisdom. Continue surrounding yourself with people who encourage healthy growth.

And above all, do not spend your life trying to become someone else's definition of normal.

Become the healthiest, wisest, most loving, disciplined, and spiritually grounded version of the person God created you to be.

#WomenEmpowerment #WomenSupportingWomen #WomenInLeadership #WomenOfFaith #BlackWomenInLeadership #BlackWomenInHealthcare #MentalHealthAwareness #SelfAwareness #PersonalDevelopment #EmotionalIntelligence #Empathy #HealingJourney #SpiritualGrowth #FaithAndPurpose #PurposeDrivenWoman #KnowYourWorth #GrowthMindset #SelfDiscovery #Discernment #BecomingHer #KeepGrowing #WalkInPurpose