Blooming is a Form of Resistance
To thrive, to exist loudly, to live joyfully — these are revolutionary acts.
🌬️ Before We Begin: Come Home to the Bloom
Take a breath.
Feel your chest rise, your spine root, your jaw soften.
Breathe in — My thriving is not selfish.
Breathe out — It is sacred.
Breathe in — My joy is not fragile.
Breathe out — It is my rebellion.
Place your hand over your heart and whisper:
“This bloom is not accidental. It is ancestral.”
Now, we begin.
Blooming is a Form of Resistance
We live in a world that benefits from our depletion.
From systems that teach us to equate worth with labor...
That reward us for shrinking...
That uplift us when we’re struggling, but resent us when we’re shining.
In a world like that?
To thrive is a threat.
To bloom is a boundary.
To live joyfully is a revolutionary act.
Because systems of whiteness, empire, and capitalism want us quiet, invisible, docile. They want our bodies obedient and our joy deferred.
They do not want us fed. Or full. Or free.
But blooming says: I belong. I will take up space. I will be soft and bright and unapologetic.
Blooming says: My existence is not a reaction. It’s a return.
Blooming says: You do not own my timeline, my worth, or my becoming.
The Truth Behind the Bloom
Don’t confuse the petals for ease. Blooming isn’t lightwork.
It often begins in the dark.
In the quiet decision to heal.
In the boundary that reshapes your lineage.
In the “no more” that echoes from your bones.
In the grief that waters the ground beneath you.
Blooming is not aesthetic. It is somatic.
And the roots? They’re just as holy as the flower.
If You’re Blooming Right Now…
Even if it’s tender. Even if it’s slow. Even if it’s quiet.
Pause.
And say:
“I am not behind. I am in process.”
“I do not owe my story to anyone to make it valid.”
“I am allowed to thrive without apology, performance, or proof.”
What This Has to Do with Liberation
You might be wondering:
What does any of this have to do with anti-racism, decolonization, or dismantling supremacy culture?
Everything.
Because liberation is not just about protest signs and policies.
It’s about who you believe yourself to be when no one is watching.
Blooming challenges:
The myth of scarcity.
The narrative that only struggle makes you legitimate.
The deep conditioning that tells us joy must be earned.
When you bloom… you interrupt.
When you bloom… you deprogram.
When you bloom… you invite others to unbury themselves too.
That is the work.
Want to Root Deeper in the Work?
Every Monday, I share these free writings as an offering.
But what lives behind the paywall? That’s where we root into practice.
As a paid subscriber, you receive:
✨ Weekly Liberation Lessons (Sat)
✨ Somatic rituals + journal prompts (Wed/Fri)
✨ The R.O.O.T.S. Method™ and LIBERATE Framework™ in action
✨ First access to offerings like Cinema & Conjure + the Decolonization Pathway
✨ Community that holds you as you bloom — no matter how slow, soft, or fierce it is
$8/month • $80/year • $120/year equity partner
Scholarships always available → Scholarships@DesireeBStephens.com
Because we don’t do this work alone. We do it in rhythm. In community. In our own sacred season.
So What Does It Actually Look Like… to Bloom?
To bloom is not to “have it all together.”
It’s not a linear progression or a curated aesthetic.
It’s not a checklist of wokeness or a performance of arrival.
To bloom is to become more honest. More rooted. More aligned.
It looks like:
Saying “no” without needing a 3-paragraph explanation.
Eating before the meeting. Resting without guilt.
Having hard conversations from your healed self, not your performative one.
Reparenting yourself while holding your child with grace.
Building work systems that nourish, not extract.
Choosing joy when the world says grief is your only inheritance.
Blooming is less about “doing” liberation... and more about living liberated.
It's how we bring the frameworks home.
Into our calendars.
Into our kitchens.
Into our bodies.
Into our relationships.
Because supremacy culture doesn’t just show up at work. It shows up in how we overfunction in our homes, overextend in our caregiving, and override our body’s signals just to “make it through the day.”
To bloom is to reclaim your rhythm.
To remember your capacity.
To build a life that doesn’t mimic the systems you’re trying to dismantle.
Practice Your Praxis: Embodying the Bloom (Self • Home • Work)
SELF:
– Begin your morning with a simple check-in: “What do I need to feel rooted today?”
– Choose one habit rooted in survival (overgiving, apologizing, shrinking). Interrupt it gently.
HOME:
– Ask your loved ones: “What does it look like for us to bloom together?”
– Set one collective boundary this week that protects everyone’s peace.
WORK:
– Name where grind culture is still disguised as commitment.
– Blooming at work might mean: logging off on time, protecting your sabbath, or simply saying: “I don’t have capacity right now.”
Journal Prompts: Slow Bloom Reflections
Write from the body. Not the brain. Let your truth rise.
What does blooming feel like in my body, not just in my accomplishments?
What parts of myself am I afraid to let bloom, because I fear how others will respond?
Where in my life am I rushing a process that needs reverence?
What systems (external or internal) taught me that thriving was selfish?
What needs to be restructured in my life so I can bloom without apology?
June’s Offering: Your Next Invitation
“Radical Self Love Meditations for European Americans leaving White Supremacy” — A Guided 4-Week Journey for White Bodied people and Anti-Racist Practitioners
Facilitated by me, Desireé B. Stephens, alongside the incredible KoKayi
this offering is for those ready to do more than perform their politics, but embody their liberation.Together we’ll explore:
🔹 How racialized shame & fragility block healing
🔹 The 15 Pillars of Supremacy Culture in action
🔹 Racial shadow work & inherited emotional resistance
🔹 Somatic grounding to regulate racialized discomfort
When:
Tuesdays in June: 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th
Live on Zoom (Replays available for Patreon members only)
Spots are limited.
This is not a lecture — it’s a container for transformation.
"You cannot unlearn whiteness with intellect alone. This is healing work."
For details, questions, or sliding scale inquiries: royalstar907@gmail.com
To sign up go here: https://www.patreon.com/c/desireebstephens
Cinema & Conjure with LadySpeech Sankofa + Desireé B. Stephens
June 8th | 6PM–10PM | Location TBA (Atlanta area)
Join us for a summer series of movies and magic.
We're kicking off with Practical Magic (1998) — a story of matrilineal power, shame, sensuality, and spiritual return. And we are not just watching a film — we’re creating a ritual space of reclamation, softness, and spellwork.
Film: Practical Magic
Theme: A matrilineal legacy of power, shame, and resilience.
Ritual Pairing:
Salt bowl for clearing shame
Sensual herb-infused dressings
Candle magick to call your power home
Prompt to Sit With:
What part of your power have you banished in order to be accepted?
The Invitation:
Come dressed in what makes you feel soft and untouchable. We’ll eat, circle, reflect, and create sacred space together. This is about pleasure as prophecy, softness as survival, and power as reclamation.
The Reading:
Practical Magic teaches us that reclaiming your power is not a solo act—it’s communal, messy, sensual, and sacred.
How It Dismantles Supremacy Culture:
Fear of Open Conflict: Emotions become power, not shame.
Either/Or Thinking: We embody both grief and joy, shadow and sensuality.
Power Hoarding: The film shows the shift from fear-based secrecy to collective empowerment.
Individualism: Healing is not a solo path—it’s circle work, sisterhood, communal magick.
Everyday Majik is the Way Back to the Divine:
From stirring your coffee counterclockwise to crafting a salt circle in your kitchen, Practical Magic reminds us that ritual lives in the everyday. Your intuition, your scentwork, your candle — that is majik. That is the portal.
🎟️ Reserve Your Spot: https://desireebstephens.bio/shop/dbb6902a-f19b-4d40-bea3-ed049649bc27
In Closing: Bloom Anyway
They told you that thriving was extra.
That joy was indulgent.
That rest was laziness.
That softness was weakness.
They lied.
Your bloom is not a luxury.
It’s not a bonus.
It’s the evidence that something sacred survived.
So bloom.
Even if it’s slow.
Even if it’s inconvenient.
Even if it makes them uncomfortable.
Bloom anyway.
Because it’s your birthright.
Because it’s your resistance.
Because your ancestors dreamed it so.
You are not too late. You are not behind.
You are not too loud, too soft, too complicated.
You are blooming.
And if the world has told you that your softness is a liability, I’m here to tell you it’s a strategy.
If they told you your joy was dangerous, it’s because it is. It disrupts. It declares you worthy.
Let May be the month you stop shrinking.
Let June be the month you step into new soil.
Let every breath remind you… you are not a machine.
You are a bloom in motion.
And that? That’s revolution.
In solidarity and liberation,
Desireé B. Stephens, CPS-P
Educator | Counselor | Community Builder
Founder, Make Shi(f)t Happen
New Agreements, New Systems, Deeper Connections
Writer of Liberation Education
Where Reflection Meets Transformation
Once again, you have named something I couldn't quite put words to. I am blooming. Embracing humanity and resistance to inhumanity is the absolute best work I've ever done; I look forward to doing this for the rest of my life.
Your June program sounds wonderful. Thank you for centering us, again.