The Myth of Self-Made Liberation: Dismantling individualism in our bloom stories
Liberation is communal, or it isn’t liberation at all
🌬️ Before we begin… let’s exhale the myth.
Close your eyes if it feels safe.
Breathe in through your nose ~hold it~
And as you exhale, imagine releasing the weight of doing it all alone.
Inhale again…
this time, breathe in memory.
Of all the people who held you when you forgot you were worthy.
Of all the ways care showed up when you were too tired to ask.
Exhale the fantasy of “self-made.”
Exhale the lie of hyper-independence.
Exhale the scarcity that told you asking for help makes you weak.
Place your hand over your heart.
Say it softly:
“My liberation has never been mine alone.”
Now we begin.
The Lie We Were Fed
We’ve been told a story:
That the most powerful person is the one who does it all.
Who climbs without help.
Who builds alone.
Who heals alone.
Who becomes without needing anyone.
But that story is not liberation.
That story is capitalism in a liberation costume.
Because true liberation—the kind that sustains—requires us to name the roots of our becoming.
It demands that we dismantle individualism in how we tell our bloom stories.
It asks us to remember:
You were never meant to do this alone.
You never have.
Personal Rootwork: This Week Alone
I want to be clear (this isn’t theory for me.) This is lived.
This week alone, I’ve been showing up daily for my son during his statewide testing.
I sit beside him. Breathe with him. Regulate with him.
He’s not doing it alone, and neither am I.
Because while I’m holding him through his growth, community is holding the rest.
Coaches are picking up the other kids.
Aunties are staying late to care for the little ones.
Friends are helping with logistics so I can take Erin to Furry Con—because joy is a priority, not an afterthought.
This week could have broken me… if I was doing it alone.
But I’m not.
And I don’t want to be.
Because we were not designed to suffer through our existence.
That’s a lie born of empire.
A lie built through the weaponization of Christianity.
The idea that salvation only comes through suffering?
That joy must be earned through exhaustion?
That rest and ease are sinful unless preceded by endless toil?
That is not liberation. That is indoctrination.
What If… We Chose Ease?
What if we stopped trying to prove we can do it all?
What if our joy wasn’t conditional on our exhaustion?
What if ease was our birthright, not a reward?
This is the myth I’m asking us to dismantle; together.
And if this reflection has moved something in you, I invite you to root deeper with us.
What’s on the other side of this paywall isn’t exclusive; it’s intentional.
It’s a place where we practice what the world told us was weak:
Community. Reciprocity. Receiving. Joy.
Come join us.
✨ $8/month | $80/year | $120 equity partner
✨ Scholarships always available – just ask: Scholarships@DesireeBStephens.com
Because we don’t rise alone. We bloom in chorus.