What Does My Ideal Life Look Like Beyond Oppression?
Liberation Lessons: Actionable Advice for Radical Change A Weekly Paid Subscriber Bonus
Imagination as a tool for creating sustainable realities
Dear Liberators,
What if the version of your life you’ve been told is “ideal” was never yours to begin with?
We’ve been handed blueprints rooted in survival, assimilation, respectability, and grind. We’ve been told that a “good life” means checking boxes that were never designed with our liberation in mind. We’ve inherited scripts that center capitalism, proximity to whiteness, and disconnection from land, lineage, and community.
But here’s the sacred truth:
You are allowed to want more.
Not more productivity. Not more titles. But more joy. More rest. More connection. More you.
This is the season of emergence—where dreams start taking root and we begin stretching toward the light. But before something can grow, we must first imagine it.
We’re still in the middle of it—the slow unfurling of self, the messy beauty of emergence, the not-quite-there but no-longer-who-we-were place.
This is the in-between space of the season.
And in this liminal space, something sacred lives: imagination.
Not as escapism. Not as avoidance. But as a practice of becoming.
Imagination is a strategy, a survival skill, a spell. It allows us to stretch beyond what has been prescribed and remember what is possible.
Supremacy culture asks us to “be realistic.”
It defines success in productivity and proximity.
It calls our desire delusional if it doesn’t serve its bottom line.
But emergence asks a different question:
What do you want to grow toward—if no one else was writing the rules?
This week, we turn toward that question not to escape our current reality, but to seed the next one.
Because becoming isn’t just about shedding— It’s about choosing what to bloom into.
Liberation begins in the imagination.
It is the sacred act of dreaming beyond systems that have told us we are too much, not enough, too loud, too soft, too late. (at the same damn time)
Supremacy culture says “be realistic.”
Capitalism says “earn your worth.”
Colonialism says “disconnect to succeed.”
But I am saying: be audacious enough to dream anyway.
This week, I’m inviting you to co-create your ideal life—not in reaction to oppression, but in devotion to liberation.
What would your life look like if it weren’t shaped by trauma, survival, or someone else’s expectations?
What becomes possible when we no longer center struggle in our vision, but ease, creativity, and sustainability?
Because liberation isn’t just about breaking free.
It’s about building something new.
Reflection Questions:
What have I been told is “ideal,” and where did that narrative come from?
What parts of my current life are built on survival? What parts are built on sovereignty?
If oppression were not in the way, what would my day-to-day life feel like?
What would I allow myself to want, to receive, to create?
Let’s go deeper...
If you’re feeling the stirrings of something new—if this moment of emergence has you asking “What if I get to build a life that belongs to me?”—you’re right where you need to be.
The rest of this Liberation Lesson includes: ✨ The full LIBERATE Framework™
✨ A somatic ritual to root your imagination in your body
✨ A seasonal practice to help you tend to your dreams
✨ Reflection tools to make your vision real
As a gift for my 46th birthday on April 14th, you can get 46% off an annual subscription when you upgrade today. That’s a whole year of Liberation Lessons, resources, rituals, and community for less than the cost of a single session of coaching or therapy.
And if cost is a barrier, scholarships are always available—just reach out: Scholarships@DesireeBStephens.com
Liberation must remain accessible.
and continue this week’s journey toward your imagined, liberated life.
Let’s keep blooming—together.
Even if you dont join, please take this song on your journey: '“Woke up this morning with my mind set on loving me”