Is your life today what you pictured a year ago?

When The World’s Pain Redirects Your Purpose
A year ago, the picture of my life looked very different in my mind. I imagined myself taking my usual two or three trips a year, popping up at book events, and promoting my literature at meet and greets. I thought my focus would stay on travel, books, and the familiar rhythm of my author life.
But the world shifted—and with it, so did I.

Somewhere between the scrolling, posting, and daily routines, God interrupted my plans with something heavier, holier, and far more urgent. One by one, I began to stumble across stories on social media of people who had quietly lost their battle with mental illness. Their lives ended, not because they were weak, but because they were unseen, unheard, and unsupported in the moments they needed help the most.

Seeing What We Missed
What shook me the most was not just the news of their passing, but what I saw when I went back through their posts.

The signs were there.
You could feel the heaviness between their lines. You could sense the isolation, the hopelessness, the “goodbye without saying goodbye.” Some of them wrote about being tired. Some joked about not wanting to be here anymore. Some slowly withdrew. To the untrained eye, it looked like normal venting. To a community without education, it blended into the noise of the timeline.

An example post of why HEAR to HEAL was created is to hear those individuals who are crying in silence.

SIP Beautiful Queen

“With the Hear to Heal journal, my goal is to help reduce the frequency of self-harm and promote emotional awareness, healthy coping skills, and healing conversations.”

But to a heart paying attention, it was a cry for help.
I realized something devastating: many of us simply are not taught how to recognize those cries. We scroll past pain and don’t even know that it is pain. We comment “you got this” on what is really a mental breakdown. We double-tap a post that is actually someone’s last attempt to be seen.
That realization would not let me go.

From Grief To Assignment
I knew those stories were not crossing my path by accident. God was not just showing me tragedy—He was handing me an assignment.
As I prayed and reflected, one question stayed in my spirit:
What can I create that hears people when they don’t feel heard?
I didn’t want to just make another “pretty” journal with cute quotes and blank lines. I wanted to build a companion—a safe space that could sit with someone at 2 a.m. when their thoughts are loud, when they are too ashamed, too afraid, or too exhausted to reach out.

That is how HEAR to HEAL was born.
What HEAR to HEAL Really Is

HEAR to HEAL is a guided companion journal created for the ones who are crying out loud and still not being heard.
It is for the person who smiles in public and collapses in private.
For the one who says “I’m fine” while their spirit is silently screaming.
For the one whose community doesn’t yet have the language to recognize a mental health crisis.

This journal:
• Invites you to pour out what you don’t feel safe saying out loud.
• Helps you notice patterns in your thoughts, moods, and triggers.
• Encourages you, over and over, to seek help when the weight becomes too heavy to carry alone.
Throughout the pages, you are reminded that there is no shame in reaching out—to a therapist, a doctor, a trusted friend, a pastor, or a crisis line. You are reminded that your pain is not an inconvenience and that your life is worth fighting for.
This journal is here to hear your cries or desperation—not in judgment, but in love—to help you recognize what’s needed to help heal.

When Purpose Feels Different Than Planned
If you had told me a year ago that I would be this deeply immersed in mental health advocacy, I might not have believed you. My plans were lighter, more familiar, and frankly, more comfortable. But purpose rarely shows up in comfort. It often shows up in disruption—through the stories that break your heart and keep you up at night.

Today, my life is better than I anticipated, not because it is easier, but because it is aligned.
I still love to travel. I still cherish those moments at pop up shops and book signings. But now, every flight, every event, and every post carries something more: a mission to make sure fewer cries go unheard and fewer lives slip away in silence.

HEAR to HEAL is my offering to that mission.
If you are reading this and you feel like you’ve been holding everything in, know this:
Your emotions are not “too much.”
Your pain is not invisible to God.
Your voice deserves a place to land.
And if no one has told you lately—
You are seen.
You are heard.
You are worth the work of healing.

You don’t have to heal in silence anymore.

If your mind is loud…

If your heart is heavy…

If your spirit is tired…

Hear to Heal is your safe space.

Not to be perfect.

Not to be positive.

Just to be honest — and let the healing begin there.

🖊️ One page at a time.