Jerusalem Brown, LPC, NCC

Some people have never bothered to know you for themselves. They know what somebody told them, what the family decided, what got repeated until it sounded true—and they call that knowing you. I call them emotional dinosaurs. This is about what happens when you finally stop arguing with people who would rather keep the story than meet the person.

Healing changed what I could tolerate. Some people didn’t notice I was leaving the role until I was no longer available for it. This is a reflection on being needed but unseen, choosing yourself before the lesson comes back louder, and learning that care can move both ways.

You can be in therapy and still feel like you’re translating yourself. Softening the story. Explaining the family rules. Making your tone smaller so the room can keep up. This post is for the moment you start wondering whether your therapist can hold your whole Black self — the humor, the ache, the faith, the fire, the history, the side-eye, and the sovereignty — without shrinking you into something easier to digest.