Truth Moment?

I finally know what to call what I do

I’ve been planning my return back to writing for longer than I would like to admit. Writing isn’t new to me, but it has been a very long minute since I have been consistent + so much has changed since my very 1st blog post on Sittin’ Crooked Talkin’ Straight back in 2019. The other side of it, is because so much has changed I have SO much to say + I wanted to make sure my return was intentional + not just me filling up space. In true Southern fashion I didn’t want to show up empty handed, I wanted to actually bring you something.

So here it is. The thing that I have been building towards. My life’s work materialized.

For years, you all have known me as the woman who talks about holistic living, self-care, showing up for yourself even when life is loud + heavy. Most of all I’m the lady that pushes you towards choosing yourself even when that feels radical. All of that is still very true. All of that is still here.

What I didn’t realize before + what I didn’t have the language for until recently is:

The reason so many of us feel like strangers in our own bodies- exhausted in ways we can’t explain, emotional in ways that feel disproportionate, like something is off but nobody can tell us what; is because we were never given the whole map. As women, especially as black women we were never really taught much about our bodies outside of having a baby + even then alot of details were left out.

As a whole we were given micro chapters. OB’s are for pregnancy. Therapist are for emotions + the mind. Gynecologist are for the cycle. Depending on where you grew up maybe a doula or midwife for birth. But not a single chapter held the full book + thread. Each chapter working on their own with nobody to say, hmm these things are connected. That maybe what is happening in your body right now connects directly with signs + symptoms that was happening five years prior + what could potentially show up five years from now.

That connection? That whole arc? That’s exactly what I have been working on for years now. I just didn’t know how to name it + have never really said it out loud in one breath.

I can say it now right?

I guide women through every hormonal transition of their lives from understanding their cycle, through pregnancy + birth, into postpartum + perimenopause, so they never have to navigate their body alone.

That’s the work. The whole work. Not one chapter. The whole complete story.

I am a Full Spectrum Doula + Holistic Lifecycle Educator. Some of you have known me since the Sittin’ Crooked days when I blogged about self-care + trying to live intentionally while holding it all together (sometimes dropping half of it lol). Some of you I have supported you or someone you loved at some point in their reproductive journey + some of you are just stumbling upon me for the 1st time. Either way, welcome to the next chapter. Mine + maybe yours too.

Here’s what’s coming to this space:

The real talk about your hormones that nobody gave you. Not the scary medical version + not the overly spiritual version that floats above your actual lived experience, this will be the same Denawa Deniece, providing the grounded, honest, your body has been trying to tell you something + here’s what its saying version.

Ill be writing about cycle awareness. About what pregnancy actually does to your identity, not just your body. About the fourth trimester + why six weeks is not a finish line. About perimenopause + why the women moving through it with information + support come out the other side with a power they’ve never had before.

And yes- very much still the soft life stuff. The rituals, the real talk, the aerial adventures, the pottery, the motherhood moments + the “I figured something out + I’m bringing it straight to you” energy. That’s not going anywhere.

What I’m asking from you today is simple: tell me where you are right now. Not your whole life story, just 1 honest sentence. Are you trying to understand your cycle for the 1st time? Deep in postpartum wondering who you are now? Feeling your body shift in ways that feel unfamiliar + nobody’s been able to explain it? Just trying to live better + take care of yourself?

One more truth moment on my out. I wrote this blog post for my Substack a couple of months back. Between then + now I’ve been trying to decide if Substack was for me or if staying here made the most sense. When I tell you I have been grinning from ear to ear writing on my OWN space. This was as much for you as it was for me my friends!!

Very happy to be back. XO Denawa Deniece