Shea Johnson has mastered the art of capturing other people’s moments, joy, grief, love, without ever slowing down long enough to tend to her own. Set in a small town heavy with history and unspoken weight, Capturing Shea begins before the romance, before the disruption, right where the stillness lives.
Peace is fragile when secrets are starving. This chapter sits at the intersection of restraint and rupture , where control slips, loyalty is questioned, and the weight of unfinished business presses in from every direction. Some calls don’t reconnect people. They reopen everything.
A raw recounting of the first places I broke… the silence, the secrets, the hands that stole my childhood, and the walls I had to build to survive it. This piece unpacks the kind of pain that grows with you, shapeshifts with you, and teaches you survival before you ever learn childhood.
When you excuse someone’s harmful behavior, you don’t erase the trauma, you deepen it. “Don’t Gaslight My Scars”confronts how families and society make pain more palatable by rewriting the truth, and how those justifications keep the wound alive long after the moment has passed.
Hey Loves! Come on in and take a load off, let’s unload this topic with a microscope, with care, but also with the level of audacity it needs. This week hit different, for me that is. You ever had a person you held close, that you genuinely cared for, loved, met them with vulnerability and … Continue reading True Accountability: Holding the Mirror Straight, not Angled. (TABIT)
I didn’t need the monitors to tell me.The room changed before the numbers did—the air grew still,like the walls themselves were holding their breath. Her chest rose once more,then not again.Her head tilted to the left,and in that single, final motion,something inside me split in ways I can’t name. It wasn’t just the sound of … Continue reading The Silence of Deaths Echo
There’s a certain kind of silence that follows correction. A heavy pause. A shifted breath. A tension that wraps around the room like heat. Because the truth—when it ain’t been heard in a while—don’t always land soft. Let’s talk about it. Some of y’all think love means letting you run wild. Think loyalty means never … Continue reading TABIT| Accountability Ain’t Attack: You Just ain’t used to Being Called Out, Love. ❤️
There’s a version of me the world got too comfortable with—The unbothered one. The strong one. The one who always had a comeback, a prayer, or a perfectly timed joke. But that wasn’t peace. That was performance. That was me learning how to mask my pain before it exposed me. I got really good at … Continue reading TABIT: I Would’ve Shattered Sooner If I Didn’t Learn How to Mask
They don’t always clap for this kind of freedom. Not the kind that’s wrapped in red, white, and blue. Not the kind that looks good in Instagram quotes. Not the kind you celebrate with fireworks and grilled ribs. I’m talking about the quiet kind of freedom. The kind you bleed into. The kind that costs … Continue reading The Kind of Freedom They Don’t Talk About
Everybody craves intimacy— Until it stops being surface. Until it walks in quiet, Wrapped in incense and spirit. Until it asks: Can you handle being seen? Can you stay when it’s still? They think it’s just touch— Skin on skin, A kiss at the right time, A body to lean into. But the real thing? … Continue reading Soul Close
“When fear knocks,peace answers.” “God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7 (Sunday Soul Reset 06/22/2025)
Picture this. You’re sitting at a table. Laughter all around you. Clinking glasses. Stories being shared. Smiles stretching wide across faces. And you? You’re nodding. You’re smiling back. You’re there… but you’re not. Because inside, your heart feels like it’s folding in on itself. Like you could scream—and no one would hear it over the … Continue reading Talk About It Thursday: Lonely in a Room Full of People…The Ache Nobody Sees
We don’t talk about men who cry in silence. Men who bury what breaks them. Men who are expected to be “strong” at all times—even when their world is caving in. We don’t talk about them enough. And honestly? We should. When Strength Becomes a Mask From the time they’re boys, men are told what … Continue reading He Cried in Silence: The Mental Weight Men Carry
There’s a specific kind of ache that comes from doing the right thing—and getting punished for it. I’ve been there. Too many times. The calls usually come late. Shaky voice on the other end. Tears. Silence. Then the words no one wants to hear: “I don’t want to live anymore.” And in that moment, you … Continue reading When Help Looks Like Betrayal: The Guilt of Calling for the Ones You Love
You been Him… But your shine don’t hit the same. I waited through shadows, prayed through silence— but you just played the game. Held the door. Lit the path. Softened the landing where you could begin… But I’ve been waiting too long, and my grace is wearing thin. ~Kae Jaye
Kae Jaye The Writer 