Author Description

Maricela thought that after taking the time to sit with herself on her self-love-woman-empowerment -crusade, she would be smarter than to fall right back into an unhealthy relationship. She had done so many self-love workbooks, journaled enough to write a memoir and she'd rather go blind before she worked on another self-love coloring book. All of that work to find herself back at one. In love with another cheater. Was she not getting the point that God was trying to make? Did she fall asleep in the class of life and missed the part where they taught you to love yourself first? She had given Idris too many breaks and made too many excuses for his behavior. It was her fault. She taught him how to treat her. When he finally crossed a line that Maricela could not ignore, the timing could not be worse because she was at her most vulnerable. This time it was different from the past humiliations. This time it felt like an attack: An attack on her womanhood, her soul, and her Blackness. When she finally woke up, she realized that loving without boundaries must never be mistaken for unconditional love. For Maricela, love means you never give up on a person. She believed that real love meant enduring the pain that love without boundaries brings about. Sadly, living her life making excuses for the men she's loved had conditioned her to accept bad behavior and disrespect. As she becomes awakened and falls in love with herself, Maricela teaches us that you can't love someone into loving you. Love isn't a battle. It's not a game of win, lose or endure. Love doesn't need to be proven. We learn along with Maricela that if you love someone in hopes of healing them, life steps in to show you that you are not the healer, but indeed you are the person in need of the most healing.