It’s been about six years since I recorded and published a podcast episode, and a little less than that since I published a blog post before taking my website completely offline and becoming a bit of a recluse.

From 2022 through 2023, for about thirteen months, I was completely offline. And ever since then, my engagement with social media and the public has drastically changed.

I was no longer seeking to be popular or even seeking to be seen.

I was just trying to stay sane and survive.

You can’t always predict when life is going to start LIFE-ing, yuh know?

It could be the revelation of infidelity that shakes your entire world. It could be an instant accident that debilitates you or takes the life of someone you love. It could be a life-altering health condition. It could be the loss of your job, the loss of your home, the loss of your sanity.
We think we have a lot of time in this life to do all the things. And yet, somehow, we also think we should always be broadcasting all of the things.

As someone who spent many years in the spotlight, sharing my life, my creative and professional pursuits, my hopes and my dreams, the last six years have been full of great transformation, great revelation and a major separation from who I was to who I am now. And yet, I am still becoming.

Over the last six years, I’ve lived in silence. And I’ve also been silenced.

I have so much to say now. So much to share with you. Some of it will recap the last few years of my life. Some of it will reveal the many trials, tribulations and triumphs I’ve experienced in that time. Some of it, I hope, will serve as a beacon of resilience and a reminder of why you should never give up on yourself, your dreams, or what you believe to be fair, just and of good character. A reminder of why you should Keep Going!

Patience, perseverance, prayer and people who truly love me have been the pillars in my success. And success, to me, looks and feels like another day to enjoy this human experience. We are living in a world advancing technologically faster than the blink of an eye, where our humanity is being tested at its core. We seem increasingly willing to choose computers over human interaction, performance over peace, and popularity over purpose.

I’ve learned a lot over the last few years.

I’ve also had much time to take inventory of the life I had lived, the life I was living and the changes I needed to make to create a better life for myself in the future.

I lost my voice for a moment. Even lost my memory.

Being silent and being silenced can do that to you.

And though I was able to do a lot of internal work and fortify my relationships with people I truly care for, and who truly care for me, the quiet sometimes got really loud.

I got quiet.
I stopped creating.
And, for a while, obscurity just felt safer.
It felt safer to be unknown.
To not exist.

But my silence was never surrender.

It wasn’t me giving up. It was me taking the opportunity to introspectively look at my life, look at my character and do the necessary work to become the woman I know I was called to be.

I didn’t give up on myself.
I didn’t give up on my brand.
I didn’t give up on my talent.
I didn’t give up on my intellectual property.
I didn’t give up on the plans I had made.
I just had a pause.
And gratefully, I live and own my truth because:

Elevation Requires Separation.

And sometimes the separation isn’t a short stay.
Sometimes the separation requires a few years.

I took that time.
I stopped.
I survived.
I healed.

I am a totally different person.

Though this is yet another relaunch, I am completely okay with getting back up every time I’ve tripped, dusting myself off every time I’ve fallen on my face, and starting anew.
I know fully that I am not starting from scratch.

I am starting from experience.

I’m grateful for the work I’ve already done, the work people still recognize, and the work that continues to stand to this day and serve a purpose greater than myself.

I am returning to continue the good work I started.
I am returning to show and prove to the people who love me, support me and truly care for me that I am, in fact, who I say I am: Blessed.
And I am returning to thank them.

My return is a form of gratitude for the people I know, and the people I don’t know, who have prayed good prayers over me. Those who have spoken beautiful words over my life and work. Thank you.

Thank you. 🙏

This space is for real folks having real human experiences, seeking an outlet to exhale.

Hopefully, my Caribbean American voice will add a new and/or familiar perspective to your journey. Stay with me. There’s much I need to share from my past, my present, my travels, my lessons, my development, my maturity, my freedom, my people… my life.

I’m not the same Jay from 2011 when I started JayBlessed.com.
I’m not the same Jay from 2015 or 2018 when I relaunched the website again. I’m definitely not the same Jay who launched IN MY HEAD with Jay Blessed in 2019.

I’m not the same Jay from the pandemic.
I’m not even the same Jay from last year.
I am a fuller woman.
I am a grown woman.
I’m in my forties now.
Forever a mother.

Still a writer.
Still a host.
Still a blogger.
Still a podcaster.

I am a founder.
I am a Caribbean storyteller.
I am a pioneer in my own right.
I am a community activist.
I am an authority, not an influencer.
I am a human being.

A human being who has feelings.
A human being who has an actual, real life off the grid.
A human being who bleeds, and feels, and works, and struggles, and tries, and fails, and tries again, and fails some more, and keeps trying. And wins. I always win.
Maybe not immediately. But eventually, I always win.

I’m here…still here!

And this time, I know exactly what that means.
I know exactly what I have to do.
And nothing, and no one, not even myself, is going to get in the way of the work that I’ve been called to do.

 

 

I’m Still Here: Survival, Silence & Starting Again| survival, silence, healing, identity, reinvention, return, finding your voice, and rebuilding your life after loss