Recovery as Liberation: 7 Years of Grace, Love, and Mercy
Photo (above) taken October 2024 at Tuttle Orchards during annual fall field trip with The Antidotes of Mercy (MRCI).
“Recovery is not solely about abstaining — it’s about moderation. Rooted in reclaiming one’s identity and well being. It’s a process of liberation from what harms, toward what heals. Liberation from silence, shame, isolation, cycles of harm, and systemic oppression. Liberation toward truth, connection, accountability, joy, rest, and justice.”
I haven’t posted on my blog since July — and honestly, that pause was necessary and intentional. My strategy: keep a steady pace, tap into joy and pleasure, lead with love, and apply the skills learned from the last seven years of navigating entrepreneurship and recovery. I’m still in awe that my baby is seven years old today. My how time flies!
On Monday, we celebrated. And if you weren’t able to join us, I’d love to see you at our next social. Mark your calendar for December 15th and help us close the year in community, with love, and for the liberation-the renewing of our minds.
Advisory council of Mercy (MRCI) at time of founding from left to right: Bianca Harris, Sabrena Suggs, Natasha Cheatham, Keith Baker [Nov. 7, 2018]
After Mommy transitioned in 2020, I began carrying the guilt and shame of my inaction and mistakes like they defined who I was allowed to become. Something finally shifted this year though. Especially since the summer, I’ve been grounded in restorative work: learning instead of lamenting, integrating instead of spiraling—refining instead of running.
Because recovery has never been just about abstaining — it’s about redemption, living well, and reclaiming. Reclaiming self-trust. Reclaiming community. Reclaiming joy, responsibility, integrity, pace, and possibility. It’s about reparenting ourselves, teaching our inner child now what wasn’t taught (well) when we were a child (way) back when: how to grieve.
So much of what keeps us trapped in the loop of recovery → relapse → recovery → relapse isn’t a lack of desire to heal — it’s a matter of perspective around death/endings.
Good grief is one of the most essential skills in recovery.
Grieving who you used to be.
Grieving what you lost along the way.
Grieving the people who couldn’t stay.
Throughout this year, while reparenting myself and recommitting to the vision and mission of my nonprofit, I had to learn how to navigate endings healthily. I’ve lost folks I didn’t want to lose. I’m even in the midst of a transition right now — something that’s not fully ended but is clearly shifting. And I’ve had to accept that some folks I wanted in the room with me during this rebirth simply cannot be there. They may support from the hallway, from their homes, or not at all. And that’s okay. Because nothing lasts forever.
Recovery requires us to let things die. Identities. Patterns. Relationships. Maladaptive coping skills. Entire versions of ourselves that once kept us alive. Versions of ourselves that never had the chance to become. And that process hurts. It aches. It makes you feel lonely, unworthy, emptied out. That emptiness is often the very thing that drives one back into survival mode instead of transformation. Creating or revitalizing the support system, the village one needs is vital for recovery to go beyond performative and truly be restorative.
Accepting the natural role of death and endings empowers us to embrace life more fully, boldly, and with more gratitude. This week, as I celebrate and reflect on the last seven years of this nonprofit journey, I’ve been shown over and over again how life truly is divinely designed. After spending most of 2025 in a state of rehabilitation, restructuring, and returning to our mission, Mercy (MRCI) is emerging more grounded and more aligned than ever.
We’re returning to our roots with monthly sober socials, and we’re doing it in a way that pushes the narrative forward — by hosting them in a bar, we’re blending harm reduction, mocktails, social wellness, and community building in innovative ways that are reshaping the recovery community landscape.
This year of loss brought us back to life.
This year of endings carved space for new beginnings.
This year of letting go forged a path of liberating work.
Inspired, I am choosing the theme of this post, and truthfully, the theme of 2026, and the next chapter of my life and work: Recovery as Liberation.
To everyone who has supported us over the past seven years — I have immense gratitude. Your support has sustained us through every shift, every transition, every trial and error. You are appreciated.
Seven years down.
A lifetime to grow.
T. M.
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I create content and share my life experiences to show how I tapped into my intrinsic power and turned my pain into purpose through recovery. I’m grateful to still be here. And as long as I am blessed to be alive, I will be a blessing to others.
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