Part of the Voice I Almost Lost – Blog #23
by Alana Pierre Curry
There is something sacred about having someone in your corner—someone who believes in you, reminds you who you are, and won’t let you give up on yourself.
That person might be a spouse, a friend, a family member, or a mentor. Sometimes it’s one person, and sometimes it’s a whole community—and if you’re lucky, it’s both. Either way, having people who see your worth, especially when you can’t see it yourself, can be life-changing.
I have learned that it’s easy to advocate for others. I have done it for families, for colleagues, for strangers, and for entire communities. But advocating for myself? That has been harder. Somewhere along the way, I learned to give everything I had outwardly—to nurture, to fix, to build—but not always to refill my own cup.
Part of that sometimes stems from childhood trauma. We like to think the pain of childhood stays in childhood, but it doesn’t. It shows up in adulthood—in the ways we minimize our achievements, hesitate to celebrate our wins, and question our worthiness of peace or joy.
That is where having someone in your corner matters most.
I am blessed to have a small community, and I am very blessed to have my husband. He refuses to let me overlook what I have accomplished. He’s the one who reminds me that I have what I call “the secret sauce”—the combination of resilience, compassion, and purpose that has carried me through everything I have faced. When I start to minimize my own progress, he is the one who stops me and says, “You did that. Own it.”
Recently, he encouraged me to write a “victim statement”—not for anyone else, but for me. To finally put on paper the things I have kept stored in my memory for decades. To give my pain a voice so I could begin to release it.
I haven’t written it yet—but I know I need to because healing isn’t only about moving forward. Sometimes it’s about turning around long enough to name what tried to break you and then deciding it no longer will.
Having someone in your corner doesn’t mean they fight your battles for you. It means they stand beside you when you are too tired to swing. They remind you that your story isn’t over, and your power isn’t gone. They help you remember what you bring to the world—your own version of the secret sauce.
We all need those people. And if you have them, thank them. If you don’t have them, start building that circle. Because life is too heavy to carry alone.
And while having someone in your corner is invaluable, remember this: YOU are also in your own corner. You are still here. You still have your voice. And that’s something worth fighting for.