Dazia Wallerson

       When I met Ronit at the age of 23, I had no idea that my life would fundamentally change.  In 2016, I was in survival mode from the aftermath of a deep familial rupture and the devastating loss of my mom during childhood.  I was profoundly sensitive, intuitive, and spiritually attuned, yet I lived with a constant sense of feeling alone, unsafe, and unable to fully exist as myself.  I learned to hold my identity like armor and victimhood – the daughter of working class Afro-Caribbean immigrants in America – disgruntled and terrified of the world.  I carried generations of pain and suppression in my body without language or agency to meet it.  My nervous system lived in a state of freeze.  When overwhelmed, I went quiet, turned on myself, or disappeared.  On the outside, I learned to survive by staying small, being perfect, and not needing too much.  This was my pattern until I met Ronit.

       Ronit saw all of me.  Not just my pain and coping strategies, but my power and truth.  She met my most wounded parts with patience and without judgment, while also refusing to let me collapse into smallness or victimhood.  Over time, she reflected my higher self back to me until I could begin to recognize me on my own.  Ronit taught me that I am not just my best self or my conscious intentions; I also carry fears, unconscious reactions, and protective strategies.  Instead of trying to fix those parts or make them wrong, I learned how to see them, listen to them, and understand what they were protecting.  I slowly gained something I had never experienced before: A witness and a choice.  This gift of totality gave me acceptance without collapse and responsibility without shame.  I could experience my feelings, without judging myself harshly or being taken out by them.  I learned that awareness creates space, and space creates freedom.  I no longer had to be at war with myself. 

       The Leap Forward Community became the first place where my defenses were not shamed and healing became accessible.  Members helped me shed limiting beliefs that I didn’t matter or exist.  I learned that we are not that different, even when we think we are.  I was met with love, compassion and consistency and those who held me to my own values.  Over time and with rigorous intervention tools, my relationship with life began to change.  I learned how to speak up with my fears and question my narratives instead of being ruled by them.  Thankfully, the community held me through some of the hardest seasons of my life.  Ronit and Leap Forward didn’t rescue me, they stayed, reflected hard truths, and organized real support while continually pointing me back to responsibility and choice.  I am in the driver’s seat of my life.

       Today, I am more grounded in my resilience.  I trust myself, this process, and Ronit as a teacher deeply committed to truth, responsibility, and our expansion as human beings.  I now know how to leave what no longer serves with integrity, ask for help without shame, receive truth without collapsing, and repair when I miss the mark.  And presently in my life, I lead cross-cultural, bridge-building community work that is values-driven and rooted in connection, shaped directly by the discipline and clarity I developed through Leap Forward.  

       This journey has taught me that growth begins the moment I stay in connection, face myself honestly, and choose responsibility.  I am learning that practicing this way of being, every day, allows me to fully claim my power and that this is how we grow into who we were always meant to be.