GirlTrek empowers each woman to be the hero of their own story, but as a GirlTrekker you are never alone. You have 100,000 women dawned in superhero blue that are there to trek alongside you and sometimes it’s a family affair. What initially started as an opportunity for my mom to reclaim her own health, quickly became a healing tradition that would forever impact the dynamic between the women in my family.
Jasmine and I have found so much joy in taking the time out alongside our mother, Cherelle Darby, 53 and younger sister, Asia Darby, 13, to heal our minds and bodies through the many adventures GirlTrek has led us on. GirlTrek has given the women in my family an immense amount of self-discovery.
When Jasmine hears the phrase Black Girl Healing, words that accompany a movement so desperately needed in the community of Black women, she does not only view it in the physical sense of healing her body, but views it as mental healing as well.
Like myself, her mind was darkened by depression, anxiety, and self-doubt and in need of healing. Prior to being introduced to GirlTrek, she was trying to avoid allowing certain circumstances dim the light of her world, but in all honesty, her light was flickering and so very close to being blown out. As one of her mentors once told her, “God may have shut some doors, but there is always a crack in the window.” Through GirlTrek she has been able to let the light beam through the cracks.
With each walk, she learned to perfect her patience, which in turn led her to perfect her peace. There is power in habit. She had to make sure that her habits were ones rooted in self-love and self-care. Walking each day for 30 minutes was just that.