Fare Of The Free Child

They say if you need to see just how well your healing is going, go be with your family for a week. The triggers, the baggage, the habits, all of it comes racing back, forcing us to reckon with the reality that healing work can be done, but most times, it’s never really done, it’s in progress. This week, repeat guest Aja Rutledge, joins us to speak with candor and unquieted assertion that Black folks need to stop saying our toxic mothering experiences are normal and okay. Not all of us are okay, and Aja is deeply committed to calling us to the spaces where we can acknowledge, name, and work toward healing the effects of what Aja calls Black Mama Trauma.When Aja and her son moved back to the U.S. after their natural learning travels took them to Mexico, they ended up staying with her mother longer than anticipated. Aja has been realizing how much her mother’s baggage affected her own sense of worth and value.Who am I? What do I like? What am I healing from? How is my relationship with my parent playing out in