By Dr. Carylin M. Holsey
WHO I AM
I am a fighter born in the trenches, a survivor of systems designed to erase, ignore, and diminish. I carry the scars of battles fought quietly and the unyielding spirit of generations who endured before me. My strength is not loud, but it is seismic. I am the one who questions when others obey, who rises when others sink, who dreams when others have surrendered their hope. I am a builder, a truth-teller, a healer, and a challenger of norms. A change agent. I swim upstream not because it is easy, but because it is necessary. My very existence is a testament to resolve, defiance, purpose, and passion.
WHAT I STAND FOR
I stand for the unseen, the unheard, and the underestimated. I stand for truth, even when it shakes foundations. I stand for legacy, not luxury; for impact, not applause. I stand for building ladders where walls once stood. I stand for fighting erasure with visibility, fighting despair with hope, and fighting fear with action. I stand for creating spaces where authenticity is not punished but celebrated. I believe in honoring the battles others pretend not to see and in carrying forward the dreams that history tried to bury.
WHY IT MATTERS
It matters because survival alone is not enough. Visibility matters because erasure is a slow death. Truth matters because lies have stolen too many futures. Legacy matters because someone coming behind me will need proof that winning was possible. My fight, my voice, and my refusal to drown matter because they are not just for me; they are for every silent fighter still trapped in the current and waves often made by people they know and even trust. I matter because my very existence challenges systems designed to make me invisible. I matter because change is sparked not by those who conform, but by those who endure.
I swim. I build. I help. I challenge. I speak. I endure. I stand. I keep going, and because of that, the world will not remain unchanged, nor will it be the same, even if I may not be a witness. Someone I touch may.
My Life Poem Thought… What’s Yours?
Consider Crafting a Poem About Yourself…
Me
I am the bloodline of survivors.
I swim because drowning is not my legacy.
I build where others break.
I speak where others shrink.
I carry light even when my hands shake.
I don't move for approval.
I don't yield to tides.
I don't forget who I am when the current rips at me.
My life is a signal fire for every unseen fighter.
My scars are proof that the river lost every time it tried to claim me.
I am not here to survive quietly.
I am here to carve new rivers.