Remembering Who We Really Are

Michell Pulliam
Dec 18, 2025
5 min read

Updated: Jan 5

Picture of hands being held — Image by WIX

I’ll try not to make this a habit. You know, posting that one blog post at the end of the year. But somehow, everything the year holds always ends up being summed up in a single post at the end of the year, lol. That's how my life has been these past few years—less about sharing the journey as it happens, and more about understanding the work it's doing in me. We don't always know the purpose of a season until we've actually walked all the way through it. Then, suddenly, everything seems to make sense all at once, at the end. In essence, I've been living the lessons first, learning from them, then putting them into words to pass on to you. But I promise, I’ve been hard at work in this season. On what, you ask? On a memoir. Yep, that’s right... me, writing a memoir. Who’d have thunk it. Believe me, it wasn’t by choice, at all, but by a calling. A calling to help others see what’s been lying dormant in them all along. And I'm so glad He called me to do it.

There are moments in life when something asks you to slow down and listen. Not to the noise around you, but to the voice that lives deep inside. Rooted is one of those moments for me. This book gave me a perspective on the human experience that I might not have ever noticed otherwise. Yes, it's about the discovery of my maternal line being traced back 44,000 years. But, the message... it's so much bigger than that. It was birthed out of a question that wouldn’t leave me alone: Who were we before the world told us who to be? Before the survival of our people demanded their forced silence. Before our strength had to look perfect, polished, and effortless—when being strong meant never showing weakness or emotion. Before our foremothers had to bury pieces of themselves just to make sure we lived. Rooted is about remembering who we really are. And it all ties into what I do today, because so much of my work flows from that truth.

So much of what I see in the women I work with isn’t a lack of ability, intelligence, or desire. It’s disconnection. Disconnection from who they really are. From their worth. From the truth of who they were before life, loss, expectations, and responsibilities began shaping them into someone smaller than they were meant to be.

It’s funny how life comes full circle. This journey that began with the discovery about my maternal bloodline quickly became something much bigger than genealogy or dates on a family tree. It became an awakening. A remembering and an invitation to look at the women who came before us and say their names out loud, Not just for what they endured, but for what they carried and protected... to pass down to us.

So many of us are walking around with inherited courage we didn’t earn, wisdom we didn’t study for, and resolve that didn’t start with us. In my coaching work, I often remind women that mindset isn’t just about changing our thoughts—it’s about remembering our truth. The truth that strength lives in our lineage. That confidence didn’t start with a self-help book. And that resilience you’re mustering every day—just to make it through the day—is already part of your inheritance. Rooted is my attempt to honor that truth. This book is for the women who were never thanked. It’s also for the women who are tired of feeling like they have to earn rest, prove their worth, or act as if they have it all together when, in truth, they're hurting inside. It's for the women who know they are capable of so much more than what this season of life has asked of them. The ones who made impossible choices. The ones who held families together with prayer, grit, and sheer determination. The ones whose sacrifices created the very lives we’re living today.

But Rooted isn’t meant to live only on a bookshelf. That’s why I created The Rooted Movement. This movement is a living, breathing extension of the book. It’s a space for us to remember together. To share stories and pictures of our loved ones (including many who have since transitioned). To make sure the women who carried us are seen, honored, and never forgotten. If you’ve had a chance to read Rooted (and even if you haven’t yet), and you feel that tug in your spirit that says, this is my story too—I want to invite you to take part.

Visit the Rooted page here to read an excerpt and learn more about the heart behind the book and what it represents. Then visit The Rooted Movement page here and submit a story, a memory, and/or a photo of the women who sacrificed so you could exist. Your grandmother. Your mother. Your auntie. Your great-great-grandmother whose name you may never know, but whose strength lives in your bones. This is how we remember, reclaim, and stay rooted in who we really are.

To honor our maternal ancestry is to follow a biblical pattern—in recognizing that God has always moved history forward through women, through wombs, and through the often unseen sacrifices passed from mother to child. When we remember the women who carried us, we are not only looking backward; we are standing in a blessed inheritance that Scripture itself teaches us to honor. Genealogies tell us who belongs where. But wombs tell us how God has always advanced His purpose through women. God consistently chooses women—often overlooked, barren, or marginalized—to carry something/someone who changes the future. And that someone is you. That pattern is intentional. Which means your life, your story, and what you carry matter more than you realize.

So before you go, take a moment and ask yourself: Who am I trying to become, and who am I trying to remember? What parts of me have been quieted in the name of survival, responsibility, or keeping the peace? And whose strength am I carrying? Strength that didn’t start with me, but lives in my lineage? Reflect on those questions without rushing to answer them.

I’ve learned that real transformation doesn’t start with trying to perform or act a certain way. It starts with awareness, truth, and honoring what already lives within us. So as this year closes and a new one begins, my hope is that Rooted reminds you that you don’t have to reinvent yourself. You don’t have to strive harder or become someone new. You are invited to return—to yourself, to your roots, and to your story. The story God wrote for you long before your existence became flesh on this earth.

Thank you for being here, for reading, and for being part of a remembering that’s bigger than any one of us. Wishing you and your loved ones Happy Holidays and a blessed New Year!

Proverbs 31:25-26, Ruth 1:16-17, Isaiah 40:31, Esther 4:14, Luke 1:45

Having a blast serving Him,