A Word from Phoenix Rising
by Natalie Ruth “Phoenix Rising” Moise
Hey empresses, it’s your girl Phoenix Rising, coming back with another dose of raw, inspirational truth. Today’s gem is about the power of resilience, the mindset shift that changes everything, and how to confront that limited-belief thinking that keeps so many of us stuck long after we’ve already survived the worst of it.
Let’s be real for a second. Adversity comes in a lot of different packages — family crisis, financial hardship, personal battles nobody sees, trauma we’re still unpacking. But there’s one form of adversity that a lot of the world doesn’t talk about enough: limited opportunity to elevate because of incarceration. That one’s a hard pill to swallow, because as women, control is embedded in our DNA. We are built to manage, to plan, to hold things together. And then, suddenly, a system takes that control away and hands you a DC number instead of a name.
I know prison is a place where resources are limited and restricted. I’ve lived it. But let me tell you something, honey — IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE. Impossible is a story we tell ourselves when we’ve stopped looking for the side door.
Life Doesn’t Stop Because You Got a Number
Life behind bars doesn’t mean life stops. It just means we have to think outside the box — and sometimes, sis, we’ve got to crawl through some AC vents to get what we deserve and need. I know you’re wondering what I mean by “crawl through the AC vent.” It’s simple: even when the pathway looks blocked and foggy, if you want it bad enough, you find another way to get it. Doors close. Vents are still open. Somebody has to be resourceful enough to notice the difference.
This is the mindset shift I want every single one of you reading this to walk away with today: a locked door is not the same thing as a locked future.
The GED Is Not the Finish Line
I’ve seen so many women earn their high school diploma or GED while incarcerated — and then stay stuck right there at that milestone like it’s the top of the mountain. That’s a limited belief talking: “I’ve accomplished something, so now I have to wait until I’m released to move forward.”
That couldn’t be further from the truth, and it’s costing you years you don’t get back.
There are colleges out there right now waiting for your application, offering correspondence programs and distance-learning degrees, so you can walk out with a real degree — something under your belt for when you come home, something nobody can ever take from you again. There are jobs out here that will shut the door in your face the second they see “convicted felon” on an application. I’m not going to sugarcoat that reality for you. But here’s the flip side: if you get into a small business or entrepreneurship class while you’re in here, you don’t need their door at all. You build your own. You become the one handing out opportunity instead of begging for it.
That’s not a fantasy. That’s a business plan.
Nobody Hustles Like Somebody Who’s Had Everything Taken
Nobody grinds harder than someone who’s had everything taken from them by incarceration. Nobody hustles like someone who never had a silver spoon, who’s had to make a way out of no way since day one. There are women locked up right now — today, in a cell just like yours — who failed English class in high school and are now bestselling authors. Why? Because they stopped waiting for permission and turned their pain into purpose. They took the same notepad the system gave them and vented onto it until it became a manuscript.
Your story, the one you think is too messy or too painful to tell, might be exactly what somebody else needs to survive their own storm. Self-improvement behind bars isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about finally becoming who you were always supposed to be before the world tried to convince you otherwise.
Confront the Limited Belief Before It Confronts You
Ladies, there are so many different roads to success behind these walls, and every single one of them starts with confronting those limited beliefs head-on. You know the ones. They sound like:
- “I’m just an inmate.”
- “Nobody will ever take me seriously.”
- “My grammar sucks, so I can’t write a book.”
- “I’ll start when I get out.”
- “It’s too late for me.”
Saying things like that is you holding the door of opportunity closed. Nobody else. Not the guard, not the system, not your past. You. And if you built that door, you can find the vent around it.
If you really want it, girl, go above and beyond — and it starts with prayer. Ask God to show you your gifts and talents, and to guide you onto the path of success. Ask Him to reveal what you’ve been sitting on this whole time, because trust me, you are sitting on something.
Faith Walks With You, But It Doesn’t Carry You
Now, just because the Lord is walking with you up that mountain doesn’t mean He’s opening every door Himself. That’s important. Faith is not a substitute for effort — faith is the fuel that keeps you climbing when effort alone would’ve quit already. Sometimes when a “no” appears, you have to keep pushing and find another way into that room of opportunity. God will part the sea, but you still have to walk through it.
This is the daily discipline of personal growth behind bars: showing up for yourself even when the four walls around you are trying to convince you it’s pointless. It is never pointless. Every book you read, every class you complete, every page you write, every plan you sketch out on the back of a commissary sheet — that’s you laying brick on a foundation the world told you that you’d never get to build.
This Is Your Moment
If you know it’s for you — keep fighting. This is your moment. An idle mind is the devil’s playground, so go talk to God, pick up that notepad, fill out that application, and start your journey onto the path of success. Resilience isn’t a personality trait some of us were born with and others weren’t. It’s a decision you make over and over, especially on the days it would be so much easier not to.
You are not your worst day. You are not your DC number. You are not the sum of the doors that have been slammed in your face. You are a woman with gifts still waiting to be unwrapped, and the walls around you were never built strong enough to keep those gifts contained forever.
So go find your vent, empress. Crawl through it if you have to. Nobody said the path to purpose had to look pretty — it just has to lead somewhere real.
Romans 5:3-5 (KJV) — “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”
Keep rising, empresses. — Natalie Ruth, “Phoenix Rising” Moise