As the Bali sun dips below the horizon on this first month of the new year, I find myself sitting in the afterglow of a total transformation. This has been a year of radical movement and even more radical stillness. While the flights that brought me to these shores were the catalyst, the months that followed were where the true work of freedom began.
Looking back at 2025, it was impossible to come up with my top three specific moments. However, I see these as my top three highlights that supported my daily journey into spiritual and emotional freedom…
The Shores of the Soul
I am a Carolina Girl through and through. My soul is anchored in the Atlantic salt air of Hilton Head, Kure, and Carolina Beach. I thought I knew the language of the ocean. I thought I understood what it meant to be a woman of the water. But Indonesia is an archipelago of over 17,000 islands, and its thousands of beaches speak a dialect I am only beginning to learn.
In June of 2025, I began my pilgrimage to seek out and experience the nearby beaches.
At Keramas, the sand is a deep, glittering volcanic black. Standing there with my arms wide to the sky, I felt a tectonic shift in my own identity. If the white sands of my youth represented the familiar and the expected, this dark ash represents the fire of transformation. It is a reminder that The Most High creates majesty in the shadows and the soot just as much as in the light.
I looked out at the horizon.
A vibrant blue punctuated by a single, massive cloud that looked like a celestial sculpture.
I realized then that the air here is not just a breeze.
It is medicine.
It is a healing frequency that settled into my lungs and refused to leave.
Then there was Virgin Beach.
The water there is a perfect, inviting turquoise.
It is framed by cliffs that feel like they are guarding a secret.
In the warmth of the sun, I felt the echoes of my old life finally grow silent.
Back in the States, life was often a machine gun of chaos. Constant rapidfire. But standing on this sand, the noise finally stopped. The fractured soul I brought across the ocean began to knit itself back together.
I realized then that I am no longer searching for a destination.
I AM the destination.
The Rhythm of Belonging
The second highlight of my year has been the heartbeat of the Bali jazz scene. It began as a search for a familiar sound, but it evolved into a divine orchestration of connection. Imagine entering a visual oasis like The Ambar, a cliffside lounge where infinite pools meet the horizon and the air is thick with the cleanest, most soothing jazz.
It was there I met Cynthia Regina. She is a woman of grace, gentle and soulful, moving between the worlds of vocal jazz and fine art. As we spoke during her break, she revealed something that made the world stand still. Months before we ever met, she had painted my portrait. She had captured my essence before I had even set foot in her presence. That solidified our chance meeting that night, as I found her to be not only a great vocalist, artist, and athlete, but now a friend.
Back in the States, the music scene was vibrant, but definitely intimidating for me. I was paralyzed by the sheer volume of talent and the competitive energy that seemed to pulse through every room. I stayed on the sidelines because I was scared to be seen and scared to be compared.
But Bali has stripped away that fear.
Here, the music is not a competition. It is like an old melodic conversation with someone you’ve known for ages, even when you haven’t.
I befriended the lovely Dian Pratiwi at Casa Luna, a legendary cultural hub in Ubud where the atmosphere is steeped in Balinese spice and the stage serves as a sanctuary for world class jazz. She is a powerhouse who spent twenty years performing and teaching jazz in Germany only to return to her roots. When we met, she embraced me with la bise, the traditional French double cheek kiss, as if we had been sisters for a lifetime. She didn’t ask for my resume. She simply invited me into the sound.
Dian has helped me find the freedom in my own voice after decades of living under rigid structure and the weight of corporate, domestic, and societal censure. I opted for the shaker while I got my sea legs positioned. I found my footing in her rhythm and realized that I no longer have to be perfect to be present.
It was through Dian that I met Yongky and Rio. Yongky is a keyboardist who plays with a depth you would expect from someone who spent fifty years in an AME Zion church. Gospel Soul exudes from his pores. He plays as if he is possessed by the Holy Spirit, and his gift is extraordinary.
Rio is the bass player who keeps me hypnotized with his playing. Because he knows I play the bass, he is always cheerfully helping and encouraging me. He plays it effortlessly, but with the soul of a heartbeat, deep, grounding, and absolutely undeniable. In the middle of the Indian Ocean, I found a musical family.
I am no longer a spectator in my own life. I am part of the song.
The Jungle Sanctuary
My daily life has become a living, breathing sanctuary. I have traded the rigid, structured world I knew so well for a villa where the lush, emerald jungle serves as a constant reminder of the majesty of The Most High. My villa has two souls. The front is where I handle my business, but the back is a wide-open invitation into the wild, untamed heart of the greenery.
I live in perfect harmony with the geckos that share my walls. Far from being uninvited guests, they are nature’s own elite exterminators, keeping my space clean and balanced. I see them as quiet, peaceful witnesses to my transformation. They are my roommates in this new world, and their presence reinforces a subconscious signal that I am safe and I am exactly where I belong.
I have learned that being fed is a matter of the spirit and not just the plate. Less than three kilometers from my front door lies Taman Dedari. It is a visual oasis that defies simple description. Beyond the delicious meals, it is home to larger-than-life statues that stand like stone sentinels guarding the valley. They tell a story of ancient grace and divine presence that hums through the air. Walking among them, I feel a sense of scale that puts my own past struggles into perspective.
Then there is Bambu Indah. I have spent many afternoons claiming a cabana as my own. I sit there with a chilled glass in hand, gazing at the perfectly kept landscape and the ancient rhythm of the rice paddies. The river below serves as nature’s own playlist. The sound of water over stone is the only frequency I need to feel regulated and whole.
August took me on a daring flight to the Philippines. Although it definitely makes my Top Moments in 2025, this was a journey of such profound independence that it requires its own dedicated reflection very soon.
I won’t pretend that every day is perfect. I have been caught in the sudden weight of a tropical downpour and found myself in situations where my Indonesian was not up to par, and an ear for English was nowhere nearby. I have even argued in the grocery store because I felt I was being overcharged, when in fact it was I who had failed to convert grams to ounces. And of course, there are my family and friends back home whom I miss dearly. On some days, FaceTime, audio clips, and Marco Polo are simply not the same as a physical hug.
But as I stand at the threshold of 2026, the truth is simple. I did not just move to Bali. I moved back to the woman I was always meant to be.
In North Carolina, I was a gear, stuck in a rusty machine that had an appetite for my soul. In Bali, I have awakened, just in time to recall that I am a daughter of The Most High, living in a sanctuary of His design. At the end of the day, I have built a sanctuary for my soul. I am not only a proud gardener looking at the sprouts of my spirit rising up. I am at peace.
I took one step closer to my version of Freedom.
What does Freedom look like for you?
The jungle doesn’t ask for permission to grow; the jazz doesn’t apologize for its swing. In Bali, I have found that belonging isn’t something you find. It is a frequency you tune into. We are all composed of rhythms waiting to be heard.
Are you ready to find your own rhythm?
I am currently opening two intentional spaces for 1:1 Sovereign Transformation sessions this month at Divine Soul Hypnotherapy. If you are ready to start standing in your own glow, let’s talk.
Your frequency is your fortune. Let’s tune it.
-ACC