The Gentle Medicine of Be Well: Finding Softness and Stability Through Herbal Ritual

There are seasons in life when everything feels dimmer. When the air feels thick, when motivation slips through your fingers, and when the smallest task feels like lifting something twice your size.

Before The Land of Milk & Honey Apothecary existed, there was a time when I was just simply trying to hold myself together.

It was 2020, and I had just graduated from Columbia Journalism School in the middle of a world that was unraveling. COVID had emptied the streets, the Black Lives Matter protests were in full force, and I was sitting in my childhood bedroom at my mom’s place, endlessly refreshing job boards while my anxiety grew louder than any headline I was writing.

At night, I couldn’t sleep. My chest felt tight. My thoughts spiraling. I kept trying to tell myself I was okay and that this was just a stressful moment, that it would pass, but my body wasn’t listening.

It was around this time that I found myself returning to the same corner of my mom’s kitchen every evening. A place I didn’t yet call an altar, but it behaved like one. A few mason jars, a scoop of dried herbs, and a kettle I never let go cold.

I didn’t know it then, but I was creating the first version of what would become the Be Well Tea Blend. I didn’t have a recipe then. I just had a need.

A need for warmth.
A need for emotional grounding.
A need for something that reminded me I could keep going even when the world felt too heavy.

I brewed that first cup and felt, for the first time in weeks, my breath deepen. My shoulders drop. My nervous system exhales.

That small moment, and that one cup, became a quiet ritual. And that ritual became a lifeline.

Years later, I would learn there was a name for what I was experiencing: seasonal affective disorder (SAD), emotional burnout, and the kind of nervous system fatigue that accumulates when we live through collective trauma and personal transition at the same time.

So many of us, especially Black women, carry emotional weights we were never meant to carry alone. We are expected to remain strong while navigating grief, societal pressure, caretaking, burnout, overstimulation, and the simple exhaustion of being human in a world that rarely slows down.

Taking authority over your mental hygiene doesn’t mean forcing yourself to “push through.” It means creating daily pockets of care that support your nervous system in the ways our bodies were always meant to be supported. Healing isn’t about tolerating what your nervous system was never built to handle; it’s about tending to yourself in ways that honor your capacity.

When your mood dips, your nervous system speaks in its own language: fatigue, irritability, heaviness, restlessness, or emotional fog. Nervine and adaptogenic herbs, like the ones we use here at TLMH, speak back to the nervous system in a way that is steady, grounding, and rooted in centuries of plant medicine.

These plants don’t numb you or override your feelings; they help your body remember how to regulate itself.

Be Well was crafted for the emotional seasons when you feel stretched thin, heavy, or numb. For the times when your heart feels too tender, when irritability sits close to the surface, or when you’re trying to find your footing while the ground keeps shifting beneath you.

Inside this blend, each herb plays a specific role — not just medicinally, but emotionally. Here’s a peek inside our blend.

St. John’s Wort

A centuries-loved herb used to brighten mood and soften heaviness, especially in seasons of emotional darkness.

Rose

A heart healer that softens tension, grief, and irritability.

Oatstraw

A nervine that nourishes, regulates, and steadies frayed edges.

Nettle

Mineral-rich support for energy, hormones, and overall resilience.

Peach Leaves

A gentle balm for irritability and emotional overwhelm.

Ginger & Marshmallow Root

Warmth, grounding, hydration, and comfort = the emotional equivalent of a hug.

These plants each speak their own language, and together they whisper the same message:

“You are allowed to feel. You are allowed to soften. You are allowed to be supported.”

Each cup of Be Well is designed to:

• Ease tension, irritability, and emotional heaviness

• Support mood regulation and inner stability

• Strengthen and nourish your nervous system

• Offer grounding during stressful or overwhelming periods

• Provide warmth, hydration, and deep comfort

• Create a daily ritual that reconnects you to yourself

This blend is a reminder that you deserve emotional steadiness, seasonal support, and daily rituals that help your nervous system feel held. That your healing does not have to be hurried. That the smallest moments, like a cup of tea, a slow breath, a moment of intention, can shift the entire landscape of your inner world.

If my story resonates with where you are in your own healing, I created Be Well for you. Bring it into your daily ritual and let’s build a culture of rest and emotional well-being together. Grab your pouch today.