About

Hello, Gentle Hearts,

My name is Nelisiwe Lukhele, and for the longest time, I walked through life feeling like I was carrying an open wound. Existing felt hollow, like I was constantly scraping from the bottom of an empty well. I struggled with self-doubt, self-sabotage, and a deep sense that I didn’t belong anywhere, not even in spaces meant for healing and hope (The congregation).

I knew something was wrong, but I couldn’t name it. I couldn’t describe the weight I carried or the patterns that kept me trapped. As a result, I dived into destructive patterns that temporarily numbed the pain, anything to quiet the voice that constantly told me I wasn’t worthy of love, belonging, or any significant achievement.

In 2020, when I was retrenched from my job, I had enough time to sit down with myself, and I decided something had to change. I chose to become a learner. Without the resources for therapy, I turned to every free tool I could find. I devoured blog posts, subscribed to newsletters, and spent hours reading book previews on Google Books. I became a student of my own healing, determined to develop the language to describe what was happening inside me.

Those months of unemployment became my classroom. I journaled relentlessly, began to understand my thought patterns, and slowly started putting names to the feelings that had haunted me for so long. I learned to dig deep into my internal spaces, to sit with discomfort, and to develop a new relationship with myself—one rooted in curiosity rather than criticism.

The journey wasn’t straightforward. There were a lot of setbacks, days when the old patterns crept back in, and many moments when I didn’t see the point of doing this work. But I kept showing up for myself, taking small, intentional steps that honored my pace and my process.

Today, I can say with confidence that I feel worthy of love, not because I’ve achieved perfection, but because I’ve learned to meet myself where I am. I’ve discovered the power of community, the strength in vulnerability, and the courage that comes from facing our internal worlds with compassion. I radiate from the inside out. I feel alive. I feel capable.

This transformation is why I created She Whispers Hope. It’s a lived-out promise that healing, even with limited resources, is possible. It’s for the person who feels exhausted and misunderstood, who’s scraping from the bottom like I was, unsure where to start.

I’m not a qualified professional—I encourage anyone reading this to seek professional support alongside these resources. What I am is someone who has walked through the darkness and found a way out. I’ve spent years gathering tools, testing what works, and learning to translate complex healing concepts into understandable guidance.

She Whispers Hope isn’t about overnight transformation. It’s about awakening awareness, developing the language to tell your story, and learning to hear what already exists within you. It’s about meeting yourself where you are and gently pulling yourself toward the person you were meant to be—the one hidden beneath all that pain.

We don’t really reach a point where everything is okay; what we do learn is how to live boldly and see life through a different lens.

If you’re here, know that you’re not alone. Your healing matters. Your story matters. And you have everything within you to begin again.

Warmly, Nelisiwe