I have spent a lifetime trying to feel worthy. Lovable. Beautiful. Enough. Not too much, not somehow lacking, just enough to feel comfortable being me.
And for a good part of my life, I hated my body.
That’s not always an easy thing to say out loud, but it’s true. Over the last two years, I have made a real, concentrated effort to change that. Not just to change the number on the scale, although that number has changed quite a bit, but to find my way toward loving myself. To stop believing that I have to look a certain way, or become some improved version of myself, before I can feel good about who I am.
I’m still working on it. I suspect I’m not alone in that.
I think so many women carry these feelings around with us. We compare, criticize, pick ourselves apart, and somehow manage to find the one thing we don’t like even when everything else is going just fine. And while body image is a big part of my own story, I believe we all have something we struggle to accept about ourselves.
Which brings me to something very close to my heart.
My Decks Have Become a Mission
I talk about my affirmation decks a lot these days. Anyone who knows me has probably heard me say that they have become a mission for me. What began as an idea I wasn’t even sure anyone else would want has grown into something I feel deeply called to do.
These decks are more than a little cheerleader in a box. They feel holy to me. Not in a religious way, but in the sense that there is something sacred about creating something with the intention of lifting another person up.
I love knowing that a card might find someone on a hard day, offer a different perspective, or say something they desperately need to hear. The messages aren’t always soft and gentle. Sometimes they challenge us to look at our thinking, shift our energy, or consider a different way of being. But they are always offered with love.
And honestly, I can’t think of much I’d rather put into the world than that.
Introducing Sacred Body
This Sunday, October 18, I will launch my newest deck, Sacred Body, at the Love Your Body Event at ARTISANworks. And this one? This one is personal.
I created Sacred Body because I know what it’s like to spend years at war with your own body. I know how easy it is to focus on what you want to change and how much harder it can be to appreciate the body that has carried you through every single chapter of your life.
I’m learning to look at mine differently. To recognize all it has done for me. To offer it a little gratitude instead of another list of things that need fixing. I wanted to create a deck that might help someone else begin that journey, too.
Our bodies are sacred. They are a gift. They carry our stories, our joys, our heartbreaks, and our lives. They change, they age, they bear the marks of living. And they deserve our care and compassion, not just when they look the way we wish they would, but right now.
One of my favorite messages in the deck says:
Let your heart wrap around your body in gratitude; the stars themselves have never repeated your design.
I love that. Every one of us is a one-time creation. And yet, how often do we treat ourselves as though we aren’t quite good enough?
Sacred Body isn’t about waking up tomorrow and suddenly loving every inch of yourself. Goodness knows, I understand that it’s not always that simple. It’s about beginning to change the conversation. About making room for kindness where there has been criticism, gratitude where there has been frustration, and maybe, just maybe, a little more love.
If these cards can help someone look at themselves with softer eyes, even for a moment, then they will have done something worthwhile.
That’s why I make these decks. That’s why they mean so much to me.
On Sunday, Sacred Body will be available for the very first time at the Love Your Body Event at ARTISANworks. I would love for you to come by, say hello, and see this new deck for yourself.
This one comes straight from my heart. I hope it finds its way into yours.
With so much love,
Susan 💜
