Welcome to SoulSheets
why I stopped everything to love myself and build a community of women doing the same
"Stop wishing for what you aren't willing to work for." --Alex Elle
I am not a brand.
And this is not a blog.
I’m simply a spiritual being in an animal body trying my best to have an authentic human experience.
And you know what... I delight in having the honor of getting close to others who have realized the same thing about themselves.
Elizabeth Gilbert, you lesbian-love-inducing little heroine you (yes, I’ll give up dick to be your next wife if you’ll have me! #wcw) thanks for literally everything else.
Sidebar: so far I’ve said dick and winced with cringe-worthy regret, or something resembling regret, but I haven’t gone to church on Sundays since puberty...so there's that. Also this first draft of an introduction feels like the amateur work of a lowly wench, but I’m going to forgive myself and progress. As Liz said, (we are totes on a endearing nickname basis now right Liz?) Picasso didn’t wake up Picasso on draft one. Although, I do hear Beyonce woke up as Beyonce since day one. Unfairness noted. Moving on. #progressoverperfection
This isn’t my first novel, or a sponsored wastebasket of a blog, this is just me. Naked. Unhinged. And ready for anything. Involuntarily, I am turning 32 arghhh, and that can do a lot of, let’s say unnerving damage to the psyche of a woman, so I feel there is no better time to proclaim that I am not a friggin brand. Not anymore. Yes, yes there is letitiaelizabeth.com floating around in an internet wasteland somewhere. An online destination that cost me blood, sweat, tears and actual money to create which bares my name. So technically, ok, I AM a brand. But I suck at it, as any google search will reveal to you. And I am okay with that now. It’s my battle scar and badge of honor to have dared venture forth to begin with…
I’m not Danielle Laporte. I’m not Kristin Carr. I’m no Oprah, though everyone thought I wanted to be her simply and only because I am black, (is she aware that non-blacks think she is indisputably the ONLY successful model of a minority who can speak the English language both grammatically and politically correct? I digress, but geez, we have Jada Pinkett, and Michelle Obama and Grace Jones too for peet’s sake!) nor am I ever intending to be some woo-woo heart-centered this and that bullshit motivational coach. I’m just me for right now. And I want to connect with others like myself, and you know what, even those who are scarily different than I am. I want to learn and grow alongside others reclaiming their truths. I’m not a brand. I’m a truth hacker. And I feel so fucking free.
Fucking free.
My truth: I’m checking myself into rehab. I bet you would have never seen this coming. Here’s my truth after two decades of lying to everyone, about almost everything…
I’m driven by how much work still needs to be done in dismantling oppressive systems of power. When I hear a woman talking negatively about themselves or another woman it inspires me to disrupt that kind of culture, both in my personal life and through my work for ‘Recipes for Self Love’.
We live in a capitalist world that benefits greatly from people’s feelings of inadequacy. The more insecure you are, the more money and time you’re bound to spend on trying to ‘fix’ yourself. The beauty myth is one lie that affects women in particular. This idea communicates that a woman’s value is based on how beautiful society deems her to be, nothing more. This myth is affirmed everywhere in society, it’s taught to us when we are young and drummed into us as we grow up. We internalize this notion making it very difficult to firstly even identify it, and secondly challenge it. Practicing self love is an ongoing journey, often difficult, and we don’t always get it right but it’s totally rewarding and worth while.
I was struggling with my mental health and waned to know how other women practice self love, I wanted all their practices and tricks.
We as a society seem to have an aversion to things that aren't beautiful as if beauty is the most desirable, important thing. I think there are so many other more interesting qualities to have than beauty. It would be great if we lived in a post-aesthetic society where beauty wasn't really important at all and we could all just be.
Radical self love is a personal process in which you examine your thoughts and behaviour and relentlessly toss anything that is hindering you from being your best, most salubrious self. It’s a joyful process of self-discovery but it also requires commitment and tremendous guts.
xo,
Letitia
Post a Comment