“Braces will be your best friend. You will grow into your teeth. The ears that you think are too big right now will become your favourite feature on your son.”
“You are enough. You are more than enough.”
“Do not let attention from a pubescent boy be the yard stick of your worth.”
“Laugh and play. Enjoy every day.”
“The kids who are bullying you right now are hurting just as much as you are.”
These are just some of the messages contained in love letters to Edmonton women’s younger selves. They are part of a social media campaign called #SJLoveYourself, encouraging acceptance and empowerment.
WATCH: Student-led initiative aims to spread happiness to all on Valentine’s Day
February is often associated with love – it is the month that hosts Valentine’s Day, after all – but Nicole Rice wants people to consider loving themselves.
“I think if we can look back and realize that we’ve all gone through the same kind of things and we’re all wanting the same things for our chidlren and for ourselves now, it just can bring the community closer together.”
Through #SJLoveYourself, she’s hoping adults will be kinder to themselves and that perhaps their messages of love will be heard by others.
Watch below: A social media campaign is inviting people to share love letters to their younger selves. As Emily Mertz explains, it’s all about acceptance and empowerment.
BLOG: Jill’s House: ‘Don’t judge. Just accept.’ Accepting others and loving yourself
Rice, a mother and owner of the Edmonton boutique Sweet {Jolie}, wrote a love letter to her younger self.
“I actually thought it was going to be much easier than it was,” she said. “It was really tough and it made me very emotional. I was crying while I was writing it.
“It was kind of a letter to myself and also, ‘what would I want my girls to know? How would I want them to be treated and look at themselves?’ It was very eye opening to write to myself.”
For the entire month of February, Rice will donate part of the proceeds from her store to the YWCA’s GirlSpace program.
“Which is an amazing program that takes young girls from all walks of life and brings them to this camp and it just really empowers them and teaches them coping skills going through life.”
READ MORE: 2016 was a year of strides and setbacks for women
Her team heard about the YWCA program and felt it was the perfect fit for the #SJLoveYourself initiative.
“We want to love ourselves as adults now but it should start at a younger age,” Rice said.
“If we can get girls to love themselves at a younger age, there’s going to be less abuse, there’s going to be more self-confidence.”
The response to the social media campaign has also thrilled her.
“The letters to your younger self have been huge,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of people message us and say they wish they would have read that or they let their daughter or their son read it. It’s been really, really overwhelming. People are really embracing it. It’s just started such a great conversation.”
Watch below: The Edmonton boutique Sweet Jolie has launched a social media campaign called Love Yourself. Nicole Rice and Teresa Bolinski dropped by Global News Morning Weekend Edmonton on Feb. 12, 2017 to talk about it.