"Look in the mirror and repeat after me: I love you. Every inch of your skin that is marked with stories of how far you've come. The shape of your eyes that have seen so much. I love your lungs, they allow you to breathe here with me. I love your limbs and how they work just the way they were meant to. Your smile is dazzling. You shine so bright, always, in all ways. I love your capacity to love. Your heart is so beautiful. You are so beautiful. I am beautiful. I am, I am, I am." -- V.E.

"Hug yourself like you would like your mother to hold you. Listen to yourself like you would want your friend to hear you. Encourage yourself with the words you would love to hear come from your father's lips. Give yourself the attention you would want from your lover. Accept yourself like you long for the world to embrace you. Your healing begins with you first. That's the beauty of it. As long as you have you, you can do anything. You can face anything. In loving yourself, everything becomes possible again. The sky becomes soft. The world is beautiful once more." --S.C. Lourie

Artwork by Manasseh Johnson