Unseal Your Worth: Stories to Empower Your to Love Your Body and Command Respect

By Lauren Brill

We live in a world where there is a tremendous amount of pressure to look a certain way and to live a specific life. In "Unseal Your Worth: Stories To Empower You To Love Your Body And Command Respect," we share a

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lauren Brill Media LLC
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9798988858287

Book preview

Unseal Your Worth

STORIES TO EMPOWER YOU TO LOVE YOUR BODY AND COMMAND RESPECT

Compiled by Lauren Brill /The Unsealed

Contributing Writers:

Lauran Hirschi, Rick Writes, Anna Smith, Charmaine Freeman, Stephanie Callas, Taylor Healy, Janet Joshua, Cinthya Pizarro, Faith Williams, Lourdes Toledo, Bleu Jaye, Darlene Cervantes, Jake April, Sierra Putney, Leah Sezanayev, Mary D, Fredlissha Westmoreland, Emily Grace, Christina Mitma Momono, Frankie, Devin, Devananda Vargas, Braya Weaks, Oswald Perez, Zena Chase, Ashleigh Ogg, Josie Pruitt, Autumn Davidson, Rashan Speller, Samantha Russell, Cami Michelsen, Alexandria Stanciel, Jiselle Marquez, Natalya Monyok, Aiša Mrkulić, Kenya Kennie Waugh, Jamell Crouthers, Hannah Gonneville, Mercy Dizon, Amber Shatto, ChatterBox, Drew Zuhosky, Chanaly Rodriguez, Sarah Ludlum, Ala, Cherie Matzen, Rae Dantes, MJ Guerrero, Rebecca, Olivia Droddy, Rebecca Engle, Lindsey Dawn, Ashelyn Knight, Daisy Amoako, Karma, Emily Scapecchi, Gerald Washington, DeAndrea Baker, Michelle Ruby, Rashan Speller, Mira Catlin, Malak Kalmoni Chehab Karen Rice, Danielle Bettro, LaShae Eaddy, Kiore Andrews, Vision W.

Copyright © 2023 by Lauren Brill Media LLC

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. However, contributors maintain ownership rights of their individual poems and as such retain all rights to publish and republish their work.

Book Cover by Marija Džafo

Layout Design by Larissa Fleury

2023

ISBN Paperback: 979-8-9888582-7-0

ISBN Ebook: 979-8-9888582-8-7

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

What is The Unsealed?

Dedication

Introduction

A MESSAGE TO MY BODY

The Body That Holds Me

Bounce Back

House Of Shame

In The Mirror

A Promise To My Body

Treasure Hunt

She Didn’t Know…

Even If It Takes My Whole Life, I Will Love Myself In The End.

Silhouette

My Tampered Temple

Home

Woman In Smile

The Hand Dealt

This Body That Betrays Me

To My Body, To Me?

I’m Sorry, Sweet Body

My Beauty

Pathways In Generosity

My Apology, Sincerely To My Body,

My Dear Body

Empty Stomach: When Food No Longer Soothes The Soul

You Are More Of A Friend To Me, Than I Have Been To You

An Ode To My Scarred Body

Home Body

My Body, My Keeper

Oh Dear Friend

Supposed To Be

Iron Will

Everything To Me

I Was _ When…

Keeper Of My Soul

WHY I DESERVE THE UTMOST RESPECT

Respect Me, Or Don’t

To Be Alive

(I) Respect Me

Dear God,

No Matter What Happens, Keep Going

RESPECT... Find Out What It Means To Me

Silently Watching

Worthy

A Cycle (Cont’d)

I Think I’ve Earned Your Respect

Here

SHE

It’s 5:00 a.m. And I’m Awake Thinking About You Again.

It Starts With Me

Why I Am Deserving Of Respect. Of the Utmost.

Respectfully,

I Don’t Know If I Am, But I do Know That I Am Deserving Of Your Respect.

Why I Deserve Respect

Autism Value

Respect Me.

I Am Human

I Deserve It All

Because I Deserve It

High & Mighty Loophole

She Is Worthy

Time Showed Me That I Was Worthy Of Respect

My Presence Is A Present

Maybe

Born To Fly

Admiration Of The Sunset With Words Like

Worthiness Of Respect

Soulful Respect (Acrostic)

Discovering Faith, True Beauty And Confidence During And After Cancer

Respect At The End Of The Tunnel

Respect Me

WHY I LOVE MYSELF

Learning To Recycle

If I Won’t, Who Will?

Loving Myself

Why I Love The Woman I’ve Become

Acknowledgments

About The Unsealed Founder, Lauren Brill

CONTENT GUIDANCE:

This book contains adult language and content that may be triggering for some. Please read with care.

What is The Unsealed?

The Unsealed (theunsealed.com) is a writing community where people write, share, and respond to personal and inspirational open letters. We hold weekly events and conversations, inviting interesting guests to talk to our community about their stories. Our platform aims to heal, empower, connect, encourage, and inspire people to persevere through their problems.

All the stories and poems in this book are written by members of The Unsealed community. Our writers are people of various backgrounds, ages, and writing levels.

If you would like to message someone in this book or read more of their writing, you can plug their username into this url: https://theunsealed.com/members/ username/

Dedication

We dedicate this book to our writers on The Unsealed. It is your truth, compassion, and determination that can and will change the world.

Introduction

Dear Unsealers,

As a young child, I was completely comfortable in my skin. But as I entered my teen years, my body and my peace were held hostage by the world around me.

See, when I was very young, loving my body was easy. It happened without a thought. I was an athlete. By five years old, I knew I was faster and stronger than most kids my age, and I thoroughly enjoyed that fact. My athletic prowess made me believe that I and my body were powerful in every sense of the word.

As I got older, like many others, the world began to poke at my relationship with my body, and myself for that matter. I remember the day a classmate asked me if my thighs touched when I put my legs together. Of course, mine did; I had muscular thighs from years of playing travel soccer. I remember when someone in my inner circle told me to lay off the potato chips. Then, in the late 90s, I remember the images in magazines and on TV. The models and the actresses were all thin, very thin. Even more impactful than the images was the commentary. Newscasters, writers, and everyday people felt they had the right to criticize and critique every inch of a woman’s body as if our bodies are not our own. But instead, our bodies were public domain — free to look at, judge, comment, and horrifyingly, sometimes, even touch. And just like that, that loving, empowering relationship I had with myself and my body began to evaporate along with a piece of my happiness. 

I didn’t feel good enough. I didn’t feel comfortable with parts of myself I once loved. Despite the athletic benefits, I decided not to lift weights because I feared gaining muscle mass on my 5’7" frame would make me look masculine. During my late teen years,  I sadly began to count calories. It was a suffocating and exhausting period of my life. Thankfully, those days didn’t last forever.

During college, or maybe a year or so afterward, a friend invited me to Soho House, a private social club for artists,  in New York City. That night, I met a fashion blogger named Lindsey Calla. Lindsey was also a former college athlete. After adding her as a friend on Facebook and following her blog, one day, she posted a quote that read, Nothing looks as good as strong feels.  The quote hit me like a ton of bricks, and I began to consciously reevaluate my relationship with my body through the lens of that quote. I even slightly changed it to say, Nothing looks as good as healthy feels.

Slowly but surely,  I got healthier and started to feel happier, stronger, and more at ease. My diet changed, as I continued to eat healthy foods but stopped counting calories. I began to lift weights, and instead of worrying that my muscles made me look masculine, my strength made me feel sexy. As a result of this new lifestyle, I fell in love again with rollerblading, as the wind blowing in my face while speeding through cities allowed me to release all the tension in my life. Now, in my 30s, I have proudly come to love my body without needing to change it drastically.

This past year, I asked you, members of The Unsealed community, to write poems or letters to each of your bodies and poems about why you deserve the utmost respect. I wanted all of you to consciously reconnect with your body and take the time to think about how you’ve treated and perceived your body — the same way I did after I read that quote from Lindsey. I wanted