Throughout my life, jewelry has been a tool I have used to express myself and feel comfortable in my own skin. Now, after I have spent years working on my mental health, I wanted to share my experiences with the world through jewelry and self-expression. I believe everyone deserves to be able to afford and own beautiful pieces of jewelry, that give them the confidence to express and empower themselves.

On my healing journey, the biggest lesson I have learned is that internal, unconditional self-love, and self-acceptance, is the best way to ensure we are able to heal. Something that was blocking my healing process, was the idea that I had to change myself to be the version of me that I always wished I was. Thin, beautiful, and able to get through life just like anyone else.

But, my journey changed once I was able to practice the concept of radical acceptance on myself. Radical acceptance is a concept used in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and the basic concept is that when things aren’t going the way you want, a good place to start is just by accepting that things are the way they are in the present moment. When I learned this concept, I thought that it was only used to accept circumstances outside of myself. I did not realize that radical self-acceptance was the thing I needed to start healing.

Shame is a huge block in the healing process. And it is so much easier to heal when you are able to tell yourself,

“Hey, it doesn’t matter if I’m not where I wanted to be. It doesn’t matter what other people think of me, or if I have fulfilled all of the societal expectations that were pushed on me. I’m here, and everyday I am trying my best to live my life in my own way. And it’s okay that things aren’t going the way I hoped.”

We all have different things that cause us to feel ashamed. But many of those things are due to expectations we have that don’t end up being fulfilled. I want to turn things that we feel shameful about into beautiful pieces of jewelry that almost anyone can afford. And when you look in the mirror and see the jewelry, I want you to be proud that they are still trying. There might be shameful things that are a part of your story. But when you can accept it, and see it turned into something beautiful, you can be reminded of your power to change the narrative.

Take this as encouragement to continue writing your story. It took me a long time to realize it, but this is not the end of my story either.