The Embrace Project is a collection of our stories and our images in our vulnerable self. The project aims to inspire and empower women and to advocate self-love to all women. I strongly believe that we can’t give what we don’t have. So it starts from us. It starts with a very simple step. A hug. An embrace. An act of kindness to ourselves. This time the embrace is for ourselves.
Often we put ourselves last. We become little. But it doesn’t have to be that way. I believe that we can give more love if we have the love to give. More kindness if we if we are kind to ourselves. More gentleness if we practice gentleness to ourselves. It starts from us. Then it becomes a ripple effect.
Every woman’s journey will be different. Some will get there quick, some will wander around, and some will rest and give up. I hope that YOU will find what you’re looking for… because YOU are beautiful.
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Our Stories… Our Strength
“Loving ourselves through the process of owning our story is the bravest thing we’ll ever do” – Brene Brown
“Rather than re-energizing the events of the past and gazing at my scars, I choose to focus on what is happening right now and what the future will bring. This portrait of me embracing myself and being vulnerable was a decision I made. A decision to embrace my beauty and my imperfections. It was a decision to be kinder to myself— that means I will not talk mean to myself nor think mean about myself. Never will I say “Bad girl, Maricris.” Never will I even think that I make “stupid” mistakes. But instead, I will embrace the fact that I am human, and I make mistakes. And so does others. I have decided to erase the word “Perfection” in my vocabulary because I am not perfect. And even though striving perfection sounds really perfect and tempting, I will remind myself that I am a work in progress. I have decided to let myself cry when I need to cry, laugh out loud when I need to laugh, dance like no one is watching. And when I get hurt and scarred, I will remind myself to get up again and again and dust myself off. For after dusting myself off, I will have that courage to go back in the arena again with renewed strength and courage. I will listen more. I believe that our world is so noisy and that we need more people who listen. I believe that authenticity and genuine interest in people is important because I want to be treated the same way, and I have decided that if people do not treat me the way I like them to, I will remind myself that they too are human. I have decided that I will wear whatever I want because wearing the clothes I love is my way of screaming at the top of my lungs saying, “Look at me, I love myself and I am happy with myself. And there is nothing wrong with me.” This is liberating.”
SECOND EMBRACE:
“I had never even thought of embracing myself until Maricris said to me, “Go ahead. Hug yourself.” When I wrapped my arms around my body, it was one of the strangest feelings I had ever experienced. I felt unusually safe, but I was acutely aware of how unfamiliar I was with my own body. When I was a little toddler, someone I loved and trusted starting sexually abusing me for six years. As I grew older, I also experienced physical abuse, verbal abuse, and emotional abuse. This horrifying experience lasted until I was nineteen years old. I grew up thinking, “No one loves me. I’m not worth anything.” When you believe a lie like that about yourself for so long, it becomes a very difficult thought-pattern to break. I hated myself because I believed I was nothing more than an object for people to use. I thought I was ugly, untalented, unlikable, and stupid. I would look in the mirror and often cry because I simply wanted to see a pretty face staring back at me. I thought I was despicable. After having been in counseling for several months, I no longer think that. I realize that I’m strong, that I have a fighter’s spirit, that I’m gifted, that I’m intelligent. But I was still unable to tell myself, “Hey, YOU are beautiful.” When I wrapped my arms around myself for the first time, something clicked: I would never believe anyone telling me that I was beautiful until I recognized my own beauty. I needed to learn to love my body. When I hugged myself alone for the first time, I sank to the floor and starting sobbing. My body had never known self-love. My body had never known self-comfort. That broke my heart, because my body survived 15 years of trauma and anguish. My body got sick often, and it was tired, and it was worn down, but it never gave up. It fought with strength, resilience, and beauty. And for the first time in my life, with my arms wrapped around my naked flesh, I said to myself, “Thank you.” In that moment, I suddenly understood just how amazingly beautiful I am. My body relaxed in my own arms, and I let out a tremendous sigh. I had never known safety around anyone, and it was high time that I started feeling safe around myself. We might think that it’s incredibly narcissistic for us women to love ourselves, to enjoy our own beauty. After all, we live in a world where we thrive on comparing ourselves to other women. We live in a world where it’s totally normal, and maybe even encouraged to think, “I’m not as pretty as her. I wish I could change this about myself.” Stop. Your body is *lovely. You *are lovely. There is a deep connection between our mind, spirit, and body. You need to take care of all three elements equally well, because they make up the person *that you are. *It really is okay to sit down, hug yourself, and remind your body that it is truly a thing of beauty. I will forever be grateful that I learned the importance of loving myself. It’s a thrilling adventure to learn how to value my own worth and loveliness.”