Create the Love You Wish to See in the World

I once believed that everyone else’s feelings, plans, desires and needs were more important than mine. I continually made myself small and allowed others to disregard me because of my “Don’t be a burden” mindset. Eventually, I figured out that the love I wanted so desperately—the acceptance, the sense of safety, belonging and support—were not truly available unconditionally, but only if I continued to perform in ways that reflected well on my family, or fulfilled their desires for my life. All the while observing my parents tell me they loved each other, yet their actions seemed to be the exact opposite. And if their love for each other was supposed to serve as my example of what a loving relationship looked like, did loving someone mean you treated them so horribly? Did the love they had for me as their child also come with all this baggage? When the love I saw at home didn’t reflect what I knew to be true in my heart, I began looking for authentic, unselfish love and kindness in the world. This led me to make a handful of poor choices once I started dating. Back then, I didn’t know that the love I was looking for already existed within me. I thought it was out there—somewhere, with someone else—just waiting for me to discover it. I tried to fill the void with making sure everyone around me liked me, which put so much pressure on my relationships and myself. The people pleasing continued, and relationships became another place where I believed the lie that I had to perform a certain way to be loved.

When I finally recognized that my external environment was lacking kindness, truth and love; I could finally see that if I wanted to experience healing and love in my life, I would need to be the love for myself. I would need to be intentional about how I was treating myself and elevate my boundaries and expectations of my own worthiness.

I started @shareloveeverywhere because I wanted to cultivate intentional acts of kindness so that people can see love where they did not before; leaving notes of encouragement hidden in plain sight for strangers to find, because I know there is magic in kindness, and I want to experience more of it in my own life. I’m a firm believer that if you want more of something, you have to be the one to go after it. I’m doing just that with this project, and with your help, we are changing the world. To date, we’ve distributed over 26,000 notes of encouragement globally! Together we are DOING IT! We are making a positive impact on the lives of others, simply by sharing our kindness. It’s an amazing feat and an a massive honor to facilitate so much goodness in the world.

Big things are happening so soon, and I can’t wait to share with you all when the time is right! For now I’ll say a big old weepy, gratitude-filled thank you to each and every one of you who have been such an integral part of this community.

As the Holidays approach, I invite you to order your own pack of Love Everywhere cards to help us spread even more love and kindness in the world during the most wonderful time of the year. When you support my small business you enable me to continue this business of loving others, to support my family, and to help others. This Holiday season I’m donating 20% of our proceeds to the important work of @rainn (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network), the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. This year they celebrated helping survivors for 25 years! Visit www.rainn.org to learn more about their mission.