Tag: self esteem

Cover Yourself: An Islamic Woman Unveiled

Nabilah Safa

Since the age of ten, she has worn a scarf over her head. At 16, she had an image in her head of how she would dress when she was “grown up.” She’d be hugging books to her chest and wearing a light blue, floral, ankle length skirt, a blue Read more

Nabilah Safa

Nabilah Safa lives in Michigan. Her writing has appeared on Stigma Fighters and OCH Literary Society. When she's not reading or writing, she's tweeting about food and mental health or baking cookies.

10 Ways to Live Your Life to the Fullest

SA Smith

I was at a funeral the other day of a dear friend’s daughter and child. After many tears, the clergy stood to read us the eulogy. He told us of a poem by Linda Ellis called “The Dash”. He spoke of the date of birth and the date of death, Read more

SA Smith

SA Smith has always loved the magical life. She is the bestselling Amazon author of FOREVER, her four part young adult paranormal romance series. She is an advocate for women of all shapes and sizes. Believing that we are all enough just as we are, and needing to spread that word far and wide. Having been diagnosed with CRPS over 12 years ago, SA also uses her writing to increase social awareness of the disease. Writing is her passion. She often tells friends that writing is a journey for her. It’s like spending time with friends. "I just follow my characters along on their adventures, like a fly on the wall, and see where they take me." SA currently lives in Florida with her best friend/husband and their one son.

I Call My Daughters Pretty ALL the Time

Byron Hamel

I have two little girls, and I tell them they’re pretty all the time. I’m their daddy, and I think they really want me to see them as pretty. So I acknowledge that I do in fact think they’re pretty. I think they should grow to want to receive regular Read more

Byron Hamel

Byron Hamel was raised by a violent man who got the death penalty for torturing and killing a baby. As a result of his upbringing, Byron dedicates his life to fighting child abuse. He lives with Complex PTSD, Depression, and Anorexia. Despite his obstacles, he’s an amazing dad to his two lovely daughters. An award-winning Canadian journalist, and television producer, his documentary film, “A Breaking Cycle”, is a powerful journey into the world of tough bikers who protect abused kids. Byron is currently writing for his blog Trauma Dad, and his book "I Am A Killer", to be released in 2016 by the Gravity Imprint of Booktrope Publishing. This post is an excerpt from his work in progress. His writing challenges readers with both depth and simplicity. It’s raw and funny, but leaves you feeling hopeful and inspired.

Heirloom Diet: A Letter in Four Parts

Rachel Hoge

  I. It’s spring and you’re holding a lime margarita. Pedestrians pass, wearing black sequins and riding boots. Next door, a bar is playing “Wagon Wheel” and the sun is down, glowing like hot coal. You’re wearing jeans, a cardigan and dark lipstick. “You look pretty, Momma,” I say. “Yeah,” Read more

Rachel Hoge

Rachel Hoge is a Tennessee native who loves sweet tea and her family garden. She's an MFA candidate at the University of Central Arkansas, an intern at the Oxford American, a ghostwriter upon occasion, and a strong believer in the pseudonym. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Architrave Press, Pembroke Magazine, and others. You can find her on

I See You

Leslie Lippa

I see you looking at me when you think I’m not looking. Always whispering, and judging, and letting me know that you know I’m not good enough. Just when I think I have finally gotten everyone fooled, I see your little pink nose sticking out – all up in my Read more

Leslie Lippa

I am a 50-something-year-old lover of hippos, books, and the beach. I currently work at the Greensboro Fire Department in North Carolina in Public Relations. I wrote this piece in 2014 while struggling to climb out of the depths of despair after losing my mother to a long battle with cancer. My momma and I shared a special bond over the beach, and I recently added a tattoo in her handwriting of a line from the last note she wrote me - "the beach calls and I sure understand that. Love, Mom". I had the opportunity to attend “Summer Camp at the Barn”, a week-long writing workshop at the Highlights Foundation this past July and was honored to work with Megan McDonald, of the Judy Moody series and the renowned Peter Jacoby. I shared my essay with the other authors at the camp and was encouraged to send it out into the world.

I’m Fabulous (According to Supermodel Cheryl Tiegs)

Natalie Yeh

When Cheryl Tiegs – yes, supermodel Cheryl Tiegs — gave me a hug and said that I looked fabulous in my new dress and polished makeup, well, that was something I never could have dreamed of as a trans kid spending their life hiding as a boy. I also couldn’t Read more

Natalie Yeh

Liminal Spaces with Natalie Yeh -- aerospace engineer with a penchant for the spiritual, artistic, and cerebral -- is an attempt where she tries to accept her own messy humanity in exploring the gifts in her everyday stories and milestones with compassion, gratitude, and mindfulness. Gifts she believes we can all share and learn from when we choose to see our continuous threads of connection in our common humanity rather than uphold paper walls of illusions of separation that some treat as real. When she has free time, she loves to cook, shoot landscape photography, practice martial arts, write and dance. Her Chinese American background, bilingual upbringing, and transgender history all lend to her experiences in exploring the liminal spaces where her history, her present and her future are at odds and of a piece, creating herself and her writing as unique, cross cultural art.

Lost in Transition

Dori Owen

Plucked her eyebrows on the way Shaved her legs and then he was a she She says, “Hey, babe, Take a walk on the wild side.” Said, “Hey, honey, Take a walk on the wild side.” –Lou Reed, Walk On The Wild Side The first time I laid my eyes Read more

Dori Owen

Dori Owen is a storyteller, writing from small town Arizona, after living a few decades in California as an LA Wild Child, with a brief stop in Reno. She settled into grownup life as a project manager, collecting an MBA and a few husbands along the way. She is a shown artist and her favorite pastime is upcycling old furniture and decor she finds from thrift stores. She lives with the cat who came to visit but stayed. The love of her life is her grown son who lives in Portland, Oregon. Her essays and poems have been published in RAW&UNFILTERED VOL I, StigmaFighters Vol 2, and Love Notes From Humanity. Her blogs have been featured on The Lithium Chronicles, Open Thought Vortex, Sudden Denouement, and The Mighty.

To the Human Barbie, From Barbie

Sandy Coomer

I saw you on the internet, your waist a narrow funnel from your chest, your hips flared out to fit the width of bones required to walk, to sit. Let’s talk about your face – your lineless forehead and your pouty lips, your eyes so wide the sun could burn Read more

Sandy Coomer

Sandy Coomer is a poet, mixed media artist, and endurance athlete from Nashville, TN. Her poetry has most recently been published or is forthcoming in Red River Review, Clementine Poetry Journal, and Hypertrophic Literary Magazine, among others. She is the author of two poetry collections: Continuum, published by Finishing Line Press, and The Presence of Absence, which won the 2014 Janice Keck Literary Award for Poetry. Sandy's artwork has been on exhibit in middle Tennessee galleries, community centers, and libraries. An avid lover of endurance sports, Sandy trains and races year-round in the sport of triathlon, including Ironman and Half Ironman events.