In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it's easy to overlook the importance of recognizing our own value and worth. This week, I want to remind you that you deserve to be seen, acknowledged, and celebrated for the incredible person you are.

At "Je Mérite, I Deserve," I understand the significance of self-acceptance and self-love. I believe that you are unique and deserving of recognition for your strengths, your struggles, and your journey.

This week's affirmation is…

I Deserve To Be Seen

Je Mérite D'être Vu

Whether you're navigating the ups and downs of life, pursuing your passions, or simply finding joy in the little moments, I want you to know that you are worthy, you are enough, and you deserve to be seen.

So take a moment this week to honor yourself. Reflect on your accomplishments, your dreams, and the qualities that make you who you are. Embrace your uniqueness and let your light shine bright.

*All photos are links to more information. The bookshop.org link is an affiliate link

Let's start this week with a blog post... feeling that we deserve to be seen comes with an overwhelming amount of fear. Here are some ways to overcome it...

Overcoming the Fear of Being Seen

ilhanjama.com

What I remind myself every day: it’s all learnable. You can learn to embrace your true self and connect more deeply with those around you and with what you’re passionate about. Remember, it's okay to feel scared or uncomfortable, but the rewards of being seen are worth it.

One thing the quarantine did bring about were amazing podcasts full of some of the most amazing conversations

Being Seen

An in-depth exploration of culture’s role in resolving the tension between how we are seen and how we see ourselves. Seasons 1 and 2 focus on the gay and queer Black male experience, Season 3, brings conversations centered around the experiences of Black women and femmes.

Next, a blog post that really inspired me

The Healing Power of Seeing and Being Seen

humanamplified.com

Advice on one way to feel more connected to other humans and nurture relationships so your people feel more loved and so that you, in turn, feel more love and connection.

Next, a book that has been praised as "eloquence and activism"

Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman's Fight to End Ableism

by Elsa Sjunneson

As a Deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness--much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she cans ee enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they're whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be.

As a media studies professor, she's also seen the full range of blind and deaf portrayals on film, and here she deconstructs their impact, following common tropes through horror, romance, and everything in between. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the Deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all.

Lastly, an inspiring film.

As a young girl I was taught children were to be seen and not heard, but it was an impossible ask of me.

Then I learned of Shirley Chisholm, and realized I wasn't alone in this struggle and that embracing boldness was actually a good thing

Unbought and Unbossed was her campaign slogan

What an icon!

Shirley

"We must not be docile, we must not be resigned, nor must we be inwardly bitter. We must see ourselves in an entirely new perspective and we cannot sit in our homes waiting for someone to reach out and do things for us. Every tomorrow has two handles; we can take hold of the handle of anxiety, or the handle of faith. And the first battle is won, my brothers and sisters, when we fight for belief in ourselves, and find that it has come to us while we are still battling. We must not allow petty things to color our lives and stimulate them into vast proportions of evil. To dwell on every slight and clutch it close to our breast and nourish it will corrode our thinking. We're on the move now, and as Frederick Dougless said, "Power concedes nothing without a struggle." It never has, and it never will." - Shirley Chisholm

“Understand this if you understand nothing: it is a powerful thing to be seen”

Akwaeke Emezi

as always, affirmations from previous weeks are available here

you'll be hearing more from me soon. Promise.

tamara charese