"To me, this ring symbolizes a rebirth in the form of self-love. With my tribe, my new home, and my new ring, I slowly put the pieces back together and become the girl I lost over the years- the girl beyond the hardened facade." "To this day, I can’t remember a time that self-love wasn’t something that felt impossible- unattainable. Growing up, I paled in comparison to my brilliant, older sister. While she took her high school classes at Ohio State and scored a perfect on her SAT, I grasped at anything noteworthy about myself. I sat in silence as...
"5 years ago my life changed forever. My life changed for the better. I went in for an eating disorder evaluation and was officially diagnosed with an eating disorder and depression. Since that day I have constantly had to work on my recovery. I won’t lie, I relapsed AND I picked myself back up and kept going. Recovery has taught me so many amazing and beautiful things. It has taught me how to love myself. It has taught me how to take care of myself and my body. It has shown me how strong I am. It has given me...
When I look at my ring I am reminded of my own confidence, to practice self-love and self-care, all of which I had lost when I broke up with my ex. People say you shouldn’t let relationships get the better of you, and all people are different and deal with many situations differently. I took it as “there must be something wrong with me.” It’s often hard to face reality that love doesn’t always last and being that I was very much in love, I wasn’t taking the aftermath well. This ring was for me, from me. I remember...
The crying was relentless. And it kept getting louder. I pulled myself out of bed and shuffled myself downstairs, disoriented and angry. Why is she still crying? I found him in the kitchen. Calmly stirring the milk on the stove and tasting it with a spoon like he was Julia Child. Violet, then six months old, was in her vibrating chair on the floor, deeply offended and bawling her brains out. “Couldn’t you hold her while you were making the milk?” “Can’t you make the milk a little faster?” I wish I could say these were thoughts. They weren’t. They...
"My choose yourself moment began brewing four years ago. I set out on this journey starving for love and bared it all just to suppress my appetite. After undergoing lapband surgery for all reasons outside of myself I thought that fitting in would suffice. It took me four years, surviving sexual abuse, physical abuse, dead-end jobs, one-sided friendships and living in the throes of a debilitating eating disorder to choose a better tomorrow. It was one of many nights that I'd be leaning over the toilet vomiting that I remember beating my fists at the ground covered in vomit crying...
Four years ago, I was planning my wedding to a man I loved with every fiber of my being. We had been close for several years and now we were two years into being “officially” together. Our relationship was full of obstacles from the start – prior relationship baggage, work, living on opposite sides of the country - but somehow, we managed to work through it and were closer than ever. I downloaded Pinterest with the sole purpose of finding wedding venues, saving photo opps I liked, dresses I loved and every time I heard the song “I Won’t Give Up”...
Am I doing it right? I have wanted to write to you or comment on things you post, but I have not been pushed to actually do so until now. I've had a hard week. I came home crying from a long night at work Monday. I'm an RN. Next month will be 15 years in this job. I am an expert at taking care of others. I know what they need and when they need it. Somehow though... I never learned how to take care of me, or to be able to express what I need and when I...
"I call it a brownie promise. I’m committed to being authentically myself! 😘😘 @fredandfar x @melodygodfred for this piece of art with a citrine stone that reminds me of 🇮🇷 Happy Sunday from me and my skin that I’ve committed to love in every and all states 💕with travel + work + 24/7 in makeup I have to actively remind myself to not sweat the details (aka the blemishes) and reframe it as a reminder to make sure I’m taking care of myself."
Yara Shahidi
To connect with Yara follow @yarashahidi on Instagram.
To share your pinky promise, click here!
"I bought my ring on Feb 1, 2019. December and January had been particularly hard months for me, between work and my personal life. I bought this ring in the morning, deciding I would start making some changes. I got off work early, and thought I would fit in a little nap before my son got off the bus. I woke up to a phone call from my mother, telling me to come to my parents right away. It was my dad - paramedics were working on him but it wasn’t good. Two hours later, he was pronounced dead at...
“In July 2018, I bought my first Fred and Far ring. After seeing the Facebook posts, following Melody's inspiring messages, and debating with a gal pal about which ring I wanted, I ordered the black spinel ring that was being promoted for ‘Friday the 13th.’🔻The purchase was symbolic of a journey I started that previous spring, which included finding things about myself and learning who I was all over again after some previous set-backs. It was to mark the changes I made in myself and the changes I planned to make going forward. Since then, I've lost 80 lbs (my...
Should there be a change in cabin pressure… put on your oxygen mask first before helping others. As a new mom, I would roll my eyes every time I heard these instructions before a flight. At the time, I believed I had an invisible cape and that all moms were invincible. I couldn’t comprehend how these flight attendants could suggest for a mother to put herself and her needs before that of her children. As a new mom, I genuinely believed motherhood was synonymous with self-sacrifice. And living with this belief was exhausting. When I was at work, I had...
"You Gotta Love Yourself Boo. Let’s get real for a moment with a topic that’s close to my heart, self-love. Self-love isn’t getting the love it should as often as it should. I get it, especially as women, we tend to put others first. Sometimes it’s our families, friends and sometimes even work. Whatever it is, the self-love gets put on the back burner and that needs to stop! Self-love needs to be at the front of our minds at all times. Just as they advise to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you helping others, your self-love needs...
