The Love Letter to Yourself competition has now stopped accepting submissions.

Here are screenshots of one of our three winning submissions from the ever enigmatic, clever, creative and kind Jo Forest!:

And here is another winning submission from Sev Ozan – who happens to also be a published international children’s book author. The standard of our submissions was super high and EVERY single submission moved me, sometimes to laughter and sometimes to tears.

I’ve learned so much and am honoured and impressed by all the talent, creativity, honesty, and effort that exists out there in this often chaotic world.

A Grand Prize winner has also been chosen and already received their preferred prize ($1000NZD). I will be hosting them for a fireside style chat that I will add to my YouTube channel and which will double as the grand reveal!  

Every single entry was earth shatteringly important and beautiful to me, and I wish everyone could win for showing such bravery and creativity.  

About half of those who shared have asked to keep their work and identities anonymous and it is a privilege and that is a duty I take very seriously.  I will hold your words and your efforts close to my heart and not share them further.  However.  I want you to know that I see you and your bravery and creativity with Love and feel they are so full of hope and possibility – as a whole person and as a talent in whatever medium you chose.  We had letters, essays, poems, pictures and even as we’ve seen a crossword submitted.  

I must confess to you all that while I am pleased about the conversations that have evolved, and overwhelmed with the calibre and content of the entries, I am also a little saddened.  

Far more of you have reached out to or told me in person or through various mediums that you tried and could not find the words or a way to express Love for yourself.  This feels like a tragedy.  An epidemic of self-loathing or doubt.  I cannot sit idly by knowing so many amazing human beings can’t find a way to express admiration for their magical, magnificent selves.  

I had no idea how confronting and difficult it is to say nice things about ourselves for so many women.  We have apparently been programmed to feel shame for acknowledging our magic, impact and self-appreciation.  

My thoughts? This has got to change!  And as you know me, I now intend to be a pebble in this pond of self-deprecation and doubt. I plan to send out ripples of acceptance, acknowledgement and appreciation of self across the stagnant pond of shame and imposters syndrome.

It is time we all felt confident enough to say “HEY WORLD!  I’m here, I myself am enough, and THESE are the things I Love about me and I don’t give a good goddamn if that makes you uncomfortable.  I am a queen and shall SLAY all day in my very own unique and magnificent way!!!”.

So. Watch this space because we are going to be making an announcement soon about two workshops we plan to run where we are going to compose some dastardly positive and lyrical poems to our beautiful selves.

In the meantime, what a journey, what a privilege. What a heartbreaking and harrowing truth to face that we clearly have some stuff to address, and it is time we all learned to fall in love with our very own selves. Let’s get this particular party started ladies.

Keep your eye on the Deemon Creative website for future competitions and events. We are stepping it up a notch in 2024 and making sure there’s fresh content and coverage of our journey through life and on the farm.

HUGE Love, Aroha nui, nga mihi

and THANK YOU for reading and supporting our work.