Writing a personal manifesto for healing

[This is a transcript of episode 24, “Writing a personal manifesto for healing,” of my podcast, Healing is the Best Revenge. Want to listen?]

Healing is the Best Revenge is a one-person production, created and sponsored by yours truly. Have you checked out my shop? I sell zines on topics like healing, trauma recovery, friendship, disability, affirmations, as well as stickers, prints, and pins! If you love this show, you’ll also love my Survivor Self-Love Care Package which is a bundle of bright, uplifting, and inspiring zines, stickers, and prints that are filled with words of support and encouragement for survivors of abuse, trauma, and violence. Each Survivor Self-Love Care Package includes two zines, four colorful postcard-sized prints, and three glossy vinyl waterproof stickers and is packed with lots of love, care, and a limited edition affirmation print. I have a handful left in the shop, so click the link in the show notes or head over to karinahagelin.etsy.com to order yours today.

Now, onto today’s episode.

Hi sweet friend, Karina here. I’ve been having a really difficult and emotional day. So many crying spells, oh my god. And/also I have a few projects I’m excited about, including this podcast! I’ve been making affirmation jars that I’ll be selling in my online shop and hopefully, at craft fairs this spring. I sourced wholesale mason jars with the most perfect pink lids and spent this morning using my guillotine paper cutter to cut 50 affirmations for healing, printed on pastel cardstock, into little slips that I folded in half and filled jars with. The process is definitely labor intensive so I’m hoping they’re something my community needs and wants.

I’m planning on launching the Kickstarter for the Survivor Affirmation Deck on my 35th birthday: April 3rd. I hope I’ll have enough energy to dedicate to marketing it when spring comes.

I want to talk about creating a healing manifesto or in other words, a personal manifesto to support our healing journeys. Personal manifestos, such as the one we’re going to be creating today, are written declarations, stating something about you, such as your values, what you want out of life, how to live your life, your worldview or rules for living, in short, concise, and often snappy language.

One thing I love about the manifesto format is how they break ideas down into clear, concise, and obvious language. I think manifestos, in particular, can help remind us why we’re doing the scary, difficult, and incredibly courageous work of healing. Because I don’t know about you but personally, some days I really feel like giving up. My manifesto helps ground me, reminding me why doing this work is important and matters to me.

So, I want to share mine with you. It’s called, “Femme Cockroach Life Manifesto” and is published in my zine, Healing is the Best Revenge #3, available in my shop. Okay, here we go:

“Femme cockroach life is surviving out of spite and against all odds, a ‘f*ck you’ to the people who tried to break us. It’s a flower blooming from a crack in the concrete, an environment it was never meant to survive. Femme cockroach life is community care, DIYing survival strategies together, protecting and supporting and caring for one another even when we don’t like each other. It’s about knowing we’re lovable, during our darkest hours and at our most challenging, especially when we need love the most.”

Your manifesto can be whatever you want and need it to be. And/also if you’re like me and have a hard time getting started, I’m going to provide some prompts for you!

Why is healing important to me?
What are my most important values?
What are my “rules” for healing?
What is my “why?” or; why am I committed to doing this?
Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I practice being that person?
What do I stand for? What are my strongest beliefs? What am I most passionate about?
What words do I want to live my life by?

I also have a few tips to help you with writing your personal manifesto.

Your manifesto is a living, breathing document; it can - and should - grow & change alongside you
Embrace messiness and imperfection; manifestos are anything but pretty, polished, and perfect
Be bold, courageous, and clear in your writing
Try writing stream-of-consciousness; you can always edit and iterate from there

Finally, a book recommendation. I am a librarian, after all. I’m currently reading, “Burn It Down!” Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution” edited by Breanne Fahs which is an anthology of feminist manifestos, organized thematically into the following categories: