Cleo Wade on the lessons that have shaped her life
Author, artist, poet, and activist CLEO WADE, in partnership with IWC SCHAFFHAUSEN, shares the most valuable lessons she has learned about love, hope and success – from the importance of self-care to taking chances and chasing her dreams
Cleo Wade is often referred to as a vital voice and creative of her generation. She puts it more simply in her Instagram bio: “I work to build community. I also write books about living and loving.” Her latest release, Heart Talk: The Journal: 52 Weeks of Self-Love, Self-Care, and Self-Discovery, is inspired by conversations that she has had with readers on her sold-out book tours. In it, she writes, “The best thing about your life is that it is constantly in a state of design. This means you have, at all times, the power to redesign it.” Here, in partnership with IWC Schaffhausen, she shares the most important things she has learned about love, hope and success – from prioritizing wellbeing to taking chances and chasing her dreams…
Focus on the forces that drive you
“I am so inspired by my community – whether it is my family, my friends, my readers, people I meet on the street, or those I meet online. I love their stories, how they think, how they feel. And, most of all, I am in such awe of the resiliency of people.”
Perceive hope as an active pursuit
“My friend DeRay always says, ‘Hope is the belief that our tomorrows can be better than our todays. Hope is not magic; it is work’. Whenever I feel disconnected from hope or optimism, I do something positive, whether it is an act of care towards myself or someone in my life, whether it is learning about experiences of others so I can better understand how to be helpful, or even just taking a deep breath, giving my daughter a hug, and telling her that I love her.”
“Whenever I feel disconnected from hope or optimism, I do something positive
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Prioritize self-care and find the people who support you
“When we are overtired, rundown, and uncared for, we don't even have the ability to recognize true happiness, let alone embody it. And in the hard times, I turn to my friends. I have spent most of 2020 ‘hanging out’ with my girlfriends on Facetime.”
Learn from the advice that your younger self would have benefited from
“I wish my younger self would have known that she deserved good love: from herself, from her partner, and from everyone in her life. The best advice that I’ve been given is not to try to fit into society’s boxes – take all of the boxes you think are interesting and fit them into your box.”
“Success to me has nothing to do with work or money, it has to do with being someone you are proud of
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Reflect often on the things that make you feel most proud and grateful
“I am so proud of the loving family I get to build with my partner, Simon. We work so hard to make our relationship and our home a safe and trusting place for each other to grow and feel supported.”
Finally, reassess your definition of what success looks like
“Toni Morrison famously said, ‘You are not the work you do; you are the person you are’. Success to me has nothing to do with work or money, it has to do with being someone you are proud of. Being someone who can make someone else's day a little better rather than a little worse. Being someone who shows love for themselves by chasing their dreams, taking chances, and sharing the fruits they reap with others.”
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