A NOTE FROM TYE
Why “14”?
We all carry a year that changed us. For me, it was the year I turned fourteen.
I wanted to be liked. I wanted attention and a sense that I belonged. With the understanding I had then, I made choices that felt right in the moment. I’m still making peace with parts of that year.
Through therapy, I began to recognize how often my grown self was reliving the loss I felt at fourteen. One day, I wrote a letter to my fourteen-year-old self. Those words helped me see how much “Tye 1.4” had needed to be nurtured, mothered, fathered, and chosen. To know she was loved.
This playdate grew from that letter: an invitation to offer a past version of yourself the care and affirmations she needed then—and may still need to hear now.
With love, Tye
YOUR YEAR. YOUR WORDS. YOUR ART.
What will you say
to her?
Your year might be fourteen, twenty-four, or another age entirely. Choose a time that feels meaningful to you.
Write the letter.
Speak to yourself at that age. What did she need to hear? How can you remind her that she is loved?
Find your affirmations.
Gather words of care and encouragement from your letter and shape them into personal affirmations.
Make them into art.
Create art and collage on one side of your cards, with your affirmations on the other. Take home loving reminders you can return to.
