As published on L’ offecial
Chiara Ferragni’s Empowering Letter to her Inner Child
By Vicky Nicolaou Achilleos
The SanRemo 2023 Music Festival through the eyes of Chiara & Maria Grazia Chiuri
Chiara Ferragni co-hosted, alongside Amadeus, the Sanremo 2023 Music Festival in Italy on the 7th of February, giving an impactful monologue addressing issues very close to her heart.
Her appearance represented women’s rights, honoured the female body and demonstrated that fashion can carry significant messages that could change the life of a million people through a simple act. In particular, the Italian influencer read a letter written to her young self, accompanied by the piano, whilst wearing the so-called “The Shameless Dress”, designed by Dior’s Creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri.
What did it mean?
From a Healing Coach’s perspective, the letter and the dress she chose to wear whilst reading it, revealed an amazing strength and courage to show her true authentic self, both physically and emotionally. Chiara has never been afraid to show her body and she also did it at the Ariston, but without disrespecting the place she was. The transparent energy enhancing her body in the illusion of a nude dress, somehow made part of the audience uncomfortable, but in a vulnerable beautiful way.
The uncomfortable essence of a wounded child within, just as in her letter, was a statement of acceptance and vulnerability. The whole performance was captivating and powerful in every way. Based on my work experience Chiara seems to have done the Inner work.
What is Inner Work?
We all carry our inner Child’s experiences and wounds with us until we are true to ourselves and are ready to do the inner work required, only then are we able to fully love and accept ourselves and others; many of us seek that validation externally, from other sources, unaware that the love we are seeking is sitting there within us.
How can you heal your Inner Child?
Re-connecting with our inner child and validating his / her emotions, the good and the bad, just as Chiara has shown us through her monologue is what will bring the calmness, happiness and love we are all longing for.
What does it take to do the Inner Child work?
It takes strength and willingness to reach out and support yourself whilst doing inner child work, which can be challenging, but it is worth it for the freedom and empowerment that comes as a result. This is the biggest gift that we can give to ourselves and this is the biggest gift that Chiara has given to herself and it surely shows.
As one of my favourite quotes by Kim Ha Campbell says, “By connecting your inner child to your internal being, you bring out the hero in you that is inside all of us.” When you do the work within, you will discover a version of yourself that you never know existed; more beautiful, powerful, and limitless.
The letter
«Hello baby girl,
I’ve decided to write you a letter.
Every time I think of you, I feel like crying, and I don’t even know why. Maybe because I miss you, maybe because I’d like to let you out a little more and show you how my life is today.
You know, people recognise me and many of them ask me to take a selfie together. It’s a good feeling to be appreciated by millions of people, then, you know, not everyone really likes me. But I think, I finally like myself and this is indeed a good, even a great start!
Do you want to know a little about your future? I’ve always tried to make you proud. Everything I do, I do it for you, for the little girl I was. But there’s something that makes me feel bad in every stage of my life; while crying in the bedroom or when walking down the most important red carpets, there was always a thought inside my head of not being enough.
When I think about it, I’d just wish I could hug you tight because I released that every time, I thought something negative about myself, I thought the same about you too and you don’t deserve it.
So, I would like to tell you this first and foremost: you are enough, and you always have been. All those times you didn’t feel good enough, beautiful enough, intelligent enough, you were!
Do you know how many moments to come, you’ll still feel like this? So many! This is, for example, one of those moments and it is normal that it is. The most important challenges are always in our heads and only within ourselves.
So, let’s start little Chiara, let’s talk about your life.
You know, growing up you’ll have all sort of experiences; there will be many moments of happiness but also many moments full of fear and anxiety, and let me tell you, what I’ve learned from all of these.
Enjoy the wind, enjoy those moments too. Experience them with all of yourself - cry, get angry, and scream if you must. They are parts of your journey and, more than ever, they will be part of you.
A friend once told me, “Nobody lines up for a flat roller coaster”. He was right. Live the roller coaster experience to the fullest! Both when you go down so fast that you can barely breathe and when you climb up so slowly that it feels like you will never reach the top - experience them all without fear. That bad feeling that we always try to push away, will accompany you so many times that you’ll lose count. The biggest challenge will always be to face your own self. Give it a try when you’re scared.
And do you know what I’ve learned? If something scares you, it is probably the right thing to do. Because when you risk, you truly win against the insecurities inside your own head. You’ll defeat some of them and some others will accompany you for a long time, but you will understand that it’s alright.
I want to give you a piece of advice: always celebrate your successes! The big ones and the small ones too, that nobody sees but they make you proud of yourself. Never belittle yourself in front of anyone. We, women, are used to making ourselves little in front of insecure men and you’re hearing it from a woman who even accepted someone to take credit for “inventing her”.
I let this be the story for years, before realising how wrong it was - all of this, was you.
You know, as a woman you’ll have to face many battles; from having to work more than a man for people to take you seriously, to not being able to live freely in your body.
Every day, you will read hundreds of messages and comments that will remind you of this unfortunate normalised sexism. Challenge them, and don’t be afraid of the consequences of being who you are. Being a woman is not a limit. Say it, say it to your friends, shout it out to everyone for all your life, and fight together, every day, to change things.
I am trying to do that, even at this moment.
Do you feel my heartbeat? Do you recognise these emotions?
I’d like to hug you little Chiara and tell you not to doubt who you are because in the end everything will be alright and yes, I am proud of you.
Chiara Ferragni announced that she will donate her entire fee of Sanremo 2023 to charity, the D.i.Re – Donne in Rete contro la violenza Association.
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