There is a song I have been carrying with me lately.

It is called I Love Me by Joy Rhodes, and the first time I heard it I had to sit with it for a while. It is the kind of song that arrives quietly — the way truth often does — and then stays. It tells the story of a woman who spent years reaching for love from the outside, trying to earn it, trying to deserve it, until she finally arrived at the radical understanding that she was enough. That she could stay with herself. That she did not need permission to be found.

I thought about my designs when I heard it. Because that song is the journey to the heart of my company in 2018. And so is everything I continue to create from that point forward.

Where It Began

In 2016, I sat in a doctor’s office and felt invisible. Nothing dramatic happened. It was quieter than that — the feeling of being processed rather than seen. I drove home thinking: this cannot be the only way.

That appointment planted the seed that became Gardenia Group. A coaching practice built on one stubborn conviction — that every person deserves to be truly seen, genuinely heard, and lovingly guided toward a life worth living. Not endured. Lived.

What I did not fully understand then, but know deeply now, is that the journey I wanted to offer my clients was the same one I was on myself. And somewhere along the way, the creativity I found in art when I was young started making it’s way into my work.

The Collection Is a Map

Every design in my store was born from a coaching conversation, a personal reckoning, or a truth I fully carry in my heart. Together they tell one complete story. Let me share a few…

Be Still. Before we can choose anything, we must stop running long enough to notice where we are. Sometimes Being Still is Enough.

Quiet Mind, Peaceful Heart. These designs are not passive — stillness, research confirms, is profoundly active work that physically reshapes the brain and quiets the cycles of self-criticism that keep us stuck (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).

The Longest Journey Starts With the First Step. Once we are quiet enough to hear ourselves, we discover we already know which direction to go. One step. Just one. That is always all that is required.

The Power of No. We live in a culture that celebrates endless yes — yes to everyone, yes to everything, until there is nothing left. Dr. Brené Brown’s research is clear: the most compassionate people are also the most boundaried (Brown, 2010). No, spoken with love, is one of the most profound acts of self-respect we can offer.

Choose How You Show Up. Two silhouettes. One looming, one curled small. Four words beneath them. This design is the heart of the collection — and the most personal. I have been both figures. Most of us have. Viktor Frankl reminded us that between stimulus and response there is a space, and in that space lives our freedom (Frankl, 1946). Joy Rhodes sings about this space too — the moment we stop breaking our own hearts and start choosing life instead. That is all this design asks. Not perfection. Just the willingness to pause and choose.

Today’s design was My Vibe. The giraffe and elephant, impossibly pink, music notes flying, joy radiating from every line. This image is Joy Rhodes at the end of her song. This is what becomes available when we stop spending all our energy managing unprocessed pain and start spending it on actually being alive. Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky’s research tells us that roughly 40% of our happiness is within our intentional control — not circumstance, but choice (Lyubomirsky, 2008). Joy is not something that happens to us. It is something we choose, again and again, even on the imperfect days. Especially then.

Can you relate? Shop the full collection.
Ready to take the next step beyond the shirt? Schedule a complimentary discovery call – no pressure just a talk..

ℹ️References
Brown, B. (2010). The Gifts of Imperfection. Hazelden Publishing.
Frankl, V. (1946). Man’s Search for Meaning. Beacon Press.
Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full Catastrophe Living. Delacorte Press.
Lyubomirsky, S. (2008). The How of Happiness. Penguin Press.

📚Recommended Reading – Amazon Associate
• Man’s Search for Meaning — Viktor Frankl
• The Gifts of Imperfection — Brené Brown
• The How of Happiness — Sonja Lyubomirsky
• Full Catastrophe Living — Jon Kabat-Zinn