Coffee, Coloring & Courage: Creating a Memorable Self-Love Meetup

Embracing self-love creates common ground for us to connect through our experiences and challenges and uplift one another in the most beautiful and meaningful way.
We were reminded of this for our Coffee and Coloring event, which we co-hosted with Gladys Stocks, author and founder of Just Love Self LLC. Gladys created her brand in honor of her son, Jabari Stocks, who was killed in 2007 at three years old by her ex-boyfriend. What has been a painful tragedy has turned into a passion for self-love advocacy, encouraging women to love themselves enough to walk away from anyone and anything that doesn’t serve their best interests. Through her offerings, including her “The Self-Love Challenge: 30 Days to a Better You Workbook” and “The Self-Love Challenge: 30 Days to a Better You Coloring Book,” she celebrates resilience, growth, and womanhood.

We opened with an activity from her workbook on writing affirmations. This simple yet powerful exercise reminded us that we are worthy of love—and that it starts within. Furthermore, we affirmed our ability to achieve our dreams and goals, to pour into ourselves first, to radiate the same love we want reciprocated, and to honor our needs unapologetically.

From there, we moved into journaling using thoughtful prompts Gladys prepared, such as:
•    What do I imagine self-love feels like?
•    What makes me happy?
•    What part of myself do I struggle most to love?

We each chose an Intention Word: Confidence, Replenish, Creativity, Balance, Admire, and Awareness, which guided us in answering the prompts to reflect on how our word speaks to our self-love journey.

What followed was heartfelt discussions on self-love feeling like never-ending peace, always being aware of what serves us (and what doesn’t), balancing our lives to be in spaces we’re meant to be in, rebuilding confidence after traumatic experiences, finding ways to replenish our mind, body, and spirit, embracing our creative gifts, and taking time to celebrate wins—no matter how small.

After journaling, we shifted to coloring fun and kept the conversations over coffee going.

To close, Gladys surprised each attendee with her “In Full Bloom” candle, featuring the affirmation:

“I am blossoming into the most radiant version of myself.”

A beautiful reminder that growth is always ongoing and is worthy of celebration.
We thank Gladys for co-hosting this meetup with us. It was touching to witness her courage in sharing her story and honoring her son by empowering women to love themselves. 

We also thank Anita of PJ’s Coffee in Camp Springs for continuously opening your space for gatherings that nurture connection, healing, and community.