It’s time to take your flaws and see them as they truly are: beautiful.
“Heroine” is Cheryl Hunter’s debut novel, reflecting on the struggles of accepting imperfections, and embracing your inner beauty.
She is hoping, that through her book, women will feel empowered, strong, and perfect just the way they are.
“My whole concept was change your perception, not the image. We always say ‘if I could just lose those five pounds,’ and then we get there and we still don’t like something, so we start focusing on something else,” Hunter said.
Broken up into three sections, “Heroine” delves into the most vulnerable parts of Hunter’s life, and how she overcame those obstacles.
“It’s really about my journey of learning to love myself after 35 years of being hard and never good enough, and always striving for perfection yet always feeling lack. I had a daughter, and I just thought one day that I don’t want her to look in the mirror and think ‘I’m fat’… I saw all of my thoughts playing out into the mirror in front of this perfect three-year-old, and I don’t want her to think anything like that, because she’s amazing,” detailed Hunter. “That really sparked me to change my own feelings of myself to lead the way for her to not have those thoughts.”
But the book goes into more than just accepting what you see. It also discusses motherhood, and learning that the perfect parent simply doesn’t exist.
“We have so many perfections of being a mom, and we can’t be real about the challenges we face because then you’re a bad mom. I wanted to break down the barriers of those flaws and being a flawed parent, and accepting that and embracing how awesome we are,” noted Hunter.
Going even deeper, Hunter shares her journey through three miscarriages, the feelings of failing as a woman, and the stigma behind the issue.
She takes a topic that is often not talked about, and puts it directly in the spotlight.
“I wanted to really blow the lid off of all of that and just point out that we are all flawed in different areas, and we need to accept that rather than be so hard on ourselves,” Hunter emphasized.
The title of the book takes the message Hunter wants to send and puts it in the forefront.
In her mind, every woman is their own heroine, and just like these feisty females, they have faults.
She describes a heroine as a “flawed person” who rises up to be the hero of the story.
“We’re just going to embrace the flaw, celebrate it, and own it,” Hunter said.
Although she had always had the desire to write a book, Hunter didn’t get started until after she became unwell.
“I have been ill for about 12 years, and I have tried a lot of different therapies. I am very faith-based. I’m trying to survive and thrive in my life while dealing with a health condition.”
It was through her journey in search of answers that she came across a minister in Edmonton, who changed her life forever.
“I saw a minister who was going to be in Edmonton, and her parents were actually ministers that came to my church back in Saskatoon 25 years ago. I thought, ‘oh, I have a connection with this name.’ I was really desperate in my life, this was 2016 where I had a miscarriage and I was really low,” explained Hunter.
With her mother in the driver’s seat, Hunter made the trip to the city, where she sat in the service listening to the minister, until at one point, she stopped her address to speak to Hunter directly. She told her she would one day find her joy and write a book about it.
Hunter was at a time in her life where she was desperate for a sign that things would get better. Shortly after her trip to the city, she had another miscarriage, and continued to wonder when things were going to look up.
One day, when scrolling through social media, Hunter came across an online mentorship program on how to write a book in 90 days.
When she sent in her application, she didn’t know that the woman running the workshop was the daughter of the minister she had seen in Edmonton.
This, Hunter believes, was a sign she needed to write a book on loving yourself and being healthy in all aspects of your life; mind, body, and soul.
“I can’t do anything right now physically for me, but if I can contribute and reverse the process of not liking myself to help with my healing, that’s what I’m going to do,” explained Hunter. “I figured there must be so many women, it can’t just be me, who don’t like their body.”
With the support of her family, Hunter began the process of writing Heroine, and later working with Caitlyn Blake, a local photographer, on a photo series featuring women and all of their beautiful flaws.
Hunter said she wanted to “bring a visual to the book,” which was why they invited women from across Alberta to take part in the project.
“All of these things women just felt they could never share because it was a flaw, and all of the sudden, we’re giving them an opportunity to come together and knowing you’re not standing alone,” Hunter said. “I knew that this book was needed, and that was really a driver and inspiration to keep pushing forward.”
Heroine will be released at the end of April, with a book launch at the Player’s Lounge in Bonnyville on April 30.
“It’s surreal. You have dreams, you’ve accomplished a lot in your life, but this is so close to home, it’s your whole heart. I got my proof copy and I just realized, this is for real, I did that,” Hunter emphasized. “That’s something I can hand to my daughter. It’s a legacy in writing. I’m being honest and vulnerable, and my daughter is going to have that.”
