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A simple message has helped carry Emily-Sue Snyder, 32, out of her darkest hours, including homelessness, domestic violence and a suicide attempt.
Now, she’s sharing the uplifting phrase with anyone who can receive it: “You are enough.”
Snyder, a hairstylist and mother of two young sons living in Tulsa, Oklahoma, makes it her daily mission to remind others of their value.
“You’re always enough; it doesn’t matter if you’re at your lowest point,” Snyder told USA TODAY. “You’re still enough to be worthy.”
Nearly a decade after trying to take her own life, she began leaving anonymous, handwritten business card-size motivational notes in random gas stations, grocery stores – “pretty much anywhere I went,” she said.
Conversations surrounding mental health struggles mid-pandemic inspired her to spread the colorful, positive messages, such as “hey, you’re doing a great job!” or “you are loved.”
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People would share the cards online as they found them. It warmed Snyder’s heart, she said.
Her efforts to spread kindness – and the size of her cards – grew in March of 2021, when Snyder donned a red costume cape during rush hour in the middle of Sapulpa, Oklahoma. She stood on a corner alone for two hours holding a large, bright-green poster that read “you are enough.”
The outpouring of love from passersby overwhelmed her, she shared.
“The thing that really got me was the teenagers and kids that rolled down their windows to tell me they love me,” Snyder recalled. “It made me realize everybody needs some positivity and a little bit of hope in their lives.”
She calls her mission “Stay Another Day: Suicide Prevention and Awareness.”
Last month, she was “floored” that a group of 25 joined her recent sign-holding event. Snyder has already heard from people interested in holding signs at her event planned in Tulsa in May.
“People are really eager to be part of the movement to let people know they’re loved,” she said.
‘In the process of saving myself, I can save others, too’
By the time Snyder, then in her early 20s, walked to buy alcohol and extra-strength sleeping pills in 2013, she’d reached her lowest point. She endured “almost daily” mental and physical abuse from an alcoholic partner and had no one to turn to, she said.
“I was reaching out to anybody that I knew, and I was very far from home,” she said. “Nobody would come get me.”
She felt hopeless. Alone. Not enough.
Snyder doesn’t remember dozing off. She awoke three days later in a mental hospital. While unconscious, an internal conversation helped her realize she wanted to live.
“I decided it was time to be my own hero, and in the process of saving myself, I can save others, too,” she said.
Encouragement from a hospital psychiatrist motivated her to leave her abusive situation, according to Snyder.
“It was that little tiny spark that made this fire start,” she said. “I don’t know what I would have done had someone not shared some love and positivity with me in that vulnerable time.”
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‘Emily wants to help’
Snyder began working at a women and children’s domestic violence center after her suicide attempt.
“That was 10 years ago, and some of those women that I helped are still my friends,” she shared.
Snyder continues to help women today as a hairstylist. Her longtime clients, such as oncology nurse Megan Gentry, 45, refer to their time in Snyder’s salon seat as “hairapy” sessions.
“She listens to understand, she does not listen to pass judgment,” Gentry told USA TODAY. “Emily wants to help you; she wants to take care of you.”
Snyder, who’s been in therapy since age 16, also hosts online journaling sessions focused on self-discovery, trauma, healing and self-love.
“I use journal prompts and have (people) break down their triggers so it’s easier to understand,” she said.
Through her street-corner signs and healing classes, her goal is to let people know there’s life after trauma, even when it doesn’t feel that way.
“Sometimes it involves a lot of really hard work, but (it’s) worth it in the end,” Snyder said.
If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 any time day or night, or chat online.
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