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"To you, this is a little note to remind you how absolutely incredible | 0:00:02 | 0:00:06 | |
"you are on the days that you forget." | 0:00:06 | 0:00:09 | |
"You are strong, so loved and in the safest hands." | 0:00:09 | 0:00:13 | |
"Try and believe in that wonder of yours. | 0:00:15 | 0:00:16 | |
"It's an asset to so many peoples lives." | 0:00:16 | 0:00:20 | |
-Thinking of you... -Jodi. | 0:00:20 | 0:00:22 | |
Jodi Ann Bickley changes lives by doing something very simple, | 0:00:25 | 0:00:29 | |
but very unusual - | 0:00:29 | 0:00:30 | |
writing letters to complete strangers. | 0:00:30 | 0:00:34 | |
And she's not going to stop until she's written a million. | 0:00:34 | 0:00:37 | |
Yeah, it seems like a lot, but I've got a lifetime. | 0:00:38 | 0:00:41 | |
I've never met Jodi, | 0:00:42 | 0:00:43 | |
but then most of the people that she writes to have | 0:00:43 | 0:00:46 | |
never met her either. | 0:00:46 | 0:00:47 | |
But with letters just like this one she's changing | 0:00:47 | 0:00:50 | |
people's lives all over the world. | 0:00:50 | 0:00:53 | |
I wish that she realised how much of an impact she had on people's lives. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:58 | |
She has no idea who we are. | 0:00:58 | 0:01:00 | |
And she still takes time out of her days saying, "You know what, | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
"this person needs motivation? I'm going to do it for him." | 0:01:03 | 0:01:05 | |
So just what is it that motivates somebody to write a million letters | 0:01:08 | 0:01:12 | |
to people she's never met before? | 0:01:12 | 0:01:14 | |
You just didn't want Daddy to feed you! | 0:01:15 | 0:01:18 | |
We all have our different ways of getting things across and I think | 0:01:18 | 0:01:23 | |
that everybody should know that they are enough and that they're loved. | 0:01:23 | 0:01:26 | |
A few years ago, Jodi set up a project which she called | 0:01:34 | 0:01:37 | |
One Million Lovely Letters. On her website she's written, | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
"So this is a call-out to every other person on the planet. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:44 | |
"I'm going to write you a letter, | 0:01:44 | 0:01:46 | |
"a letter just to make the day a bit better, | 0:01:46 | 0:01:48 | |
"or to remind you of the amazing stuff about you | 0:01:48 | 0:01:51 | |
"that you've forgotten, because we all forget once in a while." | 0:01:51 | 0:01:54 | |
So, basically, it's a website where people can go | 0:01:54 | 0:01:57 | |
if they need a bit of a lift. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:58 | |
When Jodi set up the website from her small front room in a south | 0:01:59 | 0:02:02 | |
Birmingham suburb, | 0:02:02 | 0:02:03 | |
she couldn't have imagined the response she'd receive from people | 0:02:03 | 0:02:06 | |
across the world. But, then, letters can be wonderful things. | 0:02:06 | 0:02:10 | |
Never underestimate the power of a letter. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
They really can change your life. | 0:02:13 | 0:02:14 | |
And I'm living proof of that. | 0:02:14 | 0:02:17 | |
It was a letter written not to me but about me. | 0:02:17 | 0:02:20 | |
A lady in the congregation at Bangor Cathedral where I was a chorister | 0:02:20 | 0:02:23 | |
loved my voice, was always nagging my mum and dad to record it. | 0:02:23 | 0:02:26 | |
They never did anything about it. So without us knowing, | 0:02:26 | 0:02:29 | |
she wrote to a local recording company saying, | 0:02:29 | 0:02:31 | |
"Please record his voice. | 0:02:31 | 0:02:34 | |
"I am not a relative of his and there's no connection other than | 0:02:34 | 0:02:36 | |
"I have this great desire to have a record of his voice." | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
And without Hefina Orwig Evans, I wouldn't have enjoyed the career | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
I have today. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:45 | |
32 albums, thanks to her. | 0:02:45 | 0:02:47 | |
Amazing. | 0:02:47 | 0:02:48 | |
Thank you very much. | 0:02:48 | 0:02:50 | |
So letters really can change lives, even in this | 0:02:50 | 0:02:53 | |
digital age. | 0:02:53 | 0:02:54 | |
And Jodi's believed in the power of the written word all her life. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:58 | |
KNOCK AT DOOR | 0:03:02 | 0:03:05 | |
Hi, how are you? | 0:03:05 | 0:03:06 | |
-I'm all right. -Nice to see you. -Thanks for coming out. | 0:03:06 | 0:03:08 | |
-Thank you very much. -This is Cece. -Hello, Cece. | 0:03:08 | 0:03:11 | |
-Why letters, though? -It's always been letters. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:17 | |
When I was little, it was my mum's way of helping us to deal | 0:03:17 | 0:03:24 | |
with our grief over us losing our nan. | 0:03:24 | 0:03:27 | |
I lost my nanny when I was five. | 0:03:27 | 0:03:30 | |
And she sat me and my brother down | 0:03:30 | 0:03:32 | |
and we wrote little letters to heaven. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:35 | |
My mum was like, "This is going to be... | 0:03:35 | 0:03:37 | |
"It's a very special letter cos you'll only be able to write this | 0:03:37 | 0:03:39 | |
"one letter to Nanny," and that was our way of dealing with grief. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:43 | |
Jodi started her One Million Lovely Letters project in 2013. | 0:03:45 | 0:03:50 | |
But in a way, spreading positive messages is something she's been | 0:03:50 | 0:03:53 | |
-doing her whole life. -I've always written letters. | 0:03:53 | 0:03:57 | |
It's always just been a thing. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:58 | |
I've always left notes places, I've left notes on buses, | 0:03:58 | 0:04:01 | |
I've left notes down the side of chairs. | 0:04:01 | 0:04:04 | |
It's just the whole magic of finding them. | 0:04:04 | 0:04:06 | |
I always think if I found it, I'd be so happy. | 0:04:06 | 0:04:10 | |
And some people are going to have found them and been like, | 0:04:10 | 0:04:13 | |
"What is this?" But I know that certain people have found them | 0:04:13 | 0:04:15 | |
and thought they were wonderful so it's kind of... | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
It's just always been something I've done. | 0:04:18 | 0:04:20 | |
Jodi's desire to help people is all the more remarkable | 0:04:26 | 0:04:29 | |
given she's hardly had a straightforward life herself. | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
I think when I first, erm... | 0:04:36 | 0:04:37 | |
..tried to hurt myself I think I was 17? | 0:04:39 | 0:04:44 | |
No, 18. | 0:04:44 | 0:04:46 | |
I was 18. | 0:04:46 | 0:04:47 | |
Yeah. | 0:04:47 | 0:04:49 | |
There was, like, a couple of times where I'd tried to kill myself | 0:04:49 | 0:04:52 | |
and... It's just there was nowhere to go from that. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:56 | |
And, yeah, so, since then I've kind of battled depression. | 0:04:56 | 0:05:01 | |
It's your worst enemy living inside your head, | 0:05:02 | 0:05:07 | |
telling you that | 0:05:07 | 0:05:08 | |
you're a failure and you're unworthy and you don't deserve to be here and | 0:05:08 | 0:05:14 | |
you're a fraud and something's going to happen | 0:05:14 | 0:05:17 | |
so don't take anything, anything that good happens, | 0:05:17 | 0:05:19 | |
you don't deserve it so be wary because it'll come and get you. | 0:05:19 | 0:05:22 | |
It's that, constantly. | 0:05:23 | 0:05:25 | |
And it's waking up with it. | 0:05:25 | 0:05:26 | |
And it's going to sleep with it. | 0:05:26 | 0:05:28 | |
And it's dreaming with it. | 0:05:28 | 0:05:29 | |
Despite these challenges, Jodi has found ways to enjoy life. | 0:05:32 | 0:05:36 | |
But whilst at a music festival on the Isle of Wight in 2011, | 0:05:36 | 0:05:41 | |
when she was 23, she was bitten by a tick, which led to encephalitis, | 0:05:41 | 0:05:46 | |
a potentially fatal brain disease. | 0:05:46 | 0:05:48 | |
I got home and basically was like a baby. | 0:05:48 | 0:05:52 | |
I couldn't pick things up. I couldn't | 0:05:52 | 0:05:56 | |
really walk properly. I had to have a Zimmer frame. | 0:05:56 | 0:05:58 | |
I... Yeah, it was... It was a lot. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:02 | |
I couldn't write. | 0:06:02 | 0:06:05 | |
So, yeah. And then, after that all happened, | 0:06:05 | 0:06:09 | |
the ME kicked in and then I was bedbound for a year and a half. | 0:06:09 | 0:06:14 | |
ME is a disorder of the nervous system that can lead | 0:06:16 | 0:06:19 | |
to extreme fatigue and discomfort as well as cognitive problems. | 0:06:19 | 0:06:24 | |
Unsurprisingly, it all got too much for Jodi. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
I just didn't want to be here. | 0:06:27 | 0:06:29 | |
I didn't want to be in my skin. I didn't want to be, like, | 0:06:29 | 0:06:33 | |
housed with this hatred for myself and who I was any more. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:38 | |
So I counted all my tablets out and | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
just started preparing to kill myself, really. | 0:06:41 | 0:06:45 | |
But fate intervened. | 0:06:48 | 0:06:50 | |
In that dark moment, | 0:06:50 | 0:06:52 | |
an app she had on her phone to entertain her flashed | 0:06:52 | 0:06:55 | |
with a silly message that made her laugh. | 0:06:55 | 0:06:57 | |
It was a simple thing, a brief distraction, | 0:06:57 | 0:07:00 | |
but it was what she needed. | 0:07:00 | 0:07:02 | |
-SHE LAUGHS -So that kind of broke me out | 0:07:02 | 0:07:05 | |
of my darkness for a second, | 0:07:05 | 0:07:08 | |
and I know it's not that easy for everybody but in that moment | 0:07:08 | 0:07:11 | |
that's what I needed. | 0:07:11 | 0:07:13 | |
And that's when I started thinking about, "OK, so that's my first step. | 0:07:14 | 0:07:19 | |
"I'm laughing. Now what can I do?" | 0:07:19 | 0:07:21 | |
Jodi felt she'd been given another chance and her instinctive reaction | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
was to help others. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
And that's when I set up a little website and I was like, | 0:07:27 | 0:07:31 | |
"I'm going to write letters. I've always written letters." | 0:07:31 | 0:07:33 | |
One Million Lovely Letters was the result. | 0:07:36 | 0:07:39 | |
But what happened next was even more surprising. | 0:07:39 | 0:07:42 | |
My inbox started filling up and overnight I got 200 e-mails | 0:07:42 | 0:07:46 | |
and people were visiting the website from all over the world, | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
and from that moment, I've written | 0:07:49 | 0:07:53 | |
4,000 letters and that was four... | 0:07:53 | 0:07:56 | |
Four years ago, on February the third. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
So from that moment, it's been 4,000 letters. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:02 | |
So, yeah. | 0:08:02 | 0:08:04 | |
That's what happened. | 0:08:04 | 0:08:06 | |
Jodi doesn't charge a penny for her letters. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:09 | |
There are plenty more to go until she gets to a million, of course, | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
but just imagine writing 4,000. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:15 | |
And they're not just quick notes. | 0:08:15 | 0:08:17 | |
Each one is lovingly worded and personalised. | 0:08:17 | 0:08:20 | |
And e-mails are still coming in daily. | 0:08:22 | 0:08:24 | |
She currently has more than 8,000 | 0:08:24 | 0:08:26 | |
requests in her inbox from around the globe. | 0:08:26 | 0:08:30 | |
Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:32 | |
I'd find that totally overwhelming, I really would. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:35 | |
Some days, yeah. Some days. | 0:08:35 | 0:08:37 | |
It really depends on where my... Like, where my mind's at. | 0:08:37 | 0:08:40 | |
We'll get miscarriage and divorce and cancer and depression, overdose. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:46 | |
And that's within the first line of | 0:08:46 | 0:08:48 | |
the e-mail that just comes up in your inbox. | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
So it's not the jolliest of places. | 0:08:51 | 0:08:53 | |
There was one recently that, even now, it just... | 0:08:54 | 0:08:58 | |
It's with me and I can't shake it. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:00 | |
It was from a couple in Los Angeles and she was pregnant with her first | 0:09:00 | 0:09:06 | |
baby and they were so | 0:09:06 | 0:09:08 | |
excited and they went for an ultrasound. | 0:09:08 | 0:09:11 | |
And the nurse turned to her and held her hand and said | 0:09:11 | 0:09:16 | |
"There's no heartbeat." | 0:09:16 | 0:09:19 | |
And she was six months pregnant at the time. | 0:09:19 | 0:09:21 | |
And she wrote to me wanting me to tell her it was going to be OK. | 0:09:21 | 0:09:27 | |
And you can't. | 0:09:27 | 0:09:29 | |
Where do you start with something like that? | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
You start with how in awe you are of this person's strength. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:38 | |
"To Ashley. | 0:09:38 | 0:09:40 | |
"I can't for a second imagine the | 0:09:40 | 0:09:42 | |
"pain you and your husband are going through. | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
"All I know is that to go through such a tragic time would | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
"have taken and continue to take the strength of the largest army. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:52 | |
"I am in absolute awe of your | 0:09:52 | 0:09:53 | |
"strength and love for one another that has kept you going. | 0:09:53 | 0:09:57 | |
"You are incredible individuals and the most powerful of teams, | 0:09:57 | 0:10:01 | |
"and it's a privilege to be able to | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
"write to you and remind you of that." | 0:10:03 | 0:10:05 | |
"An incredible daughter, sister, friend..." | 0:10:05 | 0:10:09 | |
So what does it feel like to get a letter from Jodi? | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
Well, Jodi wrote to Scarlet a couple of years ago | 0:10:13 | 0:10:16 | |
when she was in real need of help. | 0:10:16 | 0:10:18 | |
I was living with a family member | 0:10:18 | 0:10:21 | |
and we didn't really have the best relationship. | 0:10:21 | 0:10:24 | |
How low did you get? How bad did you feel? | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
So if you can imagine being at the very bottom and then go a little bit | 0:10:27 | 0:10:32 | |
lower than that, that's probably where I was. | 0:10:32 | 0:10:35 | |
-Really? -Yeah. | 0:10:35 | 0:10:37 | |
"To Scarlet. | 0:10:37 | 0:10:39 | |
"This letter is to remind you how amazing you are..." | 0:10:39 | 0:10:42 | |
What would you like to say to Jodi? | 0:10:42 | 0:10:44 | |
Just... | 0:10:46 | 0:10:47 | |
I just wish that she realised how much of an impact she had on | 0:10:49 | 0:10:53 | |
people's lives, for definite. | 0:10:53 | 0:10:55 | |
And the different that she made to mine. | 0:10:55 | 0:10:58 | |
Just having that | 0:10:58 | 0:11:00 | |
glimmer of hope from somebody, it | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
makes so much difference and I just... | 0:11:03 | 0:11:05 | |
I don't think she realises that at all. | 0:11:05 | 0:11:08 | |
I really don't think she realises. | 0:11:08 | 0:11:09 | |
Hello, my name's Jodi Ann Bickley | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
and I run the project One Million Lovely Letters. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
On the tenth of April, my first-ever exhibition opens and it's | 0:11:17 | 0:11:21 | |
going to run for a whole week, | 0:11:21 | 0:11:23 | |
and it's going to be based on | 0:11:23 | 0:11:25 | |
writing a letter to your younger self and | 0:11:25 | 0:11:27 | |
writing a letter for somebody that you just feel would need it. | 0:11:27 | 0:11:31 | |
For most people, writing thousands | 0:11:32 | 0:11:34 | |
of letters would be more than enough to take on. | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
But as I'm beginning to realise, Jodi isn't like most people. | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
I've always wanted to put on an | 0:11:42 | 0:11:43 | |
exhibition since the project started. | 0:11:43 | 0:11:45 | |
I've always had an exhibition in mind. | 0:11:45 | 0:11:48 | |
I'm not really an artist and you always think with exhibitions that | 0:11:48 | 0:11:51 | |
it's something artists do. | 0:11:51 | 0:11:53 | |
But I guess the letters are kind of... | 0:11:53 | 0:11:55 | |
They've taken their own little art form now. | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
Jodi won't be filling the exhibition with letters she's written. | 0:11:57 | 0:12:00 | |
She's appealing online to people around the world to send her letters | 0:12:00 | 0:12:04 | |
they've written to display. | 0:12:04 | 0:12:06 | |
If you have a minute please get your pens out, get your glitter out, | 0:12:06 | 0:12:09 | |
get your sequins and sparkles out and just write me a lovely letter. | 0:12:09 | 0:12:13 | |
It can either be to you at an age | 0:12:13 | 0:12:15 | |
when you feel you could have done with | 0:12:15 | 0:12:17 | |
the letter, a little bit of hindsight or wisdom, | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
or it can be for somebody to find at the exhibition. | 0:12:20 | 0:12:23 | |
Just a letter to remind somebody how | 0:12:23 | 0:12:25 | |
wonderful they are on the days they forget. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:28 | |
That would be absolutely amazing. | 0:12:28 | 0:12:30 | |
Jodi wants letters from all over the world for the exhibition, | 0:12:31 | 0:12:35 | |
and a great opportunity to gather some has presented itself. | 0:12:35 | 0:12:38 | |
Yeah, I'm about to go to South Africa | 0:12:43 | 0:12:48 | |
and leave this one for ten days, | 0:12:48 | 0:12:51 | |
which is going to be very difficult. | 0:12:51 | 0:12:53 | |
Although I am looking forward to the sleep, I must admit. | 0:12:53 | 0:12:56 | |
Invited by a British charity, | 0:12:57 | 0:12:59 | |
Jodi's been asked to run some workshops for vulnerable young South | 0:12:59 | 0:13:03 | |
Africans in a rural township. | 0:13:03 | 0:13:05 | |
The kids here have experienced | 0:13:05 | 0:13:07 | |
everything from domestic and sexual abuse | 0:13:07 | 0:13:09 | |
to racial and gang-related violence. | 0:13:09 | 0:13:11 | |
So we've been travelling for over 24 hours now, | 0:13:13 | 0:13:16 | |
but we are in South Africa. | 0:13:16 | 0:13:19 | |
I'm nervous about... | 0:13:20 | 0:13:22 | |
I want to do my best, | 0:13:23 | 0:13:24 | |
I want to bring some sparkle and wonderfulness to their lives because | 0:13:24 | 0:13:30 | |
these young people have been through some really difficult things. | 0:13:30 | 0:13:34 | |
And there's part of me that's just like, | 0:13:34 | 0:13:37 | |
"Who am I to just run up and say, 'Come and do this for me?'" | 0:13:37 | 0:13:41 | |
I just feel... I just want to just get a connection for them, | 0:13:41 | 0:13:45 | |
if I give a little bit of me to them, | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
they'll want to give a little bit of their story back to me. | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
Making their voices heard. | 0:13:50 | 0:13:51 | |
Jodi's asking the young people here to write letters that she can take | 0:13:55 | 0:13:58 | |
back to the UK for her exhibition. | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
What about you two, what are you writing to younger you? | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
Yeah. | 0:14:13 | 0:14:14 | |
Yeah. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:16 | |
I'm so looking forward to reading them all. | 0:14:21 | 0:14:23 | |
Thank you so much, like, thank you so much for doing this. | 0:14:23 | 0:14:26 | |
Yes, she has that passion. | 0:14:26 | 0:14:28 | |
She's an inspirator, she has that passion... | 0:14:28 | 0:14:32 | |
Yeah. | 0:14:32 | 0:14:33 | |
I think asking somebody to write a letter sometimes is a bit daunting. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:44 | |
A lot of these young people, they communicate through art. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:50 | |
In return for the letters these children write, | 0:14:50 | 0:14:53 | |
Jodi's brought over letters written by Birmingham schoolchildren, | 0:14:53 | 0:14:56 | |
as presents for the South African kids. | 0:14:56 | 0:14:59 | |
When I put the letters up in the beginning, | 0:14:59 | 0:15:01 | |
I don't think they realised that the | 0:15:01 | 0:15:03 | |
letters that I'd left in the centre were for them. | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
So they were looking at them like, "Oh, this is beautiful" - | 0:15:06 | 0:15:08 | |
but I don't think that they thought that they were for them. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
And when they realised that, | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
they were so excited. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:16 | |
I feel blessed. I feel like I'm special, you know? | 0:15:16 | 0:15:20 | |
She just came all the way just to meet me here. I mean... | 0:15:20 | 0:15:25 | |
I don't even have words to describe the feeling, man. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:28 | |
It seems Jodi and her letters have | 0:15:29 | 0:15:31 | |
made the connection she was hoping for. | 0:15:31 | 0:15:33 | |
I'm getting really upset. | 0:15:35 | 0:15:36 | |
I think it's just all of it, it's all | 0:15:36 | 0:15:38 | |
really overwhelming, and | 0:15:38 | 0:15:41 | |
just makes it kind of all worthwhile, a little bit. | 0:15:41 | 0:15:44 | |
And that sounds really stupid and privileged, but it's not. | 0:15:44 | 0:15:47 | |
It just makes it, erm... | 0:15:47 | 0:15:50 | |
I feel very lucky to be here at the minute. I feel very, very lucky. | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
I would really... I could really use | 0:16:01 | 0:16:03 | |
going home and giving my baby a cuddle at the minute. | 0:16:03 | 0:16:07 | |
I think seeing all the kids today, | 0:16:07 | 0:16:09 | |
especially the little one, has just made me realise how, erm... | 0:16:09 | 0:16:13 | |
How good | 0:16:14 | 0:16:16 | |
we've got it and how we don't realise. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:19 | |
And we think we've got it so crappy sometimes - "crap", sorry, | 0:16:19 | 0:16:22 | |
rubbish sometimes - and we haven't. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:24 | |
And they're so happy. | 0:16:24 | 0:16:26 | |
And I feel like someone's just smacked me over the head and said, | 0:16:26 | 0:16:29 | |
"Get over yourself a little bit," because, erm... | 0:16:29 | 0:16:34 | |
Yeah, they're incredible, and anybody could learn stuff from them. | 0:16:34 | 0:16:37 | |
The thing is, though, people from all over the world - me included - | 0:16:40 | 0:16:43 | |
are learning a lot from Jodi. | 0:16:43 | 0:16:45 | |
And her letters are having a lasting impact on people's lives. | 0:16:45 | 0:16:48 | |
-Hi. -Hey, is that Seb? | 0:16:52 | 0:16:54 | |
Yes, it's me. How are you? | 0:16:54 | 0:16:56 | |
Hey! Good to talk to you. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:58 | |
Where are you today? | 0:16:58 | 0:17:00 | |
I'm at home, actually, in Montreal, Canada. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
Sebastian reached out to Jodi a few years ago. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
After years of unfulfilling jobs, he'd gone back to college. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
But it was a struggle. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:10 | |
Halfway through the course, he'd run out of money. | 0:17:10 | 0:17:12 | |
He wasn't socialising, | 0:17:12 | 0:17:14 | |
and he was questioning whether he'd make it to graduation. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
He was in a bad way. | 0:17:17 | 0:17:18 | |
I got very, very curious, | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
said, "Why's this coming up when | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
"I'm googling for help for depression...?" | 0:17:24 | 0:17:28 | |
So, of course, clicked on it, | 0:17:28 | 0:17:29 | |
started reading through the whole text and realised, | 0:17:29 | 0:17:32 | |
"Oh, look at that, this is very interesting." | 0:17:32 | 0:17:35 | |
Sebastian and Scarlett both came | 0:17:35 | 0:17:37 | |
into contact with Jodi at key moments in | 0:17:37 | 0:17:39 | |
their lives, when they needed help. | 0:17:39 | 0:17:41 | |
And that's exactly what Jodi had in mind when she set up the project. | 0:17:41 | 0:17:45 | |
Take me back to that morning when it dropped through your letterbox. | 0:17:45 | 0:17:48 | |
I remember clearly saying, "Are you kidding me?" | 0:17:49 | 0:17:52 | |
I actually have the letter to read aloud. | 0:17:52 | 0:17:55 | |
"To Sebastian. Getting through each day with depression is a victory. | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
"You are winning the fight, Sebastian." | 0:17:59 | 0:18:01 | |
And when I did receive it, it blew my mind. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:05 | |
"It's a tug-of-war. And sometimes you feel like depression has the | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
"upper hand, but it never has control. | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
"Depression is not going to win. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:13 | |
"Because you won't let it. | 0:18:13 | 0:18:15 | |
How often do you turn to that letter? | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
It's stuck on my computer. | 0:18:17 | 0:18:20 | |
So now, anything else that happens to me, | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
that I feel like I might be giving up, | 0:18:23 | 0:18:25 | |
I just look at that little letter | 0:18:25 | 0:18:27 | |
there and I'm like, "I can't give up. What would Jodi do?" | 0:18:27 | 0:18:30 | |
It's incredible seeing the impact Jodi and her letters | 0:18:33 | 0:18:36 | |
have had on people's lives. | 0:18:36 | 0:18:38 | |
And through the exhibition, she's | 0:18:38 | 0:18:39 | |
hoping to reach a whole new audience. | 0:18:39 | 0:18:41 | |
So I've just picked up some more letters for my exhibition. | 0:18:42 | 0:18:45 | |
I've got one from Nottingham. I've got one from Northern Ireland. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:49 | |
One from Spain, and one from | 0:18:49 | 0:18:51 | |
somewhere I don't know yet but I'm really, | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
really excited to find out. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:55 | |
Yep! More letters. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:57 | |
When people just send me letters and things like this, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:03 | |
I just think it's amazing. | 0:19:03 | 0:19:04 | |
I just think it's really wonderful. | 0:19:04 | 0:19:06 | |
But where are all these wonderful letters going to go? | 0:19:11 | 0:19:14 | |
So everybody will be coming in here. | 0:19:14 | 0:19:16 | |
And this... | 0:19:16 | 0:19:18 | |
-What a great space! -I know! | 0:19:18 | 0:19:20 | |
This is my room. | 0:19:20 | 0:19:22 | |
I feel I want to dance as well! | 0:19:22 | 0:19:24 | |
This will be my room. | 0:19:24 | 0:19:26 | |
Wow. Hey, it's big, though. | 0:19:26 | 0:19:28 | |
Isn't it? Terrifying. | 0:19:28 | 0:19:30 | |
Yeah. You're going to need a lot of letters. | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
Aren't I? I was just thinking that. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
In my head, I thought I knew how many. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:38 | |
-Yeah. -But... Maybe more! | 0:19:38 | 0:19:40 | |
But whilst there's lots to be excited about, | 0:19:40 | 0:19:43 | |
Jodi's depression and anxiety are never far away. | 0:19:43 | 0:19:46 | |
Well... I wake up panicked, like, generally, in life. | 0:19:47 | 0:19:52 | |
Hiya. It's just Jodi, the girl that does One Million Lovely Letters. | 0:19:52 | 0:19:56 | |
It was just a little question... | 0:19:56 | 0:19:58 | |
'It feels like being | 0:19:58 | 0:20:00 | |
'in a tunnel, on your own | 0:20:00 | 0:20:03 | |
'with nothing at the end of it. | 0:20:03 | 0:20:05 | |
'Like, just a darkness.' | 0:20:05 | 0:20:06 | |
See you later. Bye. | 0:20:06 | 0:20:09 | |
Oh, phone calls make me feel sick. | 0:20:09 | 0:20:10 | |
'Doesn't matter how many people told me that I am the most... | 0:20:10 | 0:20:15 | |
'Lovely, wonderful thing to come since sliced bread or whatever | 0:20:15 | 0:20:19 | |
'- doesn't matter, because I'm in this tunnel, I can't hear anything.' | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
It's not just the depression and anxiety. | 0:20:23 | 0:20:25 | |
In all honesty, the ME at the moment isn't so great. | 0:20:27 | 0:20:30 | |
The doctors have referred me back to my ME doctor, | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
and I've got so many referrals going on at the minute, | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
it's a bit ridiculous, but when I... | 0:20:37 | 0:20:39 | |
Whenever I'm in a point where my ME is getting bad, or I'm in panic, | 0:20:40 | 0:20:45 | |
I tend to just go up a notch and overwork myself! | 0:20:45 | 0:20:49 | |
She's not kidding. But with an exhibition to set up, | 0:20:50 | 0:20:53 | |
Jodi just has to get on with it. | 0:20:53 | 0:20:55 | |
I'm going to get there, and I'm | 0:20:55 | 0:20:56 | |
going to have forgotten something very key. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
Luckily, husband Sam's there to lend a hand. | 0:21:00 | 0:21:02 | |
Done. | 0:21:03 | 0:21:04 | |
But there's someone who feels a | 0:21:06 | 0:21:08 | |
bit left out. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
You haven't got thumbs, you're no use to me. | 0:21:11 | 0:21:13 | |
See you in a bit! | 0:21:15 | 0:21:17 | |
With everything packed, it's off to the gallery in central Birmingham. | 0:21:18 | 0:21:22 | |
And it's the start of her dream. | 0:21:22 | 0:21:24 | |
There's lots to do, but with the help of a few friends and family, | 0:21:30 | 0:21:33 | |
it starts to take shape. | 0:21:33 | 0:21:35 | |
And slowly but surely, Jodi begins to work her magic on the room. | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
And the media's started to notice, too. | 0:21:41 | 0:21:43 | |
TV and radio have come calling to | 0:21:43 | 0:21:45 | |
find out all about the girl who writes letters. | 0:21:45 | 0:21:48 | |
Good morning. Yes, some very | 0:21:48 | 0:21:49 | |
interesting ideas from yourselves here. | 0:21:49 | 0:21:52 | |
And joining me now is Jodi Ann Bickley from Birmingham. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:56 | |
I can't wait to see it for myself. | 0:21:58 | 0:22:00 | |
But before I get there, I'm going to | 0:22:00 | 0:22:02 | |
get my pen out and write Jodi a letter, too. | 0:22:02 | 0:22:05 | |
I've no idea when I last wrote a letter. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:07 | |
It's amazing how it focuses the mind in a way of sending a text or an | 0:22:07 | 0:22:11 | |
e-mail doesn't. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:13 | |
And it's my chance to tell her what I think of her and her | 0:22:13 | 0:22:16 | |
One Million Lovely Letters project. | 0:22:16 | 0:22:18 | |
Wow! | 0:22:18 | 0:22:20 | |
Hey, it looks amazing. | 0:22:20 | 0:22:21 | |
Doesn't it look good? | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
How are you? | 0:22:23 | 0:22:24 | |
These are all the teenagers I met in South Africa. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:29 | |
It is almost feels like your room back in your house, | 0:22:29 | 0:22:32 | |
but just a lot bigger. | 0:22:32 | 0:22:34 | |
I know! When people come in later I'll probably be, like... | 0:22:34 | 0:22:37 | |
But now, on my own, I'm all right, I'm OK. | 0:22:37 | 0:22:40 | |
This is my tranquil place. | 0:22:40 | 0:22:42 | |
And, in the midst of that tranquil | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
place is one letter that caught my eye - | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
a letter Jodi's written to her younger self. | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
At 16, I didn't really like myself very much. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:54 | |
-You said that to me before. -Yeah, I | 0:22:54 | 0:22:55 | |
don't think my 28-year-old self does. | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
So I think I needed to go back to my 16-year-old self and say, | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
"Come on, we need to kick this now." | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
But I never understand, you see. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:04 | |
Even last time, I left you and I was on the train, | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
and you said that to me in your house, | 0:23:06 | 0:23:08 | |
that even you now don't like who you are sometimes. | 0:23:08 | 0:23:11 | |
-Yeah. -But how is that possible? | 0:23:11 | 0:23:12 | |
Because you make so many people happy. | 0:23:12 | 0:23:15 | |
It doesn't matter, does it? | 0:23:15 | 0:23:16 | |
Like, people go, "You're so nice, you're so wonderful." | 0:23:18 | 0:23:21 | |
But when you go to bed at night and the negatives go in your head, | 0:23:21 | 0:23:24 | |
everyone does it. You have an interior bully that's just, like, | 0:23:24 | 0:23:27 | |
"You're rubbish, you're this, you're that." | 0:23:27 | 0:23:30 | |
"To Jodi, aged 16. | 0:23:31 | 0:23:33 | |
"Firstly, I need to let you know how enough you are, exactly as you are. | 0:23:33 | 0:23:38 | |
"Life is going to be full of some absolutely amazing things, | 0:23:38 | 0:23:42 | |
"but also some really awful things that right now you couldn't imagine | 0:23:42 | 0:23:45 | |
"getting through. But you do. | 0:23:45 | 0:23:48 | |
"Please be kinder to yourself. | 0:23:48 | 0:23:51 | |
"Lots of love, Jodi, aged 28." | 0:23:51 | 0:23:55 | |
Do you think this exhibition has helped you with your health, then? | 0:23:55 | 0:23:58 | |
With my mental health, yes, because it's made me feel | 0:23:58 | 0:24:02 | |
like I've achieved something. | 0:24:02 | 0:24:04 | |
I'm not saying... I'm not quite proud of myself yet, | 0:24:04 | 0:24:08 | |
but maybe when people walk in tonight and they see it, | 0:24:08 | 0:24:11 | |
I just want them to feel like I feel when I'm writing the letters. | 0:24:11 | 0:24:15 | |
It's party time at the gallery, | 0:24:15 | 0:24:18 | |
and it's lovely seeing how excited Jodi is to share a little bit of her | 0:24:18 | 0:24:21 | |
world with everyone. | 0:24:21 | 0:24:22 | |
So please just have some fun and just enjoy yourselves. | 0:24:23 | 0:24:27 | |
Yeah, thank you so, so much for coming. | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
She said she wanted people to feel like she does when she's writing | 0:24:30 | 0:24:34 | |
letters. And from the looks on | 0:24:34 | 0:24:36 | |
people's faces, I think she's achieved that. | 0:24:36 | 0:24:39 | |
Really makes me feel like I should | 0:24:39 | 0:24:40 | |
have thought that when I was younger. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:42 | |
Seems to be a really nice vibe about it all. | 0:24:42 | 0:24:45 | |
But there always is with Jodi. | 0:24:45 | 0:24:46 | |
That's the kind of person she is, really. | 0:24:46 | 0:24:48 | |
Kind of fills me with a certain positivity. | 0:24:48 | 0:24:51 | |
Just incredible, really. I think | 0:24:51 | 0:24:52 | |
there's a shortage of people caring for other people. It's really nice. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:57 | |
And I think you can't help, reading them, you can't help but smile. | 0:24:57 | 0:25:01 | |
There have been smiles all round. | 0:25:01 | 0:25:02 | |
Before it ends, I've got a couple of surprises up my sleeve for Jodie. | 0:25:02 | 0:25:06 | |
This is Scarlet. | 0:25:06 | 0:25:09 | |
Scarlet's finally going to have a | 0:25:09 | 0:25:11 | |
chance to tell Jodie what a difference she's made. | 0:25:11 | 0:25:13 | |
And, to do that, she's written a letter of her own. | 0:25:13 | 0:25:16 | |
"To lovely Jodi, a few years ago I was the saddest | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
"kitten in the whole world and was pretty close to giving up. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:22 | |
"Your letter was like sunshine rays pushing through the | 0:25:22 | 0:25:24 | |
"clouds. I cried and cried at the thought that somebody believed in me | 0:25:24 | 0:25:27 | |
"and thought I was wonderful." | 0:25:27 | 0:25:30 | |
And although he couldn't come all the way over from Canada, | 0:25:30 | 0:25:33 | |
Jodi's about to see Seb for the first time. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:36 | |
-Do you want to put your headphones on? -Yeah, I do. | 0:25:36 | 0:25:39 | |
OK, here we go. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:41 | |
This is your friendly neighbourhood French-Canadian. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:43 | |
I just wanted to say thanks for the letter that you sent me. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:47 | |
It really changed my perspective on a lot of things and it boosted my | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
confidence. And I really, really needed that. | 0:25:51 | 0:25:54 | |
So congratulations about your exhibit. | 0:25:54 | 0:25:58 | |
I hope everything goes well and | 0:25:58 | 0:26:00 | |
congratulations again on everything, and what you're doing is amazing. | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
Keep it up. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:05 | |
As if you've done that! | 0:26:09 | 0:26:11 | |
-That's great, isn't it? -That's amazing. | 0:26:11 | 0:26:14 | |
He also said some really lovely things about what your letter meant | 0:26:14 | 0:26:17 | |
to him, how it helped him. | 0:26:17 | 0:26:19 | |
Why are you trying to break me? | 0:26:19 | 0:26:21 | |
-What is this? -I'm not trying to break you. | 0:26:22 | 0:26:25 | |
-It isn't that lovely? -That's amazing. | 0:26:25 | 0:26:27 | |
It's so nice to put a face to him as well. | 0:26:27 | 0:26:29 | |
A thumbs up from Canada. | 0:26:29 | 0:26:31 | |
It takes a lot to write to people that you don't know | 0:26:32 | 0:26:36 | |
and spend your time... | 0:26:36 | 0:26:38 | |
..making people happy. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:41 | |
Please don't get upset. | 0:26:41 | 0:26:43 | |
And I don't think that you realise how amazing you are. | 0:26:45 | 0:26:49 | |
She doesn't realise. | 0:26:50 | 0:26:52 | |
No, she doesn't. And how you help people. | 0:26:52 | 0:26:55 | |
I don't think | 0:26:55 | 0:26:57 | |
you realise the enormity of it, do you? | 0:26:57 | 0:27:00 | |
I've written you a little letter. | 0:27:05 | 0:27:07 | |
It's a really little letter. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:09 | |
I'm not very good at writing letters. Not like you. | 0:27:09 | 0:27:11 | |
Thank you so much. | 0:27:11 | 0:27:13 | |
And my writing is terrible, so you might not be able to read it. | 0:27:13 | 0:27:15 | |
-Can I read it? -Yeah. You might not be able to. | 0:27:15 | 0:27:17 | |
-This is my best writing as well, OK? -OK. | 0:27:17 | 0:27:19 | |
"Dear Jodi, what an honour it's been spending time with you. | 0:27:22 | 0:27:25 | |
"I have never met someone who has | 0:27:25 | 0:27:27 | |
"such a positive impact on so many people. | 0:27:27 | 0:27:29 | |
"Your light certainly shines bright. | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
"Keep doing what you're doing and | 0:27:32 | 0:27:33 | |
"all the very best with your exhibition. | 0:27:33 | 0:27:35 | |
"I'm sure it'll be a huge success. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:37 | |
"I will be thinking of you. | 0:27:37 | 0:27:39 | |
"With love and positive vibes, Aled." | 0:27:39 | 0:27:41 | |
You sweetheart. | 0:27:41 | 0:27:44 | |
Takes one to know one. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:46 | |
-Thank you so much. -Well done. | 0:27:46 | 0:27:47 | |
I mean what I say. You're awesome. | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
Thank you. I'm going to go and put that on my wall. | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
I'm just going to start collecting your letters. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:53 | |
Is my letter going to be on your wall? | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
-Yay! -Yes, it will be. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:57 | |
From her small front room in Birmingham, | 0:27:57 | 0:27:59 | |
Jodi's lovely letters have been travelling far and wide, | 0:27:59 | 0:28:02 | |
putting smiles on faces all over the world, | 0:28:02 | 0:28:05 | |
helping people when they need a lift. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
Who knows if Jodi will ever write her million letters? | 0:28:08 | 0:28:11 | |
But, in a way, it doesn't really matter because she's already changed | 0:28:11 | 0:28:14 | |
so many people's lives, even her own. | 0:28:14 | 0:28:17 | |
She's a really special person. | 0:28:17 | 0:28:18 | |
OK. See you. | 0:28:20 | 0:28:22 |