My intention for 2021 was to E X P A N D.
In my business + mindset + skillset + emotional intelligence + my own power.
And each time I thought about my intention or shared it, there was a (not so small) voice in the back of my mind yelling - “yea, but not physically! WE WILL NOT EXPAND PHYSICALLY.”
Now, before I go on - I fully realize + acknowledge my privilege as a still-thin, able-bodied, white, cis woman…*
I share my story because I believe that body image + acceptance / neutrality is something ~ everyone ~ can heal from.
Maybe it was growing up in the toxic realm of dancing.
Maybe it’s simply existing as a girl/ woman in this world.
Maybe it’s the white/thin-washing of yoga.
Maybe it’s being a coach in health + wellness.
But I have never felt skinny enough.
That little voice that was so fearful of expanding physically led me to realize I still had work to do on fully accepting + loving myself.
Spending this past year learning to love this expanding body was a trip. Was it getting OFF hormonal birth control for the first time since age 18? Was it getting ON antidepressants? Was it the handy-pandyemic? Was it finally realizing my own fat phobia + having compassion for myself to let that fear go?
I know the start of the year “encourages” a lot of us to slim down, tone up, shed the holiday weight. I just want to let you know that that IS NOT necessary.
Weight gain doesn’t make you a bad person.
A bigger body is not something to fear or hate.
So whether you’re brand spankin’ new to body acceptance or if you’ve been unlearning the harms of diet culture for a minute now - I hope you continue to love + accept your FULL EXPANSIVE self in this year to come.
[*I’d like to remind you that the anti-dieting + anti-fat phobia movements were both engineered by queer, Black, fat women. I never want to be the face of body positivity. But I do know how important it is to share our stories as women in this fucked up, patriarchal, white supremacist world.
And if just one person sees this + decides it’s time to love their body - no matter the size - that’s all I want.]