Self Love: A Small Reminder to Us All

I know I’ve shared this before and it never gets easier to be vulnerable but reading my good friend Ashley’s (Two Peas In a Prada) blog post about NY fashion week brought up a whole new wave of emotions for me this morning regarding body image and self love.

The hardest thing for me to deal with in my job and industry is the constant pressure to look “perefect”. But what is perfect? I am a 35 year old mother of two amazing children. At this point in life my body certainly does not look or react the same way 20 year old bodies do yet the reality is every day I am compared to women 5-10 years younger than me who have never had children and who can’t even imagine what your body goes through during and after having children. And this isn’t a feel bad for me rant whatsoever, it is just the reality I live every day.

I share these raw pictures to not only remind myself that my beauty is NOT based upon how I compare myself or how others compare me but instead it’s how I feel on the inside, how I treat my body, how I treat the people around me and what I do to help others. As corny as it may sound in my “old(er)” age I really have learned to appreciate the saying that true beauty comes from within. I’m done beating myself up because my stomach has extra skin and is lined with stretch marks. My body is a powerful amazing being that created two human lives and if that isn’t pretty fucking amazing I don’t know what is.

Something that a lot of you might not know about me is that I grew up from the age of 11 on without a mother. Being a young girl having to face real life issues like body image, boys, mean girls, puberty, sex and so much more without a female role model or someone to turn to was extremely challenging and it lead me to have a lot of self esteem issues because I had no one telling me what we all want to hear “it will be ok.” Part of my passion for writing this blog and running my social media is to always try to be an empowering source for women. I show myself in all areas of my life from motherhood to weightlifting, the good days and bad ones, from smiles to tears and more in hopes that someone out there will remember that life is so much more than the images the media has created for us to compare ourselves too. I share this picture of me in my purest form so that you all know that I am not “body goals” or anywhere close to an image of perfection. Truthfully, most days I barely get through the day, I struggle with depression, I have body image issues, I have mommy guilt and some days I don’t want to workout and I just want to eat pizza and ice cream. But now I have become the voice to tell myself “it will be ok”, and it always is.

Self love is a never ending journey. Today take one moment to look at yourself in the mirror and remind yourself how amazing you are and then do it over and over again every day. No one is perfect and most images you see are altered… remember that always. And I will always be here sharing my life with you so can see at least one person who is willing to share their vulnerabilities with you and remind you that realness still does exist.

Thanks again Ashley for the blog inspo this morning and for helping us all feel a little more beautiful in our skin.

XOXO