Let's Talk About - Body Positivity

Alright, now I know that many of you are probably tired of me rambling on about all of this "plus size" stuff this past week... but bare with me. This isn't just about being plus size or not. This applies to every woman, of every age, of every race, and every size. Listen up because I want you to hear this: YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL.

I want you to tell yourself right now: "I AM BEAUTIFUL."

And mean it. Believe it.

Maybe you are 65 years old and reading this, thinking "long gone are the days of my beauty". Maybe you are 19 and just went through a breakup, telling yourself that "you aren't as pretty as that other girl" thinking "I'll never be good enough." Maybe you are 42 and noticing things starting to change and wish "If only I could get that 20 year old glowing skin back". Maybe you are 27 and are a new mom, feeling in a slump of body changes, never ending diaper changes, feedings, sleepless nights and haven't had a shower in days and wonder "will I ever feel beautiful again?"

Wherever you are in life, if you are reading this, I want to take today and motivate you to feel whole, confident and content, just as you are today.

One thing about body positivity, it doesn't come easy. You don't wake up one day, tell yourself "I'm beautiful" and Tadah!* Problem solved! No. The confidence fairy doesn't all of the sudden fly down out of no where and take away years of insecurities. I wish it did work that way! But it doesn't.

Building self confidence, body positivity and contentment is a daily choice, and takes a lot of forcing before it will come naturally. It's stopping yourself every time you want to put yourself down, it's re-training yourself to wake up in the morning and say "good morning gorgeous!" in the mirror, rather than "oh gosh, look at those bags and wrinkles!" It's allowing yourself the grace to not compare yourself to the woman next door who at the age of 50 looks 35, the mom in the pick up line with full makeup and hair done with a cute outfit to boot, or that "perfect" one on Instagram that is gorgeous, always put together and her "excuse the no makeup guys" posts are literally flawless. Yep. No comparing ladies. Because I guarantee you, that each one of those women have their own body image issues. We all do. 

We were born this way. And what the media has taught us growing up, makes it even harder for us to love ourselves as we are. 

This past year, I have gone through my own body positivity journey. And my motivation behind it all? My daughters.

I have 2 daughters, one is 6 years old and the other is just about to turn 2. While my youngest has no clue, my oldest is very aware of body image already. She comes home and tells me of girls making fun of other girls because of their size. Right then and there I knew that the best example I could give my girls of inner beauty, self confidence and self love, is from MYSELF. How could I show my girls to be confident no matter what someone else has to say about them, without being their example?

I will never forget, shortly after my oldest turned 2, we had taken her to the pool, but I refused to get into the water around a crowd of people. I forced my husband to go in with her as I sat on a chair beside the pool, fully clothed in jeans and a t-shirt in the dead middle of summer heat. This wasn't the first time I had done this, and it also want the last. There were so many times that I allowed my own body image get in the way of having fun as a family or allowing myself to fully enjoy the moment. 

Fast forward to last summer, I took a road trip with just myself and my daughters, from Georgia all the way to California and back again. Along the way, we stopped at many different hotels, all of which had pools. I knew this summer, I had to face my body image issues head on. I had to get into that bathing suit and get in the pool with my girls. Want to know the ONE AND SINGLE THING THAT MOTIVATED ME TO DO THIS? I knew that my oldest daughter would look back and remember this vacation one day, I knew that she would remember one of 2 things:

1. My mom sat by the pool by herself and with my baby sister while I played in the pool alone.

2. My mom got into the pool with me, went swimming with me and my baby sister, went down the water slide with us, splashed around and had fun! My mom is so cool.

I chose number 2.

So you know what I did? I got in the dang pool. And I had the best time of my life last summer, creating memories that I will never forget. 

Want to know what came after pushing past all of that insecurity? I found freedom. Freedom from what others thought of me. Freedom from what I thought of myself. I was living my life to the fullest, regardless if I was the size I wished I could be, regardless of my body imperfections and cellulite. I was LIVING and not sitting on the sidelines.

This doesn't just apply to being in a bathing suit. It applies to everything in our life that our insecurities hold us back from. Don't let that insecurity and negative body image rob you of your best life.

So today, take from this and start LOVING YOURSELF. It's a daily choice to either love or hate, and I hope that you chose love.

We all are different, we all are BEAUTIFUL. 

And if you pass a woman in your travels today, compliment her, spread the body positivity love around.

Until next chat my friends...