body acceptance

When we heard that mermaid classes were coming to our local pool, we knew we had to try it out.

Over the almost 40 years that I’ve been on this planet, I’ve absorbed the message — whether it’s about my hair, pale skin, or the size of particular body parts — that I’m too much.

My breathing hastened and my crying intensified. The elevation wasn’t doing me any favors. All I knew was that it was pitch black on a lava field in Guatemala and I’d lost my tour group.

I want more nudist-friendly spaces. I’m not saying it’s the answer to all of our problems, but I think it could help.

It was time to embrace my nightmare. So I stripped and for the hell of it hung about bare-assed in a room full of clothed people. Although I’d already left self-consciousness behind me, I wanted to be able to tell this story.

Even though I love how I look in those picture-perfect selfies, I love the less than flawless photos too, and I’m not going to stop sharing them.

Revenge. Body.They’re two dynamically opposite words, one carrying anger and hatred, while the other exudes everything that’s wonderful about us, from births and bruises to our fat rolls and collar bones.

I don’t care about my weight. But other people do.