body image

When I’m in the company of family, my strongly held beliefs about positive body image, my carefully honed confidence that I am more than numbers on a scale, my uncompromising rebellion against the patriarchy and its arbitrary rules for women’s sexuality, crumbles into a fine dust that blows away with one heavy sigh.

When you go through a difficult, traumatic, or transformative experience, there’s a part of you that wants to hold onto the person you were before it happened. You try so hard to hold onto a simpler time–a time when things weren’t so scary. But you can’t.

Looking at this humble gift created by my fourth child, the one I waited 10 years for, I am grateful, tearful. She has drawn me, her mother. And other than having a really big head, I just look like a person. I’m wearing a dress. I have two arms and legs, five fingers on each hand (a surprisingly short thumb, however). My hairstyle is questionable, but all in all, I just look like a person.

“You’re fat and ugly,” I’d hear, or, “Look at your stomach, it’s disgusting!” This wasn’t a neighborhood bully taunting me on my way to school — this is what I said to myself all day long, well into adulthood.

This week, Matt addresses everyone out there with a lady as their partner. Which is a lot of us, so listen up.

I would wonder if others saw me as “super healthy” or as a “fit chick” — or if they had those thoughts at all. I was constantly consumed with every minute detail of my lifestyle, wondering if it was going to take me closer or further away from my ideal body.

Wondering how you can be be ready for the beach? Wonder no more! Matt shares three steps to help you get your body positivity on!

Wondering how you can be be ready for the beach? Wonder no more! Matt shares three steps to help you get your body positivity on!