September 3, 2023

“You’re so brave”
“Wow, where’d *you* get the confidence to do that?”
“I could never be so exposed”

If you’re new here: I did a life changing naked photo shoot an hour outside of my hometown (Asheville, NC) with a woman (Allie Monday of @ladygroove ) who inspired me so very much that I created a WOMEN’S RETREAT with her.

I never thought I’d post this picture.

My belly that creases. The vulnerability. It’s not “my best angle” and I look less ‘hot’ than in the other photos.

And that is exactly the liberation that this experience provided. I don’t have to look hot all the time. Or perfect. No one does, and no one is.

Who decided what #perfect looks like, anyway?

Don’t the “perfect” people also have days where they feel fat or too skinny or ugly or old or washed out? They do. I promise.

There’s a noteworthy disconnect with this picture (from January) and the body I’m in now (early September).

I just recovered from a pretty bad case of tonsillitis, I was unable to eat for a week.

I came out on the other side with a face so gaunt I looked 5-8 years older (nothing wrong with aging just, ya know: I looked aged), a body where you could see my ribs in my chest, and legs so atrophied that I got muscle cramps just from walking as I recovered.

I got comments. Some people asked if I was okay, others commented on how great I Iooked.

My takeaway: People comment a lot on our bodies. It’s an inside job to get more comfortable with how we live in them. The beauty of bodies is they are always changing.

As women they change throughout our cycle, through seasons, through life.

We have control over how we treat our bodies, how we live in them, how we talk to them.

Posting this picture feels exposed, it’s a dialogue between me and my body and I’m whispering “hey, I love you. like for real. thank you”.

Wanna have that dialogue, too?