1. What are three of your best qualities?
I take care of the things I love and use my time efficiently, like brushing my teeth while I shower.
2. What do you love most about your body?
My worst qualities would be allowing my insecurities to dictate my life, too often allowing myself to disassociate nights away instead of getting a good nights sleep, and taking things way too personally.
3. What are you working on loving more about yourself?
It’s good to take it easy and that’s what I’m working on loving more. My capitalist guilt makes it a challenge.
4. Tell us the story about your stretch marks and scars…
My scars are self induced, which is a silly thing for a perfectionist to do, deface my own body in such a permanent way, but I was young and it was a way of disciplining myself and I guess getting what I felt I deserved.
5. What was your response when you first noticed your stretch marks?
I thought, "Oh wow maybe I’ll have an ass soon!"
6. How did those around you make you feel about your stretch marks/scars?
Most people don’t ask. It seems like the ones that do ask already know what the scars are from, but they want an explanation as to why. I just think that’s so fucking weird.
7. Describe your journey with body acceptance...
Everyday is hard, especially since I can’t wear a ski mask to the grocery store when I’m feeling ashamed of myself. I’ll never forgive bank robbers for ruining that for me. When you’ve got low or no self esteem it seems like it’s most important to be very persistently remind myself that I’m just a person and I deserve to walk around like everybody else no matter what I look like. I guess I haven’t figured out how to accept myself, but I start over every morning and do my best.
8. What about self love are you continuing to work on?
When combatting negative thoughts about my appearance and my overall character, I tend to be too harsh with myself. Fighting fire with fire telling myself not to an stupid idiot when panicking over my anxieties. I need to work on being more gentle with myself when trying to practice self love.
9. How do women need to improve interacting with one another?
In a perfect world women could lift each other up.
10. What is something you wish you could have told yourself at your most fragile state?
At my most fragile I wish I could’ve told myself that I just had it all mixed up. I wish I could’ve seen real suffering. Then I would’ve wised up a lot faster.
11. What is the best complement you've recieved?
The best compliment I ever received that I can remember was from an old lady in a hospital gown. She told me I was a special person.
12. What lesson do you hope to instill to your children about self-love & body acceptance?
My kid would know it isn’t normal to hate themselves and would never watch me hate myself in a mirror.
13. How have you evolved as a human over the past few years?
Over the last few years I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut and listen. Most of the time it’s a real snooze fest, but it makes the world easier to swallow.
