What are your best qualities?

Being a caring a supportive figure to everyone in my life.

Do you have any undesirable qualities?

I think I can be controlling, so I try my best to recognize this and lay off.

What do you love the most about your body?

I love that my body is strong and carries me through the life I get to live everyday.

Tell us the story about your scars...

The scars on my body are a representation of life. Changes, hurt, wonderful experiences. They make up everything that I am and have become. They have taught me self acceptance, a journey that has not always been easy.

What was your response when you first noticed your body changing?

Not positive. Growing up, I never had to think about clothes fitting right, or having a bad angle. When my body started changing, I noticed insecurity creep in, a new feeling I had never felt. It’s been a journey accepting my new body, understanding that womanhood is natural and a beautiful change in life.

How did those around you make you feel about these changes?

I surround myself with wonderful people. No one had ever made me feel badly about changes to my body, in fact they always try to quiet my own insecurities and make me feel beautiful.

Describe your journey with body acceptance...

Difficult! It’s hard to see yourself in one way for your whole life, and have to completely shift your understanding of what your self image looks like. I feel like aging has helped the process, you learn to let go of things that felt so much more important when you were younger.

How do you incorporate self-love into your routine?

I try to be conscious of my internal thoughts. Really try to stop myself from saying negative things about my body, my looks, etc. Making an effort to quiet the negativity, and focus on feeling positively towards myself has been very helpful.

What about self-love are you continuing to work on?

I am actively working on not comparing my current body to my body in the past. It’s easy to look back at old pictures when I was thinner and feel a yearning to go back to how I was. Now, I try to change my way of thinking, and remind myself to accept and love the all versions of myself equally.

What is one of your qualities you wish shined brighter than your exterior appearance?

I wish my confidence in my personality shined brighter than my confidence of my exterior appearance. I am proud of the person that I am and what I can be for others, but I feel like it can be clouded by external insecurities.

What lesson do you hope to instill in your children about self-love & body acceptance?

I hope to teach my children that our bodies are an important vessel and to treat it kindly. That bodies change and grow and all versions are beautiful. That comparison is an evil we must try to avoid. I want to make sure my children never hear any of my insecurities, to make sure they aren’t predisposed to anything because of my negative self talk.