1. What are three of your best qualities?
I believe my love for people and my positive outlook on life are my strongest qualities. I thrive the best when surrounded by positive people; feeding off their energy and being able to connect with them is what brings out the best qualities in me.
I also love to care and nurture others when they are feeling down or just feeling lonely. The feeling of being wanted and be able to provide some sort of comfort to someone gives me inner peace.
2. What do you love most about your body?
I love my collar bones the most. I love the way the bones curve and how there are shadowed hollows. They are so simple and abstract. Everyone has similar looking collarbones and I can never find myself comparing them to someone else's.
3. What are three of your worst qualities?
Being stubborn, prioritizing others, neglecting myself, and indecisiveness.
When my mind is set on something, it is quite hard for me to change my mind. I also tend to act stubborn when someone acts selfish or inconsiderate.
4. What is one part of your body you wish you loved more?
I wish I loved my legs more. They are a little larger than others; they tend to rub together when I wear shorts which leads to scars on my inner thighs; I have trouble squeezing them into tighter jeans; I feel like my legs make me look short and stout.
5. Do you practice self love as often as you'd like to?
I don't practice self-love that often but now that I am more aware of it, I try to work on it more. Just recently, I have been practicing mediation and limiting usage on social media apps. I always find myself overthinking and comparing my body to others.
7. Describe your journey with body acceptance...
Accepting my body is still a work in progress, I am still working on learning about my body and accepting it. Now i am surrounded by strong and confident woman in my household and social life. They play a big role in the creation of my body image and self love.
6. What lesson do you hope to instill to your children about self-love & body acceptance?
That we are all creatures of god or some sort of other power and we are born just the way we are supposed to. Being able to accept our natural beauty is key. We aren't meant to look all the same; we were all created to look different. We also shouldn't let society and social media DEFINE OUR BEAUTY.
8. What was your response when you first noticed your stretch marks?
When I first saw the red and purple stripes begin to form around my butt and thighs, I thought "these will go away once I start exercising again" but that wasn't the case. They began to turn dark and eventually scar. I never really talked to anyone about my stretch marks and how to treat them. I wish I more educated and accepting of the stretch marks then.
9. How did those around you make you feel about your marks?
I felt horrible about my stretch marks...My mom did not sympathize with the rapid changes in my appearance and I had older cousins that were pregnant and didn't have stretch marks, so she thought I was less beautiful than them. I was also on the varsity volleyball team as a Sophomore and we had to wear short spandex. I remember my teammates calling me "Tiger Lex" because of the stripes I had on my thighs.
10. What about self love are you continuing to work on?
I am still trying to un-follow Instragram models and influencers that look NOTHING like me and follow more influencers that look like me. I always tend to compare my body to a models that got thousands of dollars worth of plastic surgery and/or models that are 6'1 and wear a size 0.
11. How do women need to improve interacting with one another?
All women need to be kind, accepting, honest and nonjudgmental. We all need to be nonjudgmental because we don't know where others are coming from and what they are dealing with. If someone wants to sleep with multiple people, dress conservative or be a vegetarian, I am not going to judge you. If that what makes you happy then why would I judge you for wanting to be happy..
13. What is something you wish you could have told yourself at your most fragile state?
In my most fragile state, I wish I didn't let the opinions of others affect me the most. I found myself changing my appearance and interest because someone else thought it was "weird" or "different".
14. What makes you the happiest in the world?
Being surrounded by people who love me and appreciate me is what makes me the happiest. People who teach me to be positive and inspire me to be the best version of myself are the ones that put a smile on my face :)
12. What is one of your qualities you wish shined brighter than your exterior appearance?
I wish my compassion shined brighter than my exterior appearance. I think the ability sympathize and care for others is more attractive trait than a physical trait.
