No Apologies

I have felt friction around the body positivity and body neutrality movements all along. They both hold well-intentioned ideas and, for many, are helpful in moving away from the self-hatred the mainstream world inspires. Only one chapter in to Sonya Renee Taylor’s book and I think I’ve (finally) found someone who is putting into words and actions something closer to my heart - radical self-love might be what I’ve been looking for.

Over the next five weeks I’ll be reading the book, doing the work, and (hopefully) engaging in discussions with YOU along the way. Radical self-love sounds scary, I know. Any sort of change we commit to comes with a dose of fear and this change comes with a bit extra since it’s digging into the most important relationship we have - our relationship with ourselves. Two other things I know? That fear and excitement are the same (it’s how we react to it that makes the difference), and there is power and safety in exploring change in a supportive community.

In Ijeoma Oluo’s forward to the book she shares this thought: “It was not until I was in my thirties that it occurred to me that perhaps I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life fighting myself.” I’m sitting here in my 51st year having spent the last twelve years of my life refining my ideas around self-worth, self-acceptance, self-celebration, and any other “self-” notion that might help women and girls go out into the world in full awareness of their strengths.

Whatever your current age, will you join me in trying on radical self-love this year? In transforming fear into excitement? In changing the world (starting with ourselves) one woman at a time?