Self-Love Ain't Vain

For the vast majority of my life, I have always been the "big" friend. I remember being taunted in elementary school for being chubby and having a coarser hair texture than my friends. Throughout middle school, I felt less than because I wasn't like my peers who had all of the latest shoes and hairstyles. It wasn't until high school that I gained a little bit of confidence and though that confidence was taken from me shortly after gaining it, I slowly began to break out of my tomboy phase. A phase that followed me most of my life due to the way I felt about my body. As an adult woman, I've longed to tap into my femininity, something I've always thought was reserved strictly for women no larger than a size 4. When I think of feminine energy, images that come to mind are small, petite women with soft & dainty features. The images that populate in a Pinterest search of 'girly outfits' are the exact images that come to mind when I think of feminine fashion (go ahead and search it and then come back). I've finally come to realize that femininity is not a size, but rather, it's an energy. This section is devoted to my journey of tapping into the energy that I never believed I had the ability to possess. As someone who has criticized and disliked my body for the vast majority of my life, I am excited to finally embrace the body I'm in while working toward the body I desire to have, in addition to learning to define and create my own sense of style. So, excuse me while I fall in love with myself...wholeheartedly and unapologetically.