Wiggle Week II

If you're anything like me, you were born sick and tired of looking at gorgeous clothes and thinking 'that's so pretty, but I could never wear that.' My style-obsessed heart aches for all the gorgeous people out there who've internalized society's garbage beauty standards. I've been there and it's not fun. Last November, I decided to devote a week to breaking through these negative thoughts, and thus Wiggle Week was born!

World's silliest graphic.

For those of you who missed the first incarnation of Wiggle Week, here's how it works. Starting tomorrow, May 7, I'm challenging myself to wear a wiggle dress every day for a week, and I'll be sharing my thoughts about the journey using the hashtag #WiggleWeek on Insta and my Facebook page. I'm inviting all of you to join me by posting photos of your wiggly best (tagged with #wiggleweek!) and checking out what everyone else is posting.

Last year's Wiggle Week was a huge step in my own journey toward body positivity, and it was  due in large part to everyone's involvement in the project. Part of this is just from the beautiful support and positivity that participants poured into their comments and conversations with one another. It's hard to overstate how much of a difference it makes to know that you aren't the only one struggling. And for me personally, when I hear that a person I think is absolutely stunning wrestles with the same insecurities and negative self-talk that I experience, it helps me to realize that maybe my own insecurities are just as unjustified. That's a powerful feeling!

Blue Steel, babes.

My face when I think about impossible beauty standards

It's also so important to me to show that there's no 'right' way to wear a dress: that our idea of what bodies 'should' or should not wear certain styles is just a bill of goods we've been sold by a society that wants to sell things to women by playing on their fears.

I might just be an ornery old broad, but I deeply resent the idea that my goal in getting dressed should be to feel thin and small (but not too small!), instead of happy. Why should I make myself disappear? Why should I feel bad about myself if I don't have the perfect hourglass figure? F. That. But if we ever want to escape these everpresent beauty standards, we have to actually see people with bodies of all shapes and sizes doing their thing in whatever clothing they've put on! Hence: Wiggle Week. I gained so much confidence after seeing the beauty in everyone's posts last year, including those with bodies with which I could identify.

Finally, it was incredibly inspiring to see so many women sharing their own stories about their bodies, and to follow along as those stories evolved through the week of mindful body positivity. This might be the main reason that I actually cannot wait till November to bring back Wiggle Week. It was one of the best forms of body-image self-care I've ever done, and I'm hoping to repeat that experience and share it with as many people as I can!

Invisible mic drop.

Need more reasons to throw on a wiggle, or wear the one that's sitting in your closet that you haven't quite managed to wear out of the house? Why not check out my top six reasons to love the wiggle?

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