Body Positivity Week

Being surrounded by supportive, positive women is one of the best things about jumping into the blogging world. It's helped me to expand my comfort zone, style-wise, and venture into the Wide World of Crop-tops, and more importantly, it's helped me to feel more at home in my own skin to see women constantly building each other up and sending out messages of self-love and acceptance. Most of my media consumption has shifted from 'traditional' outlets (television, style and beauty magazines, and more 'mainstream' style blogs and clothing stores), and it's amazing how much better I've felt since I withdrew from a world that bombards women with constant messages of not-enough-ness: not thin enough, not pretty enough, not tall enough, not white enough, not male-gaze-friendly enough.

Those anti-woman messages are, frankly, utter bullshit. (My apologies if this profanity offends you. In this case, I think it's the right word for the job.) So, since I missed the boat on Body Positivity Week back in May, I'm declaring this my own personal Body Positivity Week. Please join me!
One slogan I've heard over and over is that all bodies are good bodies. This is undeniably true, but as both Plato and Morpheus teach us, there's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. While you might know in your head that all bodies are good bodies, you might still feel in your heart that your body is the sole exception to this rule.

For me, I've found that immersing myself in communities of supportive women with diverse bodies has helped me get my heart on the same page as my head. Something I read from an interview with Miss Amy May on my friend Evie's blog ages ago really stuck with me, and summed up what I've been feeling since I got into this scene. The blogs/Instagrams of so many lovely retro-style ladies "help other women... say 'oh my god, you look amazing like that...oh, but you're the same shape as me. I can look like that too!'" This has had such a profound effect on how I see myself, and it's changed my life for the better!

I feel a lot healthier now, so much so that I'm ready to wear outfits like this in public and like it.

I can look at this photo and see the muscles in my shoulders and calves, rather than my nascent muffin top.

In what possible universe shouldn't I be happy about a strawberry-print matching crop-top and shorts set?

Top and shorts: Motel, from Pinup Girl Clothing
Shoes: Steve Madden
Hair flower: Daisy Jean Floral
Brooch: Small Victories Handmade
Earrings: Atomic Lucite

For those of you fighting for body acceptance, I don't have any magic-bullet solution or easy 'do this one thing to love yourself!' steps to recommend. All I can suggest is what's worked for me, and what I plan to be extra mindful of in the coming week: that I have a body that deserves love, just like all of the women I see around me, and when others show me love and support, they are telling me something as real and true as the admiration I express toward others.

If you have any suggestions for reinforcing a more body-positive, self-accepting mindset, I'd love to hear them!

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