“But your face is so pretty! Like, you are really gorgeous. I mean, you clearly have a ‘Mom Bod’, but you can work on that. Your face really is gorgeous.”
The scene?
Tulum. Mexico. At an ‘exclusive’ beach party. I had just BOLTED from being in a group photo. (Truth is I bolted because I didn’t want to be on some random dudes Instagram page).
Imagine being in the most beautiful place you’ve ever seen, surrounded by the most beautiful humans you have ever seen. This is Tulum.
Every year I take a life renewing trip with some incredible business owning women who are my lifeline. None of them have kids. And it is incredibly refreshing to be surrounded by forces of nature who don’t talk about milestones and poop schedules, but about how to grow their businesses. All of their amazing successes and how to make those successes even bigger.
And I would be lying if I didn’t admit that every year I have a mild panic attack over my ‘Mom Bod’ taking up space in the most beautiful place filled with the most beautiful humans. I am talking runway model hot people. I am talking ‘turn your head’ hot. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. OF. THEM.
So here I was, at an ‘exclusive’ party on the beach, surrounded by the most beautiful humans, being spoken to by an incredibly hot and skinny woman who I had just met the day before, as she drunkenly commented on my body.
The words hit me like a Mack Truck.
I swallowed the tears, thanked the beautiful, skinny, drunk, woman and excused myself.
I walked to the bathroom to collect myself.
And I started thinking…
Here I was, surrounded by beautiful people, for sure, but also, I was surrounded by this group of women who have been my greatest cheerleaders, who are brilliant, who are running very successful businesses, who are kind, and who love me unconditionally, and I was feeling sorry for myself.
I had the most incredible support network who chose me to be ‘one of them’ and I was feeling sorry for my ‘Mom Bod’.
I have been doing the work, Mamas.
I have been trying to love my body.
I have been trying not to diet.
I have been trying not to starve myself.
I have been trying to do the inner work that comes with acceptance.
I have been trying to move my body from a place of love.
I have been trying to see myself as beautiful.
But Society hasn’t been trying very hard at all.
Society has not been trying to love my body.
Society has not been trying to stop commenting on my body.
Society has not done the inner work to accept my body.
So I am going to keep doing the work.
I am going to keep trying to love my ‘Mom Bod’ as hard as a possibly can.
So that maybe Society will eventually catch up and do the work.
** Part Two when I talk about what Demi Moore and Linda Hamilton taught me about Body Positivity**