Birthday Babe

Annual Birthday Blog! Another year older, wiser, and sparklier! Obviously.

This year is a milestone, and not one of those milestones where you smile at 30 like “ugh I’m SO old, hehe!” I’m 35 now, and on paper that’s a significant number. I get it, that’s still young, but I’m perpetually in that “I feel 25” phase of life so when I look at something that tells me I’m 35, I want to scream “LIAR!”

I already did the whole “the party isn’t over” post. And we covered my thoughts on needles and procedures. I even updated you on my thoughts on romance. So surely what’s left?

In 2020,I want to just celebrate.

I want to celebrate who I am at 35.

Happy Birthday to the woman who feels more herself than she ever has before. Who qualifies her beliefs less. Apologizes for her loud opinionated ways all but never. The woman who has accepted that her life is a bit dramatic and has chosen not to take that as something I’ve created but the extra sparkly life I was given. To the woman who gets self conscious about her body at times, and yet is still the most naked friend we have. Who has committed the time, energy and openness to therapy. Who risks a little vulnerability for love but who has found it in her to walk away rather than stay for attention.

I choose to celebrate who I am today. Because 2020 has been a consistent refreshing of twitter only to find something else awful has showed up to ruin our days.

I choose to celebrate being 35 on paper and 25 at heart. Because while I pay all my bills and I eat my vegetables, sometimes I drink too much and only eat chocolate for dinner.

I choose to celebrate period. Because aging is truly a privilege, and I’ve certainly made the most of the years I’ve got. I cannot wait to continue to celebrate every day. Birthday or not.

Cheers sequins!

Love is Patient

I lack patience. In every situation. I’m willing to put in the work, but at the first sign of foolish games, I’m out. A lot of people have accused me of being unrealistic in love. In giving up too easily. In walking away far too quickly.

And they’re wrong.

I believed them for a hot minute and so I spent time chasing men I shouldn’t have. Giving out second chances, and staying put when I should have dead sprinted away.

In 2019, I am a Lizzo mood. I’m not here for your games. I’m not patient. I’m not wasting my time. If you want to be captain waste her time, I’m going to catch the first flight out and I’m not scheduling a return.

Love is patient. Love is hard. Love takes work. When it’s the right person, a healthy relationship you need to be patient and put that work in. But lately I’m seeing the same people who tell me I’m too quick to cut ties putting up with a whole lot of bullshit.

There is a difference between working for love and making love work.

You should never have to work for love, but you can make love work. Hear me out. Working for love means you have to mold yourself for the love to work. Making love work is adapting the situation - together - for the love to fit your lifestyle. For the right person.

I’m a romantic. Shocking I know. I believe in love and that there are a lot of good men. I believe the fairy tale exists but my fairy tale isn’t castles and white horses - it’s mutual respect, laughter, and pushing ourselves to achieve our dreams. It’s having a cheerleader, best friend, and adventurer.

So when someone doesn’t fit this mold, hell yea I GTFO. Quickly. Lightening speed.

I am a genuinely happy woman. Being single doesn’t scare me. It doesn’t make me sad. I don’t feel shame for being 33 and unmarried. I’m not putting up a front with my confidence and joy. I am truly ridiculously happy.

That being said, I absolutely want to have someone to do life with. I’m very open to it. And I know with the right person, it’s such a beautiful thing.

Which is probably why with the wrong person, it’s such a horribly demoralizing all consuming thing.

I’ve dated a lot. I’ve been in multiple serious relationships. I’ve done the flings. I’ve had a one night stand or two. I’ve done all the things when it comes to love. So I know what works for me. And being alone does not scare me. But being in the wrong relationship does.

Marriage - a partner for life - that is something I take very seriously. I don’t want to do it more than once if I can help it.

Love is patient because its not in a rush to give you the best it has to offer. It has timing and life circumstances and growth and about a million other factors it has to align with in order to bring out the real deal.

I’m ok with however long that takes.

I am not ok with wasting my time for the wrong love. 100 years spent alone is 100X better than 100 years in the wrong love.

So yea, I walk away. I don’t chase. I quit the game before I cross the start line. If that means I miss out on the ok love - I’m fine with that. Because I’ve got a whole lot of big love for myself - and a whole list of adventures to be on until the real deal comes along.

And if I don’t find the real deal - or I cause myself to miss it - ya know what? Is that really the worst thing in the world? Because I just don’t think it is.

Life is a team sport

Everything in life relates back to sports. Nothing makes me more sure of that than experiencing the overwhelming support from friends, family, colleagues - even acquaintances as I’ve been open about my life journey.

And nothing has been made more clear to me than the idea that life is a team sport. You cannot get through life without a team.

Yet in America, we are very much living under leadership that tries to show us it is every white man for himself. What has thankfully come from that is a large group of people who refuse to be anything but compassionate for others. That’s where I’m currently moving each and every day.

The older I get, the more I see our country promote hate and divisiveness, the more I want to be patient, loving, caring, and engaged in life as a teammate.

What does it mean to be a good teammate in life?

Look, I cannot teach you how to care about other people. We shouldn’t have to show you a bunch of graphs and evidence as to why you should care. There is no help for the people who do not understand caring about other human beings matters.

This is for the people who care.

Being a good teammate is leading from a place of compassion. It’s thinking about life as an ecosystem that requires diverse entities in order to survive and thrive.

It means not operating from a place of greed. It means knowing you can have it all and more, so maybe helping someone else with the more that I have would be a really great thing to do.

It’s giving support to people who might need it more than you.

It’s saying I don’t know your struggle but I support you in going through it and being brave enough to share it.

It is acknowledging that we are all different, yet all equal in our value as a human life.

For me, it’s finding more patience and less judgement for others. It’s listening to their stories, hopes, dreams, and fears and simply saying I hear you. And it’s finding a way to help whenever I have the capacity to do so. It’s admitting I am privileged and while I don’t owe anyone anything because of that, I have the opportunity to be an ally for those who do not share my privilege.

I challenge you to figure out what you can do to be a better teammate in the world and work towards that. We can’t all make it if we don’t work as a team. Life ain’t fair, that ain’t your fault, but it ain’t worth the ugliness to pretend it’s every man for himself.

Look, maybe it isn’t important to you to be a good human. Maybe you don’t think helping others is a priority. That’s between you, yourself and your maker.

All I’m saying is, being on a team works for everyone. It’s the best way to leave people and this Earth a better place.

Dating Around

It was pointed out to me recently that I quite often talk about dating and relationships in the past, but rarely discuss my present romantic status. Short answer, I know. Long answer, this is not an accident.

I am a fiercely private person. I understand that makes no sense given that I write a very public blog about some very personal things. Like all social media and online presence, I curate the experience you have by choosing what to share and what to keep to myself.

Growing up, I was a very open person about who I was dating. You could easily tell my status at any given time because I’ve probably posted about it on all my social media platforms. As I’ve grown and matured, I have realized how much I value my privacy in romantic relationships. There are simply very few people I share my romantic life with.

Here’s why:

1. Relationships are hard

   Relationships are really hard. Everyone has baggage they carry. Allowing the outside world transparency into your relationship is only going to add to the complicated nature love entails. When you are constantly posting about your partner and your relationship, you are inviting drama into your home. The most private details of your partnership should be between you and your mate. That’s it. Save those personal matters for your home and avoid unnecessary interference from outsiders. When you make your whole relationship open to others and social outliers, the drama that comes to you, that’s on you. Relationships are hard, don’t make them harder.

2. You know you best

   Everyone has an opinion. The thing about opinions is they are often not based on the whole story. We vent to our friends. We give them the rose colored glasses. There is nobody engaged in your everyday relationship except you and your partner. Allowing other opinions to guide your choices and actions is just going to lead you astray. It’s fine to bitch and moan and ask for advice, but don’t allow those to be your truth. You know you best, that is your guiding light.

3. Expectations are everywhere

   Society has expectations around everything. Depending on your life stage, age, length of time you’ve been dating (the list goes on) - society has an expectation. If you’ve been together 3 years, why aren’t you married? If you’re married, when are you having kids? As much as we try to pretend they don’t matter, those expectations weigh on us. WHY aren’t I married? WHEN will I get pregnant? Back to #1, relationships are hard, don’t let society make them harder by forcing you into expectations you don’t have for yourself.

4. None of your business

   Straight talk - my relationships are not your business. I owe you nothing. I own my story and the relationships in my life and they are for me to dictate. That’s my power. It’s my life. It’s truly none of your business.

I’m dating. I’m not dating. I’m talking to someone. I’m talking to multiple people. I’m talking to nobody. I’m in a relationship. I’m single. I’m all of these things at any given moment since I began this journey. I will continue to write about my experiences. It’s an avenue for me to grow and learn and I value the relationships I build with my readers. But honestly, you’ll probably think I’m single until I announce I’ve gotten married on a mountain in Portugal one Summer. Part of my growing and building self love is owning my love life as mine and mine only. There is no power greater than being able to own your story for yourself because first and foremost, the most important relationship you will ever have is with yourself. 

Love Me Some Me

Recently there is a movement for self love. And that’s a movement I am here for. As someone who spent years unsure of who she was and who still continues to struggle to show myself the love I so freely give others, I deeply appreciate this moment in time.

I love love. I love celebrating Valentine’s Day. I’m here for the engagement announcements, the weddings, the new relationship love - all of it is such a positive time. I’m here for celebrating love. And the love I want to celebrate most of all in life is self love.

For the 300th time, because I’ve certainly written about this before, if you do not love yourself, you will not have a successful relationship with anyone else. You may find a mate, marry them, spend the rest of your life with them - but unless you’re also deeply in love with yourself, that forever love is not at its best.

Self love is a constantly evolving process. I don’t know many people who feel rainbows and unicorns about themselves 100% of the time. I certainly have my off days and I think that’s ok. You can’t be on 100% of the time. But if most of the days you can say I love who I am, that’s a huge win.

For me, the first step in learning to love myself was to get honest with myself. I had to first drop all of the lies I told myself and I had to write down what I don’t love about who I am. For example, when I was in my 20’s and single, I would tell myself I loved that life. The truth? I wasn’t comfortable being single. I pretended to enjoy it but I was not happy without a partner, which is why I was always talking to or dating someone. Now, I’m very comfortable single because I understand that having a good relationship is what counts. Being single doesn’t make me less than like I thought it once did.

Writing down the things I dislike about myself is still to this day a really powerful thing for me. It’s saying out loud the pieces I think are awful. And then it’s understanding WHY I feel that way. Because a lot of those things are actually absurd or they’re things that others love about me. When you write these things out, they’re tangible and you’re forced to dive into perspective. I’m most often able to easily eliminate a few of those by simply working through the feelings behind the insecurity. And the rest, I take to therapy or I work on how I can adjust them to not be a daily hindrance to my self love.

Another example - I’ve been an athlete my entire life. That means a lot of my self worth is directly connected to my body. Having to train sometimes 4-5 hours a day, meant that for most of my life, I had a pretty dang bangin bod. I also am blessed to have great metabolism. But when I stopped being a competitive athlete, hit 30, didn’t always eat as healthy - my body shape changed. I’m not 130 pounds of pure muscle anymore. I’m curvy, sometimes I’d dare say I feel chubby. Body dysmorphia is something I’ve struggled with on and off since I can remember. I have to remind myself often that my body has been through a lot. And it’s given me some of the best moments of my life. And I make myself thankful for those things. I’m extra mindful when I’m not body positive and I do things that make me feel good about myself. I do fitness activities that make me feel confident. I don’t workout to punish myself, I workout because it’s something I love to do. I’ll change my diet to be a little healthier. And I cut myself a break during Holidays or vacations when I indulge more. I am patient with myself.

Something that is also really helpful for me is to write on post its things I love about myself and leave the notes around my home, car, and office where they’ll serve as reminders throughout the day. It’s silly and may not work for you, but I’m easily motivated. When I read these positive reinforcements I think to myself - HELL YEA YOU ARE! If I really need some love, I’ll ask my friends to tell me what they love most about me. Often times our friends love the quirks about us that we may even consider negative. Again, perspective helps.

I hope this Valentine’s Day you’re celebrating lots of love with the people around you that you love. I hope you see this day as a day for everyone, more specifically and most importantly - for YOU. Celebrate your love with those most important to you, but celebrate the most important relationship (the one with yourself) FIRST.

Happy hearts and love day sequins!

Boys Would Like Me More If...

I cannot count how many times I've heard a woman say this and follow it with something wrong with herself.  It's bigger boobs, skinnier, different hair, better clothes - its a million different things that women are bred to believe they need in order to attract men.  I've said it myself when I was younger - I needed to be more something or less something in order to find a man.   And while I'm well aware this is not isolated to women - a lot of women have felt this doubt.  

The truth is - boys probably would like you more if you were a little more X and a little less Y.  But MEN - men will love you for the unique qualities that make you who you are.  And as a grown woman in the world - YOU need to take responsibility for loving you as you are, and expecting this.  

I think it's true of anyone - male or female - that society puts a lot of pressure on us to be a lot of things.  I hear many of my peers still questioning who they are and why they're not a magnet for the opposite sex.  And that makes me really sad and quite frankly bored.

Confidence in who you are and what you bring to the table is not easy.  But I can promise you - the reason that you are single is not because you are too fat, too thin, too loud, too whatever - you're single because you have no idea who you are or how to love you for all that means.  

If you do not love you, nobody else can love you.  #Science

Remembering Yourself.

In an entire sitting on a flight to New York I read Ashley Grahams new book: A New Model.   for any woman who has ever struggled with body image - I highly recommend this book.  It's an extremely empowering novel that celebrates body diversity, body positivity, and the power of the female form.  But the part that really resonated with me was with how much I celebrate the beauty of other women, as much as I'm the first person to call out the great qualities of people around me - I am deserving of that kind of love too.

It's really important to me to celebrate the uniqueness of human beings.  I am that person in public who will tell strangers I love their outfit, their hair looks incredible, or they have a contagious smile.  I think if we all spent a little more time complimenting and lifting each other up, the world would be just a little bit softer.  But when it comes to myself, I'm kind of an asshole.

There is no negative thing anyone could say to me that I have not thought about myself.  I'm the first person to point out my flaws and I am constantly thinking about how to improve who I am. And while it's important to always be growing, it's equally important to appreciate who you are NOW. 

I recently started getting back into therapy and it's hit me like a ton of bricks that as much as I do love who I am - I am still really mean to myself.  I criticize where I'm at in my career, how hard I'm working out, nit pick at my appearance, worry about how committed I am to the people around me - etc. etc. etc.  And that is really exhausting.  And really unnecessary. 

So I'm working on looking at how kindly I treat others and figuring out how to be as kind to myself.  I'm an exceptional human being, in theory - I get that overall - I'm good people.  But learning to celebrate that every day and give myself the compliments that I give others, is absolutely necessary.  I'm out here doing my best too and my best is pretty dang good - I deserve love and celebration and compliments too.

There's a difference in self love and celebrating the self.  I truly do love who I am.  But being able to celebrate that love and confidence is critical to a healthy mentality.  So here's how I solve, because we all know I love a good list:

1. Everyday I write down something I love about me
2. T-H-E-R-A-P-Y
3. Learning to call myself and hold myself accountable when I get too judgmental of myself
4. Surrounding myself with people who are positive about themselves
5. Chill the F out

That's where we are.  Baby steps and small celebrations.  Hold me accountable and help me make this happen my sequins.  I'm kind of awesome, and I need to stop being such a jerk to myself because I certainly would never put up with anyone else treating me the way I treat me sometimes! 

#SparkleOn

Peace Man.

The key to any relationship - romantic, friendly, even the relationship with yourself - is forgiveness.  In order to gain peace of mind and live a truly happy life - you have to learn to forgive and be at peace with whatever that means.

The ultimate goal in life should be to obtain peace.  Peace within your relationships internally and with those around you.  To feel a sense of comfort, safety, and trust in the world and those around you.  And that means learning to forgive people and situations even if they don't have the outcome you hope for.   

As the biggest control freak out there - I relate to needing things to fit into certain categories and reach certain conclusions.  But that's not realistic.  It's impossible to have definitive conclusions and closure to every situation or relationships.  Being able to recognize that, accept it and neutralize your emotions with that - are the best skills you could ever have.

I had a friend I'd known for 20+ years.  Since we were the tiniest of children.  As we continued o grow up the relationship began to stress me out more and more.  But I never actually took the time to understand why or communicate that to her.  When I finally understood why I felt the way I did and spoke up - she wholeheartedly disagreed.  She felt very differently and it ended our relationship.  It took me a really long time to accept that there's no right and wrong in that situation.  And neither of us was going to understand the other or make a change.  At the end of the day, there's no resolve.  

Today - I am able to understand we grew into two different people.  the relationship became something that wasn't working.  I now understand I can't plead my case or change the way she feels. I accept that I can't change her feelings.  And I feel at peace with the fact that it is what it is.  The only thing I can do is focus on what is best and healthiest for me.  What brings me the most peace.

A lot of learning to be at peace, to embrace the calm and neutral space inside you is learning to get to know YOU.  It's understanding your feelings, being confident in who you are, and learning how you best fit into the world around you.  

Digging deeper - confidence in yourself, who you are and where you exist in your space are truly the most critical characteristics you can have.  Taking the time to be truly in tune with what makes you who you are, the good and the bad, gives you such an advantage in life.  Know your triggers, know where you thrive, and be able to love you for all of those things.

Feelings are my least favorite things in the world.  I've existed for 31 years with the tactic of ignoring emotions and it's all coming back to hit me smack in the face.  The ability to have feelings, understand feelings, and communicate those feelings - I'm certain that makes you some kind of super hero.  But seriously, having the awareness to know when you feel good, when you need a minute, and how to reset yourself to neutral is the ultimate level of zen.  Harness that ninja skill and use it to save the world.  

Learning where you fit - this means combining your confidence and awareness and choosing people and environments that help you maintain those qualities at a high level.  It's realizing if you're triggered by loud and opinionated vibes - you maybe don't become my friend.  It's knowing the type of situations and people who make you feel the most alive.  They challenge you in a way that makes you feel growth but not so much that you feel bad about who you are.  

Peace of mind is internal.  It's working on all of these components to set yourself up for success.  And then it's using those tools to help you understand how someone else feels, accept the situation for what it is, and find peace in it even if you don't find a solution to the situation.  

Find peace and find that next level of living your best life as your best self.  And then you #SparkleOn

Really Put Together People vs. Me

Thanks to social media, it is now easier than ever to see people looking really put together while you're just trying to get to work on time without spilling coffee on your white shirt.  You know who I'm talking about - the girl who's on the beach laughing in some candid shot; hair perfectly blowing in the wind just living the dream.  The people who post pictures of their Pinterest crafts and they actually turn out like the photo.  I am not one of these people. 

I consistently spill things on my outfit, am wearing my shirt backwards, and most certainly all candid shots of me are not attractive.  Case in point - my girlfriends and I took jumping shots on the beach in Malibu a few months back.  They all look adorable.  My hair is whipped across my face and I look like I'm going to fall and break an ankle at any moment.

No matter how hard I try - I am simply doomed to be one of those people that you wonder how they make it through a day.  So I'd like to do make a list - because God I love lists - detailing things that have actually happened to me, because being really put together is really overrated. 

• I once got a concussion at work from falling out of my chair, rolling down some stairs, and hitting my head on a wall.
• The Los Angeles City Fire Department paused to laugh at me standing in the street in my underwear BEFORE running upstairs to stop the fire I set in my microwave.
• While trying to hang up a poster I staple gunned my finger to a wall.
• Went to work once wearing two different shoes.
• In Colorado it was really cold.  I wore extra thick polar bear socks under my slacks at work.  When I crossed my legs in a big meeting, it was extremely easy to see my non business like socks.
• In college I had to make up the timed mile for Fall training (I ran track in college) bright and early one morning.  I ate yogurt about 30 minutes before I ran.  I finished with a 6 minute mile - and then proceeded to throw up in front of the entire football team who was also practicing at that time.
• I've gone places with mascara only on one eye, more than once.
• I got on a flight to Houston once.  I meant to go to Sacramento. 
•  In one day I backed into a dumpster and a pole at Trader Joe's.  Literally within hours of each other. 
• For an entire day I wore a work blouse inside out.  Didn't realize this until I got home that evening.
• During an autograph session with an athlete I was working with, basketballs started rolling off the table - at which point I said "Come on...Your balls are everywhere!"  Didn't realize anything was weird about this statement for 10 minutes.  
• My first day of work at a new job my boss told me we were going to a meeting.  It was cold and snowing and I said "Should I wear my clothes?" ...instead of should I bring my coat? 
• I bought a fun work appropriate red lipstick that I wore ....it was on my teeth for half the day.
• When I hung up with the head coach of the team I was working for I said "ok love you bye" because I'm so used to saying it to friends and family.  I didn't even realize I said it until he made a joke about it the following day. 
• During an event I was updating the SVP about details of setup when I realized somehow this really expensive giant glitter sign (duh) had been glued to the floor.  I screamed into the phone "GLITTER EMERGENCY" and hung up.  Surprisingly he understood and had no further questions.  
• Went to the gym with a hole in my yoga pants. Didn't understand why all the men were really into me that day until I got home and saw where the hole was located.  Should have charged a fee.  
• In high school I was convinced I could dye my hair blond myself.  I have red understones.  My hair was pink for two weeks because we went on vacation the following day. 

Needless to say - I believe I've proven my point.   I am not effortlessly put together.  I am consistently in awe when I make it through the day looking like the sparkling bombshell that I am.  And yet I am surprisingly incredible at what I do for a living (and proud of it).  People pay me to be really put together and make flawless magic happen.  And I always do. 

Talk to me about your stories.  Are you one of those really put together people that I'm jealous of (Dove I'm looking at you!)? Tell me your secrets.  Because I'm convinced they pull you all aside and teach you special secrets when you're born and the rest of us are me.

The Female Body

You guys.  I have to tell you something really shocking.  I don't have the perfect body.

Ok - is everyone still with me?  I know, that was a lot and most of you probably still don't believe it, but its true. 

Being a woman is really hard.  From the time we are old enough to understand, we are told we are too tall, too fat, our skin is too dark, we are too thin, our hair is too thin, we are too pale - honestly the list never ends.  I just saw a YouTube tutorial the other day about contouring your legs.  I can't even manage to make winged eyeliner work and now I have to contour my legs to keep up?  No.  I'm drawing the line at contouring my legs.  Realistically I'm drawing the line at winged eyeliner and that's mostly because Adele hasn't put out a tutorial yet.  But I'm tired.  I'm tired of keeping up and tired of being told what I'm supposed to look like as a woman. 

For a good many years, I struggled with body image disorder.  Yes even in college when I was a division one athlete with very little body fat and one kick ass backside, I struggled with thinking I was fat. I vividly remember one of my male roommates making a joke about cellulite and not being able to think of anything else for a week.  I've hated my body so much that I wouldn't be naked in front of a mirror.  I've skipped going out because I felt so unattractive I didn't want to be in public. 

So what changed?  Why am I more confident at 30 - in a body with imperfections - than I was as a 20 year old?  To be completely honest, I changed.  I stopped accepting the idea of perfect and I stopped worrying about how to look like the ideal woman.  The flaws?  They're proof I've lived a full and happy life.  I don't worry about indulging too much one week because I'm on vacation.  I don't beat myself up over missed workouts.  I listen to what my body needs, I do what my body loves, and I praise my body for getting through a long list of ailments. 

There's always going to be a lot of opinions about what makes a woman attractive physically.  And its always changing.  And if you spend time talking to any woman you will hear a laundry list of things she wishes were different about her body.  Its a cycle.  Even the most positive strong female influences around fall victim to body shaming themselves or someone else.  How do we fix it?

We start by being body positive.  We embrace differences and flaws and we stop hating our bodies.  We stop judging other women.  And we stop supporting the companies and magazines who focus on looks.  And we hold men accountable for the same standards.  It starts with valuing yourself and empowering yourself and by doing that you refuse to let others tell you that your body and your beauty define you.

The thing that bothers me the most about body image today is that women are taught this is our biggest value.  You don't hear women talked about as scientists, authors, doctors, activists - you hear about what we wore, how much weight we lost - and that's what our daughters see.  Women are truly the fiercest creatures on the planet.  We give birth, we provide for our families, we work, we love and we truly do it all.  Own that.  Own how powerful and beautiful that is. 

It took me years to love my entire package.  Body, beauty, and brains - and I'll be damned if anyone can take that confidence from me.  I may not be the ideal image this world deems is what we should strive for - and that's good - because I wasn't made to fit any one mold anyway.  And now that I love everything I am - I'm told as a woman that makes me cocky.  If I respond to a compliment with a thank you, if I post a selfie because I like the way I look - I'm shallow and arrogant.  And I think that is your problem.  I think I'm attractive inside and out and I won't qualify that to make someone else more comfortable.  I'm not here for your comfort.  Whether or not someone thinks I'm attractive, or arrogant has very little to do with me and everything to do with their own insecurities.

I challenge all women to love yourself more.  Celebrate what you love about you.  And stop buying into a culture that forces women to compete against each other.  Tell the wonderful women in your life how special they are.  How beautiful they are both inside and out.  And stop the body bashing.  Stop the qualifying comments.  Tell each other we are strong, we are beautiful souls and we are more than what we look like.  Raise daughters who crave learning and adventuring more than they care about what they weigh.  Be part of changing the culture of conforming.  It's 2016 and we run this thing.