m i n d | Celebrating Me

 

On my Instagram feed, I like to talk about feeling good about your body and taking good care of it so that it can do amazing things. Pepper, a brand that celebrates all shapes and sizes, inspired me to tell my story. It was shared on their feed and now I’m sharing it here.

My story:

I was that girl: the chicken cutlets, maybe some extra padding in the already excessively padded push-up bra. Sure, those things made me feel a bit more confident but it wasn’t me. I had my first baby at 26 and breastfed her. My body changed, my boobs changed. Then I had my second at 28. I breastfed her and the pre-existing changes to my body just magnified. One afternoon, hanging out with toddler and my girlfriend, she suggested that I get a bra that fits ‘properly’. I was a little mortified, but honestly, nothing I found fit the post baby body ‘properly.’

A few years ago, my husband encouraged me to train for the Vancouver Sun Run and I thought it was impossible. But I did finished it – and a few more races after that, testing my body to go further. Each time I finished a race, my body changed and so did my mind. I started to see my body for the amazing powerhouse that it is. I felt grateful that my body allowed me to carry, deliver and breastfeed two babies and take me to the finish line of several races.

The running truly gave me strength to be a healthy and happy mama for my girls; and I know my self-worth is not determined by the shape of my body. I have now become the woman who will show them how to celebrate their bodies for what it can do and not how it looks. My daughters deserve to know that their mama loves herself as much as she loves them. ❤️