Happy International Women’s Day : Let’s Talk Stretch Marks!

I hope everyone survived the very mild Nor’easter we experienced in NYC yesterday. The snow came and went just in time for us to celebrate International Women’s Day!  I want to personally wish all of you a wonderful day filled with the recognition and love you deserve for being such BADASS women. I am blessed to know you, see you, be inspired by you and when I am lucky, I get to bask in your presence. Thank You!

I thought I’d share a little lesson that I recently learned about love and acceptance of oneself.  About a month ago I had a conversation with one of my sisters and she said something that was very interesting to me. She said, “I see that you’re only posting one-piece swimsuits and high-wasted swimsuits since you’ve had the baby, are you trying to cover up your stretch marks?”  My initial thought was Damn, how rude are you? (my sister is annoying in that way). Then I got defensive and said “What the hell are you talking about?” (cause you guys know I love me a good one-piece)! Once the dust settled (about a minute later), I realized that my sister was not to be faulted for her remark, in fact she was simply expressing a feeling shared by millions of women around the world. That is, the idea that we have to cover-up and hide our battle wounds even after surviving one of the greatest miracles on earth! I used to think that this narrative was created by men, but the constant judging and critiquing of women by other women threatens to prove me wrong. Here it is that women risk death everyday whilst giving birth (cc Serena Williams) and we’re busy talking about streaks or stripes on our skin. The most non-important thing EVER, and honestly it’s 90% out of our control. I won’t sit behind this desk and say that the changes to your body that comes after a pregnancy aren’t weird, and new, and will take time to get used to… BUT, I AM HERE to tell you in no unspoken terms that you are beautiful, your body is beautiful, and while it may now be different it’s beautiful nonetheless. A great husband and partner should reaffirm this for you, but you have to come to this reality yourself. Don’t allow the silliness of men, women, et al., to dictate how you feel about yourself, and also what you take pride in showing. I walked away from this conversation, feeling assured in my appearance and I knew that I would have to talk about this topic more to help dispel the feeling of inadequacy that both my sister and many other women believe should be normal. The irony of all of this, can be viewed in the photos below! Love you Guys!