Naked Series: Claudia from Mara Bear Says

Hello! I am so excited to have another guest post for the Naked series to share with you all! This guest post is from Claudia over at Mama Bear Says. Claudia's blog is one of the few blogs I make a point to read regularly, and I am always inspired by her posts. If you haven't visited her blog before, go take a look. You will not be disappointed. I am also obsessed with her pinterest boards. Thank you so much, Claudia, I know your story will be understood and felt by so many of us.

this is me. this is not the same me that was 13 years ago, not even 7 years ago. the girl back then (i sure am not a girl anymore) didn´t have these wrinkles, or the extra "baggage" that comes from bringing beautiful babies into the world, or breast feeding like crazy. even so, i have never felt more in tune with myself or happier before, and i feel obligated (seeing that i am writing from a very honest place in my heart) to be very straight forward and confess that this peaceful acceptance, the easy rythym of my life, the simplicity of it, the baking, cooking, the vegetable garden, the early morning meditation, the warm hugs, the discussions and coming back together as naturally as the ocean´s tide, the way i care for those around me, the way i teach my children to care for themselves, their planet, etc, has not come easily. it is the result of many, many a tearful prayer, hardship and a deep resignation i found was the only way to save my heart, if, and only if, i wrapped it safely in faith and light. you see the road here has been a long one. many years of me disrespecting myself, my body. in any possible way. in short (and i hope daddy doesn´t read this -mama already knows- and that my sweet readers don´t judge me too harshly): 10 years of way too much smoke in my lungs, too many 1 night stands, loads of drugs and infinite spiritual loss. i had no idea how to love myself. i was always searching outside for something or someone to make me feel the way i simply couldn´t feel on my own. full. happy. enough. i was never enough. and after a while no matter what i did, nothing was ever enough. i can safely say i was saved by my son. about 13 years ago, the day i found out i was pregnant, i found the strength i needed to leave it all behind. i was saving someone else, and that, no matter how hard it was, i could do. since then it´s been years and years of learning to shift that impulse and inspiration (my children) to myself. doing all the beautiful things i do, not only for them, but for myself as well. it is a special feeling when you start to notice you´re doing something because you love yourself. not from the "I deserve it, dammit!" point of view, but simply because caring for yourself is not just "all right", it´s how it should be. i realize the best way to give my children the gift of self-respect, acceptance and love, is if they see their mama respecting, accepting and loving herself. they see the struggle. they also see the outcome.

i find that everyday i wake up i keep bumping into ways in which i still dis-respect the body i was given. running out of the house without having breakfast, carrying way too much laundry and hurting my bad knee, or simply not remembering or accepting that many of the ways in which we live our life (the organic, homemade cooking, the no shampoo or chemicals, the natural cleaners i make, my endless efforts) are also for me. but that´s why every new day should be exciting, it´s just a new opportunity to observe and learn one more little thing. for example, i had always had weight issues. the too skinny type of weight issues. i could never seem to weigh more than 99 pounds, sometimes i would drop to about 92 pounds. even after the 2 pregnancies. it´s been a little over 2 years now, exactly around the time where i wrecked my knee and had to stop and give myself a good look, that i started gaining weight. amazingly i began to feel more feminine. i always thought that not having the flat abs would make me feel very bad about myself. now i realize that we women were made to have curves (duh. took me a while, huh?). now i see myself in the mirror and i feel beautiful. i´m not perfect. and when i "was" i wasn´t happy. now you can clearly tell i have been through 2 pregnancies, breastfeeding, and that i´m in my mid 30´s. now i weigh 110-114 pounds, i can literally see my face starting to sag and my happy wrinkles are not going anywhere (au contraire, they seem to be  inviting their friends over for the party). i don´t cover them up with makeup, i don´t dye my hair (digg in and you´ll find some serious gray in there), i don´t wonderbra the fact that i have almost no boobs left, i make my own deodorant and use a diva cup. i am no longer willing to hurt myself. send the message out, "i don´t love myself", and look and see, how the world works towards helping us unlove ourselves. now try sending out the "i love myself just the way i am" message, and even if it´s just for a second, you will feel a recognizable warmth in your heart. give it a try. i insist, we are not perfect. but we sure as hell are beautiful. and the biggest love we deserve to give ourselves is our own.

Be sure to check out Claudia's beautiful blog Mama Bear Says

Naked Series: Sarah Groom

After my Naked post last week, I was really inspired by the interaction and discussion after I posted, mainly on my personal Facebook page, but I wanted to bring that here. I have started the Naked Series, a series of guest posts about our bodies. The first guest post is from my dear friend, Sarah. She is a true inspiration to me, and I hope you love what she wrote just as much as I do. Her post came at a perfect timing too, so while I am away, enjoy this wonderful read.

 My body. Me and my body. We go way back. And we have had some pretty major bumps in the road. But the heart and soul of this story is not about the bumps – it’s all about the destination, baby! To a place where I love my body and respect my body, despite the imperfections.

Let’s talk about the bumps for a while though. I am a firm believer that we choose our path based on the bumps we stumble over, and that you really can’t separate the past from the present or the future. Sure, there may be things in your past that right now you are ashamed of. But don’t be – they were just bumps. Hopefully you learnt to slow down over the next bump, or even drive around it. And if you haven’t learnt from the last bump yet, it’s never too late. Our bumps shape us – physically and metaphorically, and we should embrace them.

My body. I love my body. Complete with stretchmarks, extra skin, bits that are wider than is probably ideal, all that jazz. I love it all. Because these are my bumps, the physical markers on the trail I took to becoming who I am today.

Today I am a single mum, a student, a blogger, a recipe developer (for myself!), and I run my own business. And my body is banging, because it’s mine. It’s the vessel that will carry me through this exciting life, and the vessel that carried my gorgeous boy into this world. What’s not to love?

Here’s a little bump for you – I gained 35kgs during my pregnancy. I actually told someone that this morning, and their response was, “What?!?!?!” (And that response made me laugh, it didn’t make me ashamed – because I can’t change the past and it is pretty ridiculous if you think about it.)

As a teenager, I disrespected my body in just about every way you can imagine. Alcohol, drugs, sex, and food (terrible food, sometimes no food, sometimes too much food, and never anything healthy). I was skinny, I looked good in just about anything (and nothing too!), but I had shocking self esteem. I hated my body, my face, my everything. So I disrespected it. I rebelled against my family, my friends, anyone who tried to help me, and against myself. Respect and love, disrespect and hate – they go hand in hand. You can’t respect something that you don’t love. I am very honest and open about my past, present and future because I am not ashamed. It was what it was, and I am who I am today because of it.

I fell pregnant just a couple of months out of high school, and that was an enormous reality check. It made me think, hard, about what I was putting into my body. Because, suddenly, I had the enormous responsibility of growing another human being. And whatever I put into my body was going into his little tiny body too. Sure, my diet didn’t go from french fries to falafel straight away (I actually don’t really like falafel anyway). But during my pregnancy and over the first couple of years of my son’s life, I made gradual changes in my diet. Sure, I still ate way too much. A lot of it was emotional eating. Baby steps.

But in the last two years I have completely reanalysed what it is to be healthy. I cut out all additives and processed foods, and promptly discovered that my daily headaches (they had been with me all my life) were related to some of the additives I had previously been eating regularly. That was a pivotal moment for me – not only did I no longer have headaches every single day, but I understood that those headaches were my body screaming at me to stop eating processed foods. They weren’t working for me. I started listening to my body. I started to truly respect my body. Food is the biggest way that we can actively respect our bodies. People often say that we have three opportunities a day to cast a vote for how we want the world to be. I think we have three opportunities a day to cast a vote for how we want to feel about ourselves, too. We have all these opportunities, every single day, to love and respect our body. Why don’t we seize them? Every single one.

So, I don’t eat processed food and my body loves that. I also don’t wear makeup or use hair products. I try to source the most natural deodourants, toothpaste and soap as possible. Our skin absorbs so much of what we put on it – it’s not just what goes in our mouth that counts. But our skin and hair is also what other people can see. In such a social world as ours, our skin and our appearance speaks volumes. Shouldn’t we try to make it presentable and appealing at all times? Absolutely. The most presentable and appealing look that you can have is your own. My skin is great, because I don’t confuse it with oils and chemicals that aren’t supposed to be there (and my diet helps here too). I feel fake and covered up with makeup on. My hair is very hippy – a pretty accurate reflection on what’s inside too! My hair, my face, my body – they are who I am, and I’m not hiding it.

Don’t hide your body. Don’t disrespect your body. Your body loves you, and you should love it back. All of it.

Because how will our children love their bodies if we don’t love our own? And how will they respect their bodies if we don’t lead by example? If there is one thing we all want for our children, it is happiness. But you can’t be happy if you feel stuck in a body that you hate and disrespect. We need to embrace our imperfections, our bumps, for the sake of ourselves and the sake of our children.

Because our imperfections are part of us. They are the bumps on the road that got us to where we are today.

Our imperfections are perfect in every way.

“Love what is ahead by loving what has come before.” – Yogi Bhajan

Sarah xoxo

Be sure to check out Sarah's blog// instagram @homemadehealthyhappy//Facebook