I wasn't entirely comfortable with my body in the past as I always seemed to carry a few extra kilos here and there. It's only in the past few years that I've started to feel really good about myself; I'm accepting and appreciating myself and I'm feeling sexy and feminine. After I volunteered for the Explore Beauty Project I wondered "Why do I feel this way? It's great that I do, but why?" I know a lot of it has to do with the support of my partner and it's not even about what he says to me. It's just the way that he looks at me, I can see in his eyes that he thinks I'm beautiful. He's really helped me, without even realizing it.As a child, I felt normal and pretty. My mom was a definite contributing factor to this, she was supportive of me and she still is. But at school there was always that body image pressure, even in first grade. In health class, I remember when the entire class was weighed and I was the second heaviest of all the kids, including the boys. In high school, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I always compared myself to others. That's when I started to feel less confident. Now, if I tried to put on a pair of jeans that I wore in high school I probably wouldn't be able to get them over my hips, yet I'm so much happier as I am. I wish I had spent more time in those years appreciating my body like I appreciate it now.
I love my shape. I like having bigger breasts and hips because it makes me feel healthy, sexy, and feminine. I wanted to participate because I feel so strongly about the mission of this project. After I completed the photo shoot I talked with friends and colleagues about how confident it made me feel and I was surprised that so many of them weren't comfortable enough with their own bodies to consider participating. I feel fortunate to have reached this point of acceptance and appreciation for my body and my beauty.
