Weird Belly Button
“Why does your belly button look so messed up??” This was an ACTUAL comment on one of my pictures just months after I gave birth to my second child. 😳 And it was from a WOMAN. Here’s the thing... I know my belly button looks pretty weird, especially when you get up close. I also know that I’ve got an inordinate amount of stretch marks in places that are covered by a swimsuit. But y’all, this body produced LIFE... It was SWOLLEN with life! Huge, aching, precious, stretching, beautiful life!! No matter if you’ve housed another human or not, our bodies are swelling with all the things that make us who we are. And we should NEVER be ashamed. Even when, & especially when, people make asinine comments about how they think we ought to be. 💕 While I used to let derogatory remarks about my looks get to me (like that one time a friend told me my feet were the weirdest ones she’d ever seen or that other time somebody said my forehead was much too big or when that dude said I had sausage fingers or when a stranger said my face was lopsided or that time a boy said I was too flat)... I don’t let those things sit with me anymore. Because, here’s the thing. I’m not SUPPOSED to look like the cover of an airbrushed magazine. And. Neither. Are. You. EVEN AS an online fitness coach, I don’t go to insane lengths to make sure I look perfect in every picture. In fact, leading up to this retreat, where I knew we were doing a photo shoot with a professional photographer, I didn’t even TRY to keep my nutrition on lockdown. Why?? Because while I FIRMLY believe in taking care of my body, I ALSO know to my core that life is too dang short to LIVE for what this earthly body looks like. That’s why I follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I eat according to one of our incredible nutrition plans. 20% of the time, I eat for fun. And you know what? It WORKS for me & my weird belly button. So find what works for you. Find what makes YOU feel more like YOU. If that’s rewarding yourself with a sprinkle-covered-donut every Friday, carrying five babies to full term, or drinking celery juice every morning, that’s great!! 🍩 Or, if that’s wearing a sports bra & showing off your weird belly button & your squishy-from-one-too-many-wine-nights-with-your-girlfriends that’s okay, too. 👙 Just do you, boo. Pay no mind to the haters... they probably have weird toes anyway. #MadeforBrave #MadeforBraveBook