Healthcare should be one place that is sacred and safe to get the help you need without judgement. Doctors take an oath to do no harm, but I wonder, do they think about that when they provide subpar levels of care just because of a patient’s weight?

I don’t know stop. I don’t know quiet. I don’t know peace. How to just sit and be. And I don’t know these things because I’ve never been taught to rest without guilt, or stop without shame

Our minds are marvels at protecting us from things we are better off not knowing, but our bodies never seem to forget. It is as if they know that pain must be held first if there is any hope of letting it go, and so they soak it up.

But as I keep prioritizing my own thoughts and feelings over the perceived judgements of others, I become the woman I see in the mirror- wild and free.

I have been straightening my hair for years because I thought it was the professional way it should look, all while asking myself, “Why isn't my curly hair professional?”

. As a woman I’m unapologetically who I am...outspoken, sexual, willing to stand up and fight for what I feel is right.

I tried so hard to numb every feeling I had because I was scared of being vulnerable. I found out that without vulnerability there is no growth. This is me, over one year sober, and happier and more content than I have ever been.

I realized that I couldn’t let  the bad things that happened to me control my life. I had to turn what happened into something positive, to be able to use my voice and to help others get the courage to use theirs.

I went first and I will continue to GO, continue to GROW, continue to LOVE, continue to THRIVE, continue to FIGHT, continue to INSPIRE and continue to be SEEN

Because I am so tired of telling myself the things I am not. I am much more interested in knowing who I am. And today, I am poet because today, I’ve written a poem.

And that’s all it takes - an unlined notebook, a little willingness to listen, and a commitment to contagious courage that can change the world.

After watching the TED Talk: ‘Stripped: The Art of Being Seen’, I am posting this picture on social media.

That is what happened when I showed up for myself and decided to peel back my layers of insecurity just long enough to connect with my reflection…. A reflection that for a moment allowed me to arrive at the doorstep of freedom… Freedom to joyously love every curve, for they each have a purpose and a story… a story that starts with shoulders that have carried the weight of the world as I know it, while shouldering the burdens of all I hold dear for too many years.