[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For those of you who have been following this blog for a while, you know how I started up ‘The Skinny Hippie” and it was going to be about wellness and weight loss? I thought it was hilarious that I was calling myself a skinny hippie since a) I’m not skinny and b) despite the fact that I was living off the grid in a yurt (etc), I’m no hippie.
But, see: I really screwed up with articulating the whole “wellness and weight loss” thing.
I am body positive.
I think all types of bodies are beautiful – having grown up in the South Pacific, I think large and curvy women are the most beautiful. I think fat can most certainly be sexy and healthy.
Also, after having lived in Asia for a decade, I know that thin does not equal healthy. I know that people get seriously messed up with trying to be really skinny. Being thin is just not necessarily a good thing (like our culture says), just like being fat isn’t necessarily a bad thing (again, like our culture says it is); it all depends on the particular body and person.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]I like the feeling of my body at a size 10. It’s not too skinny there, but I feel good bending over at that size.
I enjoy the feeling of strength. I like being strong.
I like seeing muscles on my body, and I like knowing that I can trust my arms and legs to carry heavy things and propel me when I want or need to.
I also enjoy feeling and being flexible.
I like movement and the feeling of physical fluidity.
Now, I’m coming out of a 10-year marriage that ended rather explosively and in which there was a hell of a lot of gaslighting going on. Obviously, healing is way high on where I’m going right now – and since I gained 52 pounds with the marriage, I have some physical shedding to do to feel more comfortable in my skin.
I’ve been getting back into the awesome groove of taking care of myself – and BEING ABLE TO take care of myself. With the kids all in school, I have some time to exercise and some time to just focus on wellness. Heck, even when they are at home, it’s a million times easier to get out and do stuff.
Since I like GROUPS and NAMES FOR THINGS, and since I super-love some accountability, I am calling this endeavor “Mama Be Strong”
Mama Be Strong is about:
- pushing through to strength – and not just physical strength; it’s about mental and spiritual strength too. You can’t have one without the others.
- weight-loss (if you want to)
- clean eating
Mama Be Strong is about community and honesty. Healing. Strength. Of course, as always, it’s about moxie – because like Maya says, courage is the most important virtue – because without it, we can’t do do the others.
If you are interested, come on over to Facebook – the group is linked here.
It’s for women only. You can be any kind of mama (or not even a mama), but you need to identify as a woman.
I’m @mama_be_strong on Instagram, and I”m tagging photos of my walks, food, fun stuff there.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator color=”turquoise” style=”shadow” border_width=”6″ el_width=”60″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I love weekly set themed posts, so I’m going to try and do a Weekly Wellness thing – which will basically be about stuff from Mama Be Strong: weight loss, strength-building, healing stuff.
Let’s see how it goes![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”42985″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
