The anger was building up to an insurmountable peak; I couldn’t withstand the internal pain any longer. And so, with all of my might, I hurled my hairbrush against my powder pink walls. It left, let’s just say, a noticeable hole that my mother began screaming at me about, not knowing that the cause of this incident was actually, in fact, NOT the knots in my hair, but really, was the fact that I was teased all day at school for wearing a dress that made me look, “OMG so lame!”(Dresses in school were clearly not in-style yet: I was always a bit ahead of the curve). It’s a common theme among human beings to misplace an emotion or project their anger onto another subject, rather than deal with the issue causing the pain, the same pain that causes us to lash out, to react, even to break down.
It wasn’t until about the age of 23/24 that I began to take full responsibility for accepting my place in this world, rather than trying to defend it, or at times, feign being someone I really wasn’t. I stopped projecting and stopped getting angry and began to accept myself for who I really am, was, and will continue to be. I love my funky, chic style and I love my outspoken nature and I love my old-world elegance. I love my maternal instincts and my sometimes-aggressive sense of punctuality. When society went left, I often went right. And this slap-in-the-face to conventionality wasn’t something planned, or to prove a point; my unique nature has always been something I have tried to hide, until recently. And thus, I vowed to make it my life’s mission to show people that fashion, style, dress-sense and of course, diet, exercise and way of living must align with our individual personalities, unique body types, styles, budgets and talents, and of course, so much more.
Fate had it that several weeks ago I came in contact with a soon-to-launch brand of pregnancy clothing. Their message aligned pretty nicely with mine, and I decided to partner with them for future ventures and of course, for spreading our mutual message of owning yourself and loving the skin you’re in. Matron Saint allows women to build on elegant, well made, form-fitting basics, and somewhat affix their natural or pre-pregnancy styles to the brands existing, classic pieces, all constructed in colors of black, grey, beige and white. Both the brand and my blog seamlessly show women across the world and for all sizes and shapes that there are options out there to highlight us as individuals, and even during times of change, we must carry on being who we really are.
If we must journey back to reality, while I hate my largeness at the moment, I have accepted my current stage (8 months pregnant!) and all the green smoothies in the world can’t change the fact that during pregnancy, we gain weight. And for some of us, more than others! I have to say that I felt so gorgeous as I put on Matron Saint’s clothes during last weeks photoshoot; the soft blacks worked so well in contrast with my blonde hair and the easy-to-style tops helped to cover all of the parts that needed covering (win-win!). While I pride myself on being the thinnest I can possibly be, I can’t do anything to change or combat my pregnancy weight and water gain at the moment, and I must continue to be myself, own myself, dress as I would normally dress (within limits), and stand tall as me. I hope that for those of you reading this, no matter the phase you’re in, it is imperative that you always stay true to you, dress as your true and ultimate selves, and walk proudly as the most you that you could be, for no one could replace the you that you are, and you too can find or create yourselves, and have a re-invent at any stage….
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**This post was written in partnership with Matron Saint.
**All photographs seen in this post are professional and taken by Elisabeth photography.
A Life Without Recipes 