I am Proud of My Size Link Up #10

My mission:

All sizes are beautiful! Don't be ashamed of your number or keep it from living your life and doing what you love. There is no perfect or wrong size. It doesn't determine our worth and nobody has the right to judge someone's health by their size. So let's show the world that every size can be happy and that we are not ashamed!

How to participate:

I would love to see all different sizes represented in this link up. Whether you are a 0 or 32, participate! This is a weekly feature so each link up will be open for one week. You can add your link anytime during the week. All genders, sexes and non-genders are welcome to join in. Use whatever sizing you are most familiar with. You can link up with me every week with a new post or join in every once in a while! The rules are simple. Post a photo of yourself on your blog, being stylish that week. Post a full body shot, so head to toe! State your size in your blog post or with a graphic on your photo. No diet talk, weight loss talk, negativity or any type of body shaming allowed. This is about being happy with your size and shape, not because it is socially acceptable, healthy or better than others. Then come back here and add your link using the link tool at the end of this post.

Before I go to bed, I try to lay out the clothes I am going to wear the next day. I have to be at work early and am not a morning person so it helps if I at least think about what I am going to frantically throw on. Usually, my choices are brave. This isn’t easy. If I stayed in my house all day and didn’t have to face coworkers, clients and the public, my choices in clothing wouldn’t be up for comment or victim to stares. I live and work in an area that is mostly conservative and not the artsy neighborhood I grew up in. Combine that with my size, haircolor and tattoos and apparently you have quite the eye-full. Shit, I walk into the neighborhood frozen yogurt place and people react in a way that makes me think they have seen an alien instead of me.

I could make fashion choices that would get me less attention but that isn’t going to happen. I am firm in looking the way I look, for myself. Sometime people get the wrong idea and see my fashion choices as an invitation to get into my personal bubble or ask probing questions. It would be much easier as a wallflower, never having to explain where I got my tattoos or what I “call that haircolor”. I get asked on a weekly basis if I cut my hair, dyed my hair, got new glasses, etc. The majority of the time, I haven’t done any of those things. I understand that people are just interested and that is their way of starting a conversation. I’ll take the bait, but not all the time. There are times it makes me uncomfortable and I want to hide under my desk. But those times are less and less.

I have had to face my fears of getting unwanted attention and stares. I can be shy and anxious so it was a challenge. The first month of having bright red hair rattled my nerves. But I loved my hair so much! So I drudged through it and came out on the other side with a new understanding of my own confidence and self-love. Some might call it vanity. If being vain, means that I see perfection and beauty when I see myself, then I’ll take it! Being self-confident isn’t necessarily comparing yourself to others or letting vanity consume you. It is about knowing how to feel good about myself. It’s about taking my perceived flaws, and turning them into objects of beauty. I believe that when you do that, you think less about yourself then someone that practices self-hate. Letting go of all your insecurities, frees up your time to focus on other things. Instead of constantly thinking about if people can see the shape of one of my body parts, I am embracing the shape myself and don’t think twice about hiding it.

I see myself as valuable and unique. I go out into the world with my head up and my anxieties melt away. Sometimes I wonder why the hell people are staring at me but I shrug it off. I usually have more important things to do than justifying the way I look to a stranger. I choose to wear bright colors and unconventional clothing because I fucking rock it. If my eyes light up when I see a bright pink skirt, then goddammit, I am going to wear it because I think it is awesome. Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t have bright hair or wear awesome things. Not everyone is going to get it. You are a minority in a sea of self-haters and judgmental people. But be exactly who you want to be! I would much rather stand out happily and make people uncomfortable than blend in and be miserable!

skirt : thrifted

shirt : target

cardigan : thrifted

jellies : fred meyer

belt : fat fancy

glasses : firmoo

Are you ready to stand out and stand up?

grab the button

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- Rachele