Refreshingly Honest

Let’s get real, folks. I know it’s Monday but hey, let’s take a sip of coffee and get this (short) week off with some honest talk.

A few months ago, Honest Tea reached out to me to create a blog post centered around their “Refreshingly Honest” motto and I jumped at the chance to work with Honest Tea again (they were one of the first companies I worked with) because I love their Honest Kids lemonade and their honest and transparent business model is pretty admirable in this day and age. Also, did you know Honest Tea began in Bethesda? Pretty cool, right?

But I struggled with what to be “refreshingly honest” about with you. Well, I should say a topic came to mind almost immediately but I wasn’t sure about sharing it. I went back-and-forth but ultimately, I decided I had to hit “Publish” on this post.

I have a love/hate relationship with my figure.

To be honest, I can’t really remember when I didn’t have anxiety about some aspect of my body. Whether it was because of a mole or stretch marks on my hips, I just never felt comfortable in my own skin. I’d weigh myself in the morning and then see that number throughout my entire day, letting a number dictate exactly how I felt and how I interacted with others. When I was about 16, someone told me that jeans and pants did nothing for my figure so I stopped wearing them. I’m also an emotional snacker so you can imagine how this can snowball. When I was in college and had to start regularly cooking for myself, I was able to re-learn hunger cues and prepared dishes that piled high with veggies and real ingredients. Unfortunately, I’ve fallen off that train a few times.

You might have noticed a drought of style posts on here for about a year now.

Last winter, I let my emotional eating spiral and take control. I was not eating in a healthy way and, because of my food choices, I constantly felt lethargic and sluggish. My clothes became too tight, some pieces that had fit just months before couldn’t be zipped at all. I avoided mirrors because to me, my “imperfections” immediately jumped out at me. Over the summer, I think I put on a swimsuit once because I felt so self-conscious about my weight gain. So the thought of taking photos of myself and putting them on my blog? No way, not in a million years. In the age of Instagram highlight reels, I couldn’t imagine putting myself in front of a camera.

I turn 26 at the end of this month and the little voice has piped up in a major way saying yelling “Enough is enough.” Undoing 10+ years of body image-induced anxiety isn’t something that can be fixed overnight but I have been making a conscious effort each day to not mentally beat myself up and instead focus on listening to my inner voice and maintaining a balanced diet filled with fresh fruits, veggies, lean protein and yes, the occasional glass of wine and chips with salsa. Because life’s too short not to have wine.

Phew, this was a pretty heavy topic for a Monday blog post but I had to get that off my shoulders. It means a lot to me if you stuck through this post, thank you.

And to end this post on a positive note, here’s my favorite lemonade wearing sunglasses! Silly lemonade.

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This post was in collaboration with Honest Tea®.  All opinions and product sentiments are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies that support DC Girl in Pearls!