Matching hearts – Featuring Torrid

1. Long Black Dress pants  – that I was ALWAYS hunting for because I needed them long enough.  I’m a 36 inch inseam, most people can buy a 32 inch inseam just to give you some perspective on my long legs.
2. Hoodies – baggie hoodies, it lots of colours
3. White tank tops – that I wore under EVERYTHING.  It was like my security blanket.
4. Running shoes – I hardly wore heels up until about 2 years ago.  I never wanted to stand out and being almost 6 foot already, adding heels made me really stand out, or stand up above the crowd lol.

Now that I’ve been dressing to accentuate my curves, I still have these things in my closet but I don’t really wear them, or if I do, it’s very rare.  For some strange reason I have a hard time giving these up – like I think I’m going to need them some day.  I also still habitually look for these things when I’m out shopping. I will legit pick them up and put them back because I realize I have a plethora of them already and I don’t wear them.

There comes a time when your mindset (and heart) has changed but your actions now need to fall in line.  I’m actually learning this in a few areas of my life right now.  Often we do things because of the state that our heart or mind are in.  Once we get to the place that those shift into a healthy state, our actions, thoughts and words need to shift – we can no longer make the same choices, we can no longer do the same things – change is necessary to grow and move forward.  

Healthy change always starts from the inside and works its way to the outside.  Just like my healthy lifestyle changes and my weight loss – that all started by learning to love all of me at 317 glorious pounds a couple years ago.  I love myself more and more every day and it’s not because I’ve lost weight, it’s because I see my value and worth as a woman and I saw that even at 317 pounds.  What is on the scale does not define me – I actually haven’t weighed myself in a few months (I hid my scale) because I wanted to base my decisions, my lifestyle and all that on how I felt.  Meaning, how is my pain level, how is my clarity, how am I sleeping, how do I feel in general.

It’s time to take an assessment of where you are today.  Is your heart whole, is your mind healthy, is your body in good order? Have you made significant changes to get to a healthy place?  If you have, that’s awesome!  If you haven’t, don’t wait another day…start today.  Take small steps to get to where you want and commit to it each day.  And if you’ve already made some progress, assess how your actions would describe the state of your heart, mind and body.  If someone were to observe you, do they display a person who is whole?  Do they display a person who has progressed and made changes.  If they don’t just make the changes to get to the place where your actions match up with your heart and mind.

I often get asked how I can be a plus size model and be losing weight and I’ve had some people in the industry say that I’m no longer plus size and how can I say I am – well let me be frank….I am just me, I’m not trying to fit into anyone’s mold.  I’ve been attacked for making changes and losing weight.  I’ve also been criticized for sharing my story, sharing photos, and sharing as much as I do.  But, what they say at the end of the day does not matter.  My decisions are based on my health – mentally, emotionally and physically.  I share because I’ve lived in pain in all those areas and if I can provide hope to women (and even men) to make changes to be whole and healthy emotionally, mentally and physically – it’s worth it all. 

Even as I prepared this blog I had 3 people send me messages about how I have encouraged them in their journey to either getting emotionally, mentally or physically healthy.  That seeing my growth has been a cool journey to watch.  That is why I do what I do, not to get the praise from these women, but for them to make a change to be whole.  It actually brings tears to my eyes thinking about it.  So thank you to all of you who have sent me a message letting me know that I have encouraged you to make a change for YOU!

Just as my heart, mind and body have changed as a result of the state of my heart….so has my fashion when it comes to dressing cute and casual….I think I nailed the wearing a dress thing cause dresses are always my first choice but learning to dress casual and not just wearing my lulu’s and a hoodie with runners has been a bit of a struggle.  How does one dress cute and casual? 

Well, here are 2 looks for you that are featuring the bold red pants I blogged about last week that I picked up at Torrid.  I had for sure gone outside my comfort zone – heck I’m wearing red pants and not black pants and I’m wearing cute sweaters. 

The other thing I had a hard time doing in the past was putting outfits together and how to mix and match pieces I have in my wardrobe to make multiple outfits.  So these posts that I’m doing featuring Torrid will show you how you can dress different pieces together to make outfits…so stay tuned for what else is to come in the next couple weeks.  Not all the outfits are casual, some are dressy, some are cheeky, some are bold but they are all fun and I feel fab in each of them!

So….do your actions, your lifestyle, your wardrobe match up with the state of your heart?  If not, today’s the day to start making changes – you can do it.  Why do I know you can do it?  Because I’m doing it!

Stay Beautiful,