Hello and welcome to the BARE Podcast!
This is your host, Susan Hyatt. This is Season Two, Episode Seven.
The BARE Podcast is a show where we talk about your body and your life.
If you’ve been listening all season long, then you know that… in my world… we are NOT into dieting, we are NOT into gimmicky weight loss systems, we are NOT into body shaming, we are NOT into negativity and shame, PERIOD. We’re all about celebrating this one body, and this one life that you’ve got.
Thanks for being here, because AS USUAL, I am so excited for today’s episode. Here… we… go!
The BIG QUESTION I’m answering today:
I’m choosing a question from a client, or from a woman in my BARE DAILY program, and I’m answering it here.
Here’s today’s question. It comes from Anne. She writes:
“Susan, you have such amazing confidence. You have such a big, bright personality, and you take such good care of your body. It’s really inspiring. But, do you ever have days where you look at your body and just feel… not so great? Do you ever see yourself in a photo and think, YIKES! Do you ever have days where you find yourself slipping back into old habits, mindless snacking on junk food, or whatever?”
And here’s my answer:
Do I ever have days like that?
The answer is… YES. Absolutely.
Back in episode 5 of this season, I mentioned something that I called the BODY SCALE.
To refresh your memory… Imagine a chart. A horizontal line, stretching left to right.
Waaaaaay over on the left, we’ve got Body Violence. That’s -10. Waaaaaay over on the
right, we’ve got Body Love. That’s +10. And then in the middle, we’ve got Body Neutrality. That’s 0.
Most days, I am feeling pretty close to Body Love, pretty close to +10.
Most days, I feel really powerful, I feel strong, I feel beautiful inside and out. Most days, feel a lot of appreciation for my body. I feel grateful for my body. I love how I look, and I love how I feel.
But… I’m not always at +10. Because I’m not a robot. I’m a human being. And human beings have emotions, and hormones, and we get sick, and we deal with stress in our lives—sometimes, unexpected stress that comes outta nowhere.
So, no, I don’t feel “ecstatic” about my body every single day. I have moments where I might temporarily drop down to +5 on the BODY SCALE, or 0, or even -2 or -3.
I have days when I’m spinning with stress and I feel a strong urge to pull into the Wendy’s drive through.
I have days when I toss a handful of leftover Halloween candy into my mouth, and then another, and another, and pretty soon I’m like, “Yeah, I probably could have stopped, oh, about 3 or 4 mini Snickers bars ago.”
I have days where I look at a photo of myself and I’m like, “Um, yeaaaah. That’s NOT my favorite photo of me. Delete.”
We’re all human. Even the most confident woman on the planet is going to have moments of doubt, moments of self-criticism, moments where all of the mean, vicious voices of the past come creepin’ back in…
But here’s the thing… Are you having negative thoughts about your body CONSTANTLY, all day long, to the point where it’s disrupting your quality of life? Or just occasionally, once in a while? And when negative thoughts arise in your mind, do you stay stuck in that place, or can you shake it off and move on pretty quickly?
I’ll give you an example…
12 years ago, if I saw a photo of myself that I didn’t like, it would literally ruin my entire week. I would feel intense shame. I would feel disgust. I would probably try to hide the photo, or throw the photo in the trash. I might cry. I would think, “You’re disgusting” over and over and over. Honestly, I would do everything in my power to avoid having my photo taken in the first place, because I hated seeing myself in photos, so much.
Whereas today, if I see a photo of myself that I don’t especially love, I might experience a few seconds of negativity and self-criticism. I might think, “Ugh, that’s not the best angle,” or “Hmm, not really feeling THAT outfit.” But it’s just a few seconds of negativity. It’s not hours and hours, days and days. It’s a few seconds, and then I can shake it off and move on with my day. I can self-coach myself out of that moment. It doesn’t derail me. It doesn’t wreck my mood. It’s a momentarily blip, and then it’s over.
That’s my goal for every client, for every woman.
The goal is not that you’re going to feel totally, completely IN LOVE with your body every second of every day. That’s unrealistic, because we’re human, not robots.
The goal is for you to feel really happy and comfortable in your body MOST of the time, as often as possible.
And then, when you have moment where your mind goes into an icky place, the goal is for you to pause, and recognize it, and do something about it… as quickly as possible. Do something to change your thoughts, to change your mood, to get your day back on track.
You can learn how to do this.
And as you’re learning, be kind to yourself, and be patient, and gentle and flexible.
Nobody, not even supermodels, not even Olympic athletes, not even life coaches who specialize in body positivity like me, NOBODY feels 100% fabulous 100% of the time. That’s an unrealistic expectation.
Aim for good health. Aim for positivity. Accept a few dips and slumps and weird icky moments along the way because… you are beautifully, imperfectly HUMAN.
Our next segment is called TELL ME EVERYTHING!
This is where I chat with an amazing woman that I L-O-V-E and we have a conversation about food, feminism, fitness, sex, or… something else that I am dying to talk about. Today we’re chatting with Mirna Valerio “The MIRNAVATOR”. Here we go!
About Mirna Valerio:
Mirna Valerio is an educator, ultra runner, writer, and OCR enthusiast. She was recently named a 2018 National Geographic Adventurer of the year. Her athletic story was featured in the Wall Street Journal, Runner’s World, NBC Nightly News, and on the CW Network, and CNN. REI produced a viral short documentary about her running life and the trolls she often encounters in her journey for life long health and wellness. She is a global ambassador for Merrell, an ambassador for Skirt Sports, an athlete for Swiftwick, and NY Custom Performance Physical Therapy. She is married to Mr. Cito Nikiema, and together they have a teenage son, Rashid. She loves being in nature and frequently runs trails in the northern Georgia mountains. Find her on Instagram. Find her on Facebook. Find her on her blog.
In this episode Mirna Valerio shares:
- Doing what you need to do no matter what.
- Her history as a runner.
- The assumptions others make of her and others based on appearance.
- How to assert yourself no matter what is going on on the outside.
- Getting a 2018 Adventurer of the Year National Geographic Award.
- What’s next for her.
From your desktop you can skip right to her interview here! From a mobile device manually go to 6:05!
Wanna watch the interview?? Click the video below!
Today’s BARE Victory:
Here’s the BARE Victory of the day.
Nicole posted a couple of BEAUTIFUL photos of her finishing a 50 mile race and she says:
I’ll play. This was my make a scene. I effing showed up for myself. Day after day to train for a race that felt like redemption. I dislike race photos, always have because they are just never what I hope for…anyhow, I’ll post them anyhow. About mile 35 and mile 50, at the finish. I cried for lots of reasons. I went to this race alone, with zero support because I had something to prove to myself. And I did. This was my first long training run of the year. A stepping stone for my major “make a scene” coming up this September. Stay tuned. The scene isn’t over.
And THAT is a wrap for this episode!
Thank you for listening to the BARE podcast. I hope I’ll see your lovely face inside BARE DAILY.
Click here to see all the info about this amazing community, and everything that’s included in your membership.
Literally every time that I log into BARE DAILY, I am astounded by what our members are doing.
BARE DAILY members are transforming their eating habits. Members are hitting the gym, the yoga mat, the hiking trail. They are de-cluttering their closets and totally revamping their style. They are shedding physical weight and also, even more importantly, they are shedding tons of emotional weight.
There is so much energy, so much positivity, so much optimism inside the BARE DAILY community. Women are getting MAJOR results… major physical AND emotional transformations. It is freaking AWESOME to see.
I hope you’ll get yourself a 1-month membership, try things out, and see what BARE DAILY is all about.
And… We have two more episodes of this season and then I will see you in Season Three of this podcast, when that’s released!
Thanks again for listening.
And remember…
You only get one body. Give it love.
You only get one life. Make it count.
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