You are not thin enough. You’re too muscular. Your arms are not slim enough.  Your eyelashes are too short, your ankles too fat, your nose is crooked, your hair too curly, you’re too short..you’re simply not enough. It’s different for everyone — because our bodies are so different — but the message is the same: Something needs to be fixed, we are not enough.

Anxiety is a state of unease, uncertainty, and fear resulting from the anticipation of real or imagined threat. Having anxiety and a history of depression is an interesting thing.  Although I don’t talk about it much as I have in the past it doesn’t mean that I’m not dealing with, I’ve just picked up many tools and techniques to help me overcome it day to day.

Here's a few things that have helped me in a state of anxiety:

The pressure women carry for having to keep up with society standards around beauty, fitness, and careers. Throw motherhood into that mix and you can only imagine the anxiety that can manifest by the innocent act of simply "trying to do you boo."  I became a mother at 21, just when I was starting my very first career as a hairstylist. I wasn't married at the time and both my husband and I were barely adults trying to figure out this thing called "adulting." We both didn't come from families with money so a household with two working parents was our only option. Thankfully our parents were close enough to watch Airis at the time, which saved us on childcare expenses, but it was HARD AF! Not only did I have the pressure of building a clientele, learning how to become better at my craft, and being a decent adult, but now I had the pressure of raising another human life.