After years of binge eating, loathing my body, and believing I wasn’t athletic, I put all of those limiting beliefs to the test. I went to group therapy to overcome my eating disorder and have been mostly binge free for 10+ years.

Takling my body confidence issues was, and continues to be, a journey of self love, self acceptance, sprinkled with a lot of self compassion. When I finally decided that I was good enough as I am today regardless of my weight I finally found body acceptance and freedom.

I had an idea of what “athletic” meant and it most certainly was not me…until I realized being athletic isn’t about being born with a unique set of genes, it’s about deciding you want more and putting in the work to get there. That I did have and could grow it more and more every day.

When I completed 29029, where 250 people hiked the equivalent of Mt. Everest at a ski resort in less than 36 hours (I did it in 28 hours) and earned my red hat I got to accept that I can do hard things. I am athletic, and I am able to overcome limiting beliefs.

The desire to physically and mentally challenge myself is inside me and I get to decide to either grow it or ignore it…most days the desire grows. Like all of us, I am a work in progress and progress is always better than perfection.