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So many have asked me, why don’t you put clothes on? Why do you have to be naked?

My simple answer is because I am being unapologetically me—how I came into this world.

My daughter does not think twice about what she wears or doesn’t wear, she does not worry about a number on a scale, the color of her skin, what size clothes she wears, what kind of skin product she should use to look a certain way, what her best friend eats to look so good. She just is. She understands beauty comes in the form of being herself and joy comes in the form of freedom—being unapologetically herself.

Sadly, what makes my heart ache is one day soon the world will teach her otherwise, and she will lose it, just like I did. Through a world offering shame, judgment, untruths, stereotypes, must-haves, and quick fixes. And one day, her beauty and joy will be replaced with doubt.

I choose to share myself unapologetically because I have been relearning from my daughter what joy and freedom really is.

I’m relearning and rediscovering the joy that was always there in my body that has been covered with doubt.

I am letting go of all that has held me captive for so many years so I can have fun and play rather than judge and shame.

I post art like this because it makes me feel whole and brings me joy to own myself over the doubt that has long owned me.

My joy was stolen for so long by others and the world’s messages, and it was not anyone’s to steal. My joy is a light in the dark to share, and maybe we can get back to where we were before we were taught to lose it.

That beauty is in our own unique being, just as we are, and joy is the freedom of being ourselves.

~

Relephant: