Back to.. HER

I said I wanted to be softer... She said "Fuck No! Play the game better... Soft can be perceived as fake or condescending." I was like.. damn she's speaking my language. Sometimes I feel the truth in my voice has been neutered by learned niceties over time.

My Lake Houston ladies bring me back to HER.  

Speaking of "back to HER". I am now seeing real progress in my body. It has been 14 months of learning, growing, hard work, fun, party, travel, and a whole lotta grace! I say GRACE because when I wanted to drink with friends, or travelled and drowned my goals in tequila... I kept it pushin'!

There's no time in life to hate the Skin you're in & with everything you are REFUSE to stay in the same place. 

Fast forward to yesterday, I had the audacity to put on a lululemon bra that hasn't fit since my 2022 half marathon and that bad boy FIT (say whaaaaaat?!)!

Even though it was not our beloved Skin Appeal.... it had me happy and reflecting. 

I posted a picture to my personal Insta story and stumbled upon a photo in the Halter from January 2024 - I felt inflamed and stunned when I saw the aftermath of those tender pictures with my niece. 

I remembered how grateful I was for that Halter Top. I'd rather go back to Door to Door sales than wear restrictive, baggy clothing in shame... 

To feel somewhat put together and appealing, our Halter helped me get to another side of this journey.. we are talking majority of teens double zero, to a size zero 20's, then BAM! mid 20's hit I go up to 150 (& I thought that was rockbottom lol). 

Then the cycle of lose, gain, lose, to one day wake up at 167 pounds. Okay wow. 

Present day, I am a proud 22 pounds down after 14 months of consistent pattern recognition and recalibration. AKA work. Building muscle, shedding fat while working to develop consistent healthy habits that carry me through this life with vitality is the way I want to go...

Proud not satisfied - CG. Health never halts.

Goals are not linear for me when it comes to physique anymore. In the past, I was constantly trying to get back to my 120 self in the past, when it took zero effort to be there. HA!

Pause: Why was THAT the number we'd universally agreed on anyway? ha ha 

Anyway, maybe subconsciously Skin Appeal was launched out of pure selfishness.

X the "maybe" because HELL YES it was. I loved that look from the jump and it just so happened to bring me a feeling of beauty at a time it felt like a lot of work to see myself as just that. 

I did take two summer trips at the beginning of this road back to HER.

I refused to talk shit about myself to make others comfortable with how much weight I gained.

Nor would I allow myself to stay sad.

I knew it would be a marathon not a sprint.

I wore the bikini,

danced in the bikini,

let go of every thought that would tell me

I didn't have a right to enjoy life until I looked like XYZ. 

And still show up to work when it's time to work.  

Skin Appeal represents a woman's journey back to herself to then burn it all down and rewrite rewrite rewrite:

Bébé HER

Teen HER

20's HER

Oh how I hold so much space and grace for teen and 20's HER. And cannot wait to welcome in the 30's! 

 

Skin Appeal is traveling a road with many different speeds, turns, and terrain. 

I am an architect. We breathe, we build, we become!

 

In my Skin,

Bre Jackson