Body Acceptance - Blog Posts

I'm super excited to share my very first artist's sketchbook!!

Thursday Sketches - part I

I started posting "Thursday Sketches" in the spring of 2023 as a little personal challenge to try and draw something every single day. Although I haven't been able to draw EVERY day I do draw MOST days and this little book is a collection of my sketches from 2023.

Get your copy here: shop.thatchickmaya.com

I Love to see diverse bodies in the art community! <3

My very first coloring book is finally ready! I'm so excited!! ✨😁✨

Available on ETSY

If this does well I'm considering taking model submissions for volume 2 in the summer.

“Our bodies are instruments for our own personal use, experience, and benefit - not ornaments to be admired.”

Lexie and Lindsay Kite

If it feels hard to compliment you own body, to say positive statements, then please appreciate your body for what it can do for you, and it can be something as simples as “it keeps me alive”. It’s hard to immediately stop saying negative things about ourselves, and it might feel strange saying very positive things to it. Try saying neutral things first, than maybe slowly you can find new positive things that don’t feel too outlandish because it feels “fake”. It’s something that takes time for us to assimilate and for us to finally become a little more comfortable with our bodies. They’re doing the best they can with the circumstances, they are trying to survive. And if that’s the only thing you can appreciate, that’s a start. Changing the way we speak to ourselves might be a slow thing to get used to, but it is worth for you to have some peace of mind, even if it feels odd to say it. The repetition will help too, and you’ll find it less and less strange with time. Please be patient with yourself.

Just a reminder to all my fellow fat folks...

You deserve to be loved.

You don't have to settle for anyone who's with you "in spite of" your fatness.

You have nothing to be ashamed of.

You don't owe anyone an explanation of why you're fat.

Every inch of you is worthy of respect, kindness, and appreciation.

This applies to every. single. one of you. Regardless of your race, gender, religion, politics, where you're from, whatever. I know how hard it is, but please remember that.

i do not know who else needs to hear this aside from just me but i am writing it down because it helps:

there is no weight limit for liking your body.

there is no rule that says if you’re over a certain bmi you have to hate yourself. you’re not required to think you’re ugly if you’re not skinny, and you’re not required to want to lose weight.

you are allowed to not want to be thin.

this world we live in tells us that we should only like thin bodies and therefore should only like ourselves if we are thin. but your body is yours, and nobody should get to tell you what to think about it.

give yourself permission to love it.

Your body is not a trend. You don’t need to adjust how your body naturally looks to the newest favorable fashion or the supposed height of beauty. Our bodies are not meant to be forced into shapes that they are not. There will always be new ideals, new suggestions in the media of what a good body looks like. None of that is true, no body is better than any other and no body is bad. You deserve to exist in your full and natural beauty without the pressure to change based on anyone else’s opinion.

If it feels hard to compliment you own body, to say positive statements, then please appreciate your body for what it can do for you, and it can be something as simples as “it keeps me alive”. It’s hard to immediately stop saying negative things about ourselves, and it might feel strange saying very positive things to it. Try saying neutral things first, than maybe slowly you can find new positive things that don’t feel too outlandish because it feels “fake”. It’s something that takes time for us to assimilate and for us to finally become a little more comfortable with our bodies. They’re doing the best they can with the circumstances, they are trying to survive. And if that’s the only thing you can appreciate, that’s a start. Changing the way we speak to ourselves might be a slow thing to get used to, but it is worth for you to have some peace of mind, even if it feels odd to say it. The repetition will help too, and you’ll find it less and less strange with time. Please be patient with yourself.

i do not know who else needs to hear this aside from just me but i am writing it down because it helps:

there is no weight limit for liking your body.

there is no rule that says if you’re over a certain bmi you have to hate yourself. you’re not required to think you’re ugly if you’re not skinny, and you’re not required to want to lose weight.

you are allowed to not want to be thin.

this world we live in tells us that we should only like thin bodies and therefore should only like ourselves if we are thin. but your body is yours, and nobody should get to tell you what to think about it.

give yourself permission to love it.