How I Learned to Love Myself with PCOS

I want to start this blog off by helping you get to know who I am and how far I've come, so that I can help you on your journey to loving yourself too.

        When I was 14 years old, I was diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. PCOS is a hormonal disorder characterized by acne, extreme difficulty losing weight, blood sugar issues, anxiety, excessive body hair growth, and more. As a super shy and sensitive teenager, I gained the awful habit of being cruel to myself. And the symptoms of PCOS of course made it all worse, and even a reason to hate myself and my body even more. I remember forcing myself to go to the gym in an attempt to lose weight, and shouting at myself on the treadmill "You are FAT, you cannot stop, you have to keep going so you can be skinny!",  which as you can imagine, did not wield successful weight loss results for me. In fact, this cycle of trying and failing got so intense I even ending up fainting at one point, waking up on the high school girls bathroom floor with my hand in the toilet, weak from not eating enough calories and working out too much. And from years of this cycle, I began to ingrain in myself the belief that it was truly impossible to ever lose weight and reach my goal body. Which now looking back, I realize that I had NO education on my condition and I thought and treated my body as if it were shall I say "everyone else's", when in fact it's a simple hormone imbalance that can be corrected and balanced with the right tools, treatment and knowledge. Also looking back I see now that I wasn't even as "big" as I thought I was at the time!
        It wasn't until I was in my early twenties that I started on the path to self love and true health. When I got to beauty school, I made true friends who loved and accepted me as I was. This actually helped me begin to take on their perspective of me and I started to not be so hard on myself. It absolutely helps to surround yourself with people who love you for who you really are, unconditionally, which I understand may not be the easiest to find. So when you find even one person like that, they truly lift you up, encourage you and nourish your soul with love when you need it the most. Learning to love myself unconditionally has been and is still a journey and process, which is OK! I feel like I took a huge step by not defining myself and putting my body down from a medical condition...which may sound silly reading it from the outside, but it is what I and many other people have and continue to struggle with. So send yourself some love, appreciate your body, and give yourself a break! I love you for who you are, Inside and Out! There! You already have 1 person sending you love. ;)
        Sending you Love and Light,
   Rebecca