After I posted “Beat the Bulge” (which you should read if you haven’t yet), a few friends reached out to me to let me know that I am not alone in my struggle which truly touched me. I had friends reaching out that I never knew struggled with eating and body image disorders. A family member always says, “You know honey, I wish that you didn’t have to struggle so much.” It always bothered me because I don’t feel like I am really struggling in the way we perceive what it means to struggle. I always think, what exactly am I struggling with that someone else isn’t? So I thought about the word struggle for a while and then I decided to look up it’s definition. This is what I found…

As a verb :

to contend with an adversary or opposing force.

to contend resolutely with a task, problem, etc.; strive.

(of athletes and competitors) to be coping with inability to perform well or to win; contend with difficulty.

to exert strength, energy, and force. to work or strive.

As a noun :

a task or goal requiring much effort to accomplish or achieve. a fight or battle.

Let me repeat…to exert strength, energy, and force. to work or strive. And then it kind of hit me, to struggle doesn’t necessarily mean that you are suffering. Again, to exert strength, energy and force. We all struggle with something, that much is true, but it is how we approach that struggle that can make or break our soul. My client always tells me it is important to have mental strength and that it is more important than any physical strength we possess. It amazes me that it took me 27 years to start to feel comfortable in my own skin and comfortable with the person I am becoming.

After the “Bulge” post, I was directed to a link to a project on Kickstarter called Pretty Faces : All Female Ski & Adventure Sports Film that highlights women in sports, specifically skiing. This could not have come at a more perfect time. Within 10 seconds of watching the teaser on the Kickstarter website, I knew I wanted to be a backer, that I wanted to support the project and promote it by writing this post, that I wanted all women to see what Lynsey Dyer and her team of kick ass women are promoting.

When I finished watching the Pretty Faces teaser I felt a sense of community, collaboration, unity and pride flooding into my mind and my heart from women I have never even met. When I see female skiers crushing the slopes, crushing the big mountains, pulling tricks that seem other worldly and doing it with a huge smile celebrating their femininity, I get inspired. I get inspired to write, to promote, to ski again. They want females young and old, to watch this and say, “yeah, I can do that!” They want to promote that body image and main stream thoughts on what a female should be interested in and what they should look like, isn’t what the world is really about.

It’s ironic that the title is Pretty Faces because we are so much more than pretty faces. But that’s what the film is about. We are more than faces, more than body image, more than fashion, more than changing who we are so we can be popular. We are real women with real bodies and real passions. We have real sparks that can ignite a fire if allowed to develop into fruition. We now need that support. We need the support to ignite that fire. We need to come together because we can’t do this alone. So I ask you to support Pretty Faces so that we can see more of those faces out there, so that we can see more beauty in athletics and the type of beauty that comes from the soul, comes from who we are as women.

I am supporting, backing and promoting this project because it represents something I never had growing up.  I wish I had strong women to look up to when I needed it the most as a young girl, women that are not afraid to push the boundaries, to do something that hasn’t been done: an all female sports film! This goes beyond women in skiing, this goes into self confidence, following your passion, going boldly into this world, running wildly into your future with no chance of stopping, no chance of giving up. A community of strong willed women – what more could you ask for? What more could I ask for? I would ask that this project raises enough money in order for the women behind it to pursue their dream of an all female ski video to it’s fullest potential. I do this in the hopes that it inspires and motivates girls and women to follow their dreams and bring excitement and passion to this world.

Check out the project on Kickstarter:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/188962949/pretty-faces-all-female-ski-and-adventure-sports-f

Even if you only donate $5 you are still representing something that is truly inspiring. Again, I am promoting this simply because this film hits me deep and touches my soul and anything that does that for me, is worth writing, speaking, screaming about.

Powder Magazine wrote an article about it as well if you care to check that out. Pretty badass.

http://www.powdermag.com/stories/more-than-a-pretty-face/

PS. In a previous post, I had this quote as something that was important to me and ironically enough, it is said in the film.

So why not come alive? Why not celebrate women in sports? Why not celebrate all that we are and showcase it in one of the most badass sports out there? Let’s struggle a bit, but more importantly let’s exert strength, energy, and force.