Icebreaker

Hi, my name is Ashley and I'm a 25 year old woman. I love to sing anytime, anywhere and I'm actually pretty good at it. I have a lot of other interests, mainly traveling, human rights issues, refugee resettlement, volunteering for CASA, antique stores, bed & breakfasts, etc. I've lived abroad and can speak conversational Spanish. I have two college degrees that I worked hard for. I'm married to the one and only person I've ever had a relationship with, Joshua. He's the true love of my life. I have a lot of good people in my life and make sure that I keep up my thankfulness for it all quite regularly.

I'm also tall, have green eyes and a decent complexion. Oh yeah, I also weigh 286 lbs. Whew! There I said it.That's me in the oversized background picture above this post. I look at it every once in awhile to remind myself that even at that weight I can be beautiful.

I know what you're thinking. Wow, really? That's more than a Colts' linebacker! Well, you don't look like it! You hide it pretty well! I would have never guessed that much! I've been overweight since I was 8, so that's a good 17 years of becoming masterful at hiding myself. This has been mostly accomplished by focusing so much of my energy on having a likable personality. I enjoy making people laugh, talking for hours and I've developed a true interest in getting to know the people around me. Somehow, I've always thought if I could just open my mouth and speak before anyone has a good chance to look at me, maybe they wouldn't think I was lazy or a slob or ugly. Maybe people wouldn't even associate me with weight at all. 

I'm am now at a place in my life where I'm very comfortable with who I am on the inside. I've spent a lot of time and effort exploring what kind of person I do and do not want to be for what seems like my whole life. I'm now going to spend some time focusing on my health and who I want to be on the outside. This blog will be about anything and everything related to my quest to live a healthier lifestyle. It will probably contain a lot of oversharing, whining, frustration, etc. I don't really have a problem with that because I've never been a very private person. The people who love and know me best already know this about me and for the most part, can appreciate it. The people who do not probably shouldn't spend there time reading this blog. It doesn't make me uncomfortable to talk about real things going on in my head and in my life and putting it out for the world to see, but it might make others uncomfortable. Take it or leave it! 

Even though it feels this way a lot of the time, I know I'm not the only person who has struggled and continues to struggle with being healthy and body image issues. It's my hope that people will share their experiences to help me along this journey. I need suggestions, words of encouragement, recipes, exercises and routines that have worked for you or someone you know. I'm going to keep track of my successes and failures to also hold myself accountable for the decisions I make about eating healthy and working out. I'm also going to be seeking therapy during this time to deal with these issues and sharing my experiences. 

I'm happy to be starting this new chapter. I'm not committing to a diet, work-out regimen or anything of the sort. I'm committing to taking steps to take better care of myself for the first time in my entire life. :)