Writing

This is woefully outdated. I’m updating it soon. But my writing style hasn’t changed much, so here we are.

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My mom didn’t either. She had this drive, this crazy drive, for something more. So here’s to everyone who falls but doesn’t fail. Who stumbles but isn’t defeated. Who struggles, but refuses to stop. x quote via @kayla_itsines #quote #inspoquote #quoteoftheday #dailyquote #positivequotes
There are APPS that EDIT YOUR BODY as you FILM VIDEO. Real time. As you move. As you turn. As you talk or walk or pose. All on camera. They're so easy to use. With one button, one click, they bring to our mobile phones what HOLLYWOOD has been doing FOR YEARS. I understand the appeal. There was a time when I edited my photos to make myself thinner. There is still a time, now, when I'm figuring out my own boundaries with beauty and feminism and so many things. But I think these types of apps are particularly dangerous. They're like the fast food of technology. They taste good for a little while. They satisfy something in us that always, always, craves for that unobtainable idea of perfection. Only when we're done, they leave us feeling a bit empty. Having eaten, but still hungry. So here's a little reminder. Just a little nudge. That what you see online isn't always real, even if it's video, even if it's moving. And that education is one of the most powerful tools we can have to handle what's happening around us... and inside us. You got this. x
How much time have we wasted trying to rip apart our outsides and insides and make them into something we are not? How many days, hours? Let’s hold this thought today. Draw it close and drink it in. Let’s remember our worth is ours and ours alone and it is not broken. We are not broken. We are complex and nuanced and raw and beautiful. ❤️ quote by author and playwright @eveensler #feminist #femalequotes #femaleempowermentquotes #quoteoftheday #normalizenormalbodies #strongertogethertoday
Shoutout to all the girls working on loving their bodies and their souls, because that stuff is hard and I’m proud of you. So proud. We have been taught from childhood that every part of us, in one way or another, is wrong. Thighs too big. Thighs not thicc enough. Bum too flat. Chest too provocative. Chest too itty bitty committee. Opinions too loud. Interests too girly. We have been taught that there are things to buy and clothes to wear that will fix us. We have been told we are broken, just a bit. But I feel like we, the we that is women, are starting to fight back. There’s a shift now. A narrative change. I see women on here and in my inbox and in real life who are battling against all these forced ideas of who they should be. They’re figuring out who they are. I am, too. Slowly. It’s not perfect l because I’m not perfect. But it’s raw and complicated and me. So yes. A shoutout today to all the women, the girls, the queens, all of you sorting through the chaos to find your own RIGHT. It’s hard. But it’s worth it. Snapped @chiclebelle at @capeweligama #feminist #normalizenormalbodies #strongertogethertoday #cellulite #womenirl #whstrong #womenshealthmag #womensupportingwomen
Fight against this today. Even if it’s one kind word to yourself. One kind word to someone else. Fight. Via @rupikaur_ #feminist #femalequotes #quoteoftheday
Let’s talk POSING. Working in magazines and on so many photoshoots, you learn a dozen tricks to make a body look bangin’. Like these: arm up for abs; side light for muscle definition; oil on the body for the same; pelvis back for lean thighs; bikini high up for long legs; hip popped and legs apart for bootie definition; and squeeze. Squeeze. Squeeze. But here’s the thing: no one really stands LIKE FITSPO in real life. It’s awkward. Uncomfortable. And all the squeezing makes it hard to breathe. Today I just wanted to pull back the curtain a lil. Show you guys some of what goes on behind the scenes for all the fabulous fitness snaps you see on here and in print. In case it helps. In case it balances the scales a bit. In case you’re a little bit like me, and sometimes need a reminder that you’re doin’ ok, you’re doing great, you got this. Fitspo poses or normal poses or no poses at all. x #fitspo #bodypositivity #selflove #bopo
Because empowered women empower women. Here’s to the hustlers, the go getters, the girls. #quote #quoteoftheday #positivequotes #feministquote #inspoquote #strongertogethertoday
These are BOTH ME. And neither is AN ISSUE. Someone messaged the other day offering to fix this ISSUE with my BODY. Like my CELLULITE. My squiggly bits. It was well intentioned. Kindly meant. ‘Train with me and your issue will be gone.’ But no. No. I do not view my body as an issue. January is full of brutal resolutions and intense goals. Many of them link to weight loss. Goals are great. Fitness is fantastic. But do not pursue these things at the EXPENSE of your mental health. How we speak TO OURSELVES is so important. And like a toxic friend, we can bully our dreams. Our hopes. We can crush our plans before they even start. Let’s not call our bodies ‘issues’. Let’s focus on being strong. Balanced. Healthy. Powerful. Not for all the things we hate about ourselves, but for all the parts we love. Because front or back, soft or strong, no part of us is an ISSUE. Not even one bit. #iweigh #whstrong #womenirl #normalizenormalbodies #feminist #womenwhoroar #womenshealthmag #strongertogethertoday #cellulite #bopo #bodypositivity Snapped by @chiclebelle
But of course we are taught insecurities our entire lives. How else could companies sell us creams and scrubs and products and self loathing, all with a hefty dose of ‘buy this now!’? Snagged from the lovely journalist body positive gal, @alexlight_ldn #bopo #feminist #iweigh #whstrong #womenwhoroar #femalequotes #feministquote #selflove
Today I want to give a huge shoutout to ALL THOSE TRYING. Trying to find what they stand for. Trying to have the courage to speak about it. Trying and taking risks that make them feel vulnerable or raw or fragile or filled with hope. Trying. So often we are told we can’t just TRY. It must be PERFECT. And so we become silent. We worry others will view us as failures. Maybe, maybe in our darkest moments, we worry they might be right. But here’s the thing: Life is all about HOPE. It is all about reaching for those things we believe in and trusting that even if we fall, which we will because we are human, we will rise stronger, better. We will make it. And even if we stumble, we must try. You go girl. x Pic by @sukaianarajabali with @chiclebelle at @resplendentceylon @wildcoastlodge. Outfit @soloblu from Gabi’s closet. #feminist #womenwhoroar #srilanka #visitsrilanka #strongertogethertoday
For a long time this was my screensaver. A reminder. A point of focus. Because things that glitter and sparkle are fun but achieving those goals, building those dreams, that’s pure magic. Here we go. Quote via @bossbabe.inc #quoteoftheday #womenwhoroar #feminist #bossbabes #strongquotes
STRETCHMARKS. I’ve got them on my thighs. My chest. The backs of my knees. Many women do. MOST women do. These aren’t ugly marks to rub away with creams and creams and surgery. They aren’t MISTAKES where the only thing we got wrong was gaining fat in certain places and growing in others. These are part of our body. Our skin. Our NARRATIVE. And today I’m all about celebrating that. Celebrating them. These little lion stripes and zebra cracks that glint like gold when I move. Because this body loved me even when I couldn’t love it. Today, now, I’m trying. Even if it’s one wiggly stretchmarks selfie at a time. x #stretchmarks #iweigh #feminist #selflove #whstrong #womenwhoroar #womenirl #normalizenormalbodies #stt #strongertogethertoday
Some of the hardest lessons I’ve learned in my 30s: that sometimes saying no is a complete sentence. That friends who only want the sunshine aren’t friends at all. That honesty is tough and painful and fragile but in the end it’s all we have. Via @sheconquers #strongertogether #strongertogethertoday #womenwhoroar #feminist #selflove #empoweringquotes
So many of you have messaged me about the pressures you face. The pressure to be married by a given age. The pressure to have one kid. The pressure to have more. The pressure to get your prebaby body back. The pressure to achieve a certain job. A certain degree. A certain something. And so many of these stories are touching, intense, real and raw. But here’s the thing: We each have our own timeline. Our own road. Our own rhythm. And that’s ok. That’s more than ok. That’s POWERFUL. Because once we embrace what FEELS RIGHT TO US, and stop worrying WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK, we are unstoppable. We might be a genuine, straight talking, photography loving mom-to-be, like the expecting @carlyneave. We might be an awkward American journalist obsessed with her kitten, like this lil writer. Or we might be a dozen, a thousand other things. But amid all this, we have the opportunity to share something in common: That we are being TRUE to OURSELVES. To OUR OWN JOURNEY. And that? Well. That’s a powerful form of sisterhood indeed. To sum it up? You do you boo. You’re the best at it. #selflove #bodypos #womenirl #agepos #womenwhoroar #bossbabes #mentalhealth #whstrong #feminist
Take that leap. Do that thing. There is never a perfect time but there is now and there is courage and that’s enough. Via @bossbabe.inc #womenwhoroar #quoteoftheday #dailyquote #inspo #feminist #femalequotes
Women are taught to be pretty before they are taught to be smart. We are told our value lies in being attractive, but not try hard. Sexy, but innocent. Witty, but demure. And ageless. Always ageless. We are given dozens of products to fix us. Enhance us. Improve us. Even though these cost more than the same thing down the men’s aisle. Even though many of these things aren’t ‘problems’ to start with. So it’s no wonder body positivity and body neutrality and self love is a minefield. It’s no surprise. Because we are told SO MUCH about our BODIES. BUT taught so little about our BEINGS. About how to say NO. About honouring our EMOTIONS. About the importance of a COMMUNITY, even a small one, even a tiny one. About having our own VALUES and our OWN limits and our OWN IDEAS of right and wrong and defining these, understanding these. About all that makes us SO so much more than skin and bones. So today, just this. A little reminder. A little moment of love. A little bit of hope that together and alone we can learn about our bodies and our being and all the beauty in between. #feminist #iweigh #healthline #womenirl #strongertogether #strongertogethertoday #bodypos #whstrong #normalizenormalbodies
Because poo tea and poo coffee and scam crash cleanses are exactly that: 💩 #detoxtea #detoxcoffee #quote #healthquote #fitnessquote #quoteoftheday #strongertogethertoday #stt
ad, Every body, and everybody, has a story. And that’s a powerful thing. Here’s my story, or part of it: I started hating parts of my body, especially my legs, at a young age. I stopped wearing shorts around the same time I started dieting. My mom died and I stopped eating too. Fitness was one of the things that helped me change the narrative. From ‘TOO BIG’ to ‘STRONG’. From ‘IMPERFECT’ to ‘DETERMINED’. From ‘WEAK’ to ‘CAPABLE’. Fitness taught me the power of these legs that I spent so many years trying to turn into something else. Of these gangly arms. Of these lungs. Most of all, it taught me the STRENGTH of this body. Of OUR BODIES, which fight so desperately every day to keep us whole and healthy and strong. Along the way, shorts stopped being such a big deal. So yes. Every body, and everybody, has a story. And I’m so thankful that @fitbit_middle_east have launched a campaign around it all. What an incredible, gutsy brand, doing epic stuff in the region. Yes. Just yes. That’s my story, or a bit of my story. Tell me yours. #FitbitForEveryBody #FitbitVersa @fitbit_middle_east

Danae Mercer

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