Stretch marks can mean something great happened, I have a lot of them on my legs and it’s no surprise; i gained a lot of weight in a short amount of time. In the winter of 2020, I was at my lowest weight ever, my anorexic friends had been long hospitalised at the same weight I was at, I hadn't been and I was in a bad way. I’d had anorexia for a decade at that point but this was new, this was bad and it was scary.
But I didn't die, I got better, or some semblance of that, and my reward was.. not as good as a trophy or a medal or a cheque for a million pounds, no where near as good as that. My reward was different body issues, my reward was stretch marks.
I'm not okay with my stretch marks, not yet. They put my mind in a bad place, I see them and don't want my next meal. But that isn't going to take them away and I know that. I got through a tough time and I carry scars, that's all it is, I can have pride in my stretch marks because I got them fighting for my life. In time they will hopefully remind me of battles won and inspire me onwards, there's always another battle.
For this project I asked a few people to take part, get drawn and tell me about their stretch marks.
"I’ve always been told I should be ashamed of my tummy"
"Recently I’ve gained a lot of weight causing these stretch marks and I absolutely love them"
"Changing the words I used to describe my body in my head made a world of difference. When I started thinking of my body as a canvas, and stretch marks as art, I started loving myself a whole lot more"
"I can wear a bikini with my stretch marks now but it's taken me 15 years to get there"
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