HAPPY FRIDAY #97[:]

Happy Friday everyone! Here’s some cold weather outfit inspiration for you today. I’ve decided that I absolutely must take care of myself this year. I really mean to keep this resolution because it’s important. These last six months have been so busy that I’ve let myself become overwhelmed with emotions and long term work projects. It was great, it was really intense, but my little frame has suffered. Everything hurt, even if it was just walking around. Between the pop up store and the Creation and Savoir Faire fair, we’ve all been moving things all over the place. I had forgotten that I’m a little out of shape. Since I was little, I’ve had double scoliosis and spondylolisthesis! What’s that? It means that my back is a train wreak. My spine is dancing the salsa, in a S shape, and my intervertebral disks are painful. I was lucky that my parents realized this early on and I wore a corset for ten years or so: a plaster one at night and then a resin one during the day until I stopped growing. I’m telling you this now since these last ten years have been like everything is normal since I stand up straight. But I bet that if I hadn’t told you, you would have never noticed, besides one shoulder being a little bit higher than the other and when I bend over you can see a big bump on my back (touch my bump!) Since you can’t see it, you don’t think about it until it hurts like heck...

I’m not saying this to complain, just to explain that the end of this year was the opportunity to make some big decisions for myself and to stick to them so that I wouldn’t be in denial a few days later. In November I was waddling like a duck, so I went back to my spine care specialist that I hadn’t seen in years. Looking back, I admit that I was terrified it was bad news, that I’d need serious surgery or something like that... but it made me realise how urgently I needed to take care of myself and listen to my body. Today, I wear a lumbar support belt and anti-inflammatory drugs fit for a horse when Tylenol doesn’t work. And I have lots of physiotherapy treatments. I have to go multiple times a week and do exercises for six months before seeing if it gets better... I thought this was torture, going to therapy, doing intense ab workouts 2 to 3 times a week, HELP. I was fed up, but it worked out. Now I look at it like a gift. These moments are time for me. They let me slow down, and I hope they’ll give me a six pack in 6 months.

This is kind of personal, but I think this story may speak to everyone. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a problem. In 2017, more than ever, I’d like to learn to listen to the signs and alerts my body sends me. I’d like to take the reigns and stop hiding my pain in a corner of my mind with other problems like it, just hoping that they’ll go away...

Thank you to Pauline Darley for these pictures. It’s been awhile since we’ve had a shoot together! Thanks to Simone, the app I told you about and Anissa for the makeup and pretty hair. Until the end of January, you can have your makeup done with Yves Saint Laurent products. This isn’t a sponsored post, these are just friends that I think offer quality services that deserve to be talked about! I’m wearing a sailor dress by & Other Stories, a Wear Lemonade cape, a Tammy & Benjamin bag and a pair of vintage boots. Translated by Whitney Bolin