Like many women, I’ve struggled with food and my body image for decades ― yes, decades, and I’m only 33.

As an eight-year-old child, I began to use food to numb my loneliness and anxiety. As a teen, every summer I vowed I would get skinny and shock everyone at school in September, only to gain 15 pounds in a post restrictive diet binge. As a college student, I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which in my mind, justified my continuous cycle of diets and binging.

I hated my body. I hated the sensation of the fat rolls on my back touching. I hated shopping for clothes that were ill-fitting and three times the price of “regular” clothes. I hated feeling like I would never feel good in my own skin.

Then there was a time that I did a very well-known diet and lost 50 pounds. I looked great. People said so. I still hated my body. I still had the negative voice inside my head telling me I wasn’t good enough. I associated my self-worth with how I felt my body looked, though it took me many more years to figure that out.

After giving birth to my daughter, I realized that I didn’t want to pass my negative body image issues on to her. I wanted her to grow up with a mom who didn’t associate her self-worth with the size of her waist or the number on a scale.

I had been following Samantha Skelly and Hungry for Happiness on social media for a few months, when Sam posted a on question: “Are you ready to end your battle with food and your body?” My immediate answer was “YES!”

I began working with Sam in one of her coaching programs, and learned that I had to deal with the emotional weight before I could release the physical weight. I had to let go of all the stories I told myself about how I would never be good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, or worthy enough. I had to trust that my body knows what it needs and that I had to get out of its way by trying to control it. I learned that my issues with my body were never about the food.

Through working with Sam and Hungry for Happiness, I’ve come a long way from where I was, and I continue to develop my self-love and body positivity.

Last fall, I had the pleasure of working with Sam to develop and produce the first Hungry for Happiness LIVE event, a two-day immersion workshop on self-love and body connection. I met so many incredible women who fight their bodies and want to end that battle. There was so much love amongst those women who bravely shared their stories and women who held space for others. So many women told us afterwards how much they appreciated the workshop and the new understandings they had of themselves. See inside the event here: https://youtu.be/tDT6Kz81Aq0

If you are ready to change your relationship with your body, we are holding another Hungry for Happiness LIVE event in the Vancouver area on April 8^th and 9^th, and we’d love you to join us.

Hungry for Happiness Founder Samantha Skelly will lead a two-day body and self-love experience.

Throughout these two days, you will discover a deeper, more connected part of who you are. You will feel alive, energized, and connected into your body in ways you’ve never felt before. It’s time to finally get out of your head and into your body – allowing you to fully tune into your body, intuition, and soul and be divinely guided from within.

This event is for you if….

You’ve been stuck in the diet/binge cycle for years

You simply don’t trust yourself

You don’t feel ‘at home’ in your body

You experience any shame or guilt around the relationship you have to food and your body

You finally want to feel freedom and liberation in your body

You want to finally feel connection: head and heart, mind and body

You have the power to release the mental anguish and stress you’ve been fogged with

What: Hungry for Happiness LIVE

When: Sat, April 8 9 a.m. to Sunday, April 9 4 p.m.

Where: Hillel BC Society, 6145 Student Union Boulevard – University of British Columbia

Tickets: Tickets are selling fast, and you can register here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/hungry-for-happiness-live-2017-tickets-29455398891

For more info, visit  http://hungryforhappiness.com/

Flash giveaway!!! ValleyMom.ca has a pair of tickets to give away for the Hungry for Happiness LIVE event April 8 and 9  – a value of approx. $400!!!  To enter, leave a comment telling us who you’d bring below.  A winner will be chosen at random April 4/17. You must be 18+ to enter.

About the Author: Nicole Calla

With a passion for life’s simple pleasures, Nicole is a self-proclaimed Anglophile and epicurean, always on the hunt for the perfect afternoon tea or bottle of red wine. Nicole is an avid reader, loves to cook, and dabbles in many creative mediums, including drawing, painting, hand lettering, paper crafts, event planning and design, and dance. Sometimes she does yoga. Nicole lives in Port Coquitlam, BC with her husband and daughter, but a piece of her heart will always be in her hometown of Langley, BC.

Nicole Calla