Happy February Babes! We're in the season of love and all things mushy. And for the first time in 3 years, I'm excited about it! Yes ya'll Ashley has a boo lol. But girl, it took a long time for me to be happy with myself to be able to accept his love. We'll talk about that later...

Let's be honest dating is hard...period. It's awkward, frustrating, and comes with a lot of unnecessary mixing with people who don't deserve your time, energy or space. But it has to be done in order to find what we're all in search of LOVE. Whether you want to admit it or not we all desire to be loved romantically by another human being. And in my opinion, we deserve to be loved unconditionally. Unfortunately, often times dating as a plus size woman love comes with lots of conditions.

Society has made it difficult for plus size women to date. From the negative and oversexualized perceptions of our bodies to the numerous stereotypes that have cursed the plus size dating community.  It feels like society is deeming plus size women unworthy of love. Well ladies, I can promise you that YOU ARE WORTHY of love. We have to begin to rewrite the narrative of plus size love.
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First and foremost love begins with SELF. You must love yourself unconditionally before beginning a dating journey. Having a lack of  self-confidence and self love will hinder your dating experience. My personal insecurities about my body almost stopped me from enjoying all the bliss of happiness pictured above. My weight never matted in this relationship, but my crippling thoughts made it a factor. If body-acceptance is a real struggle for you, it's important to work through it before you begin dating seriously.  You'll just end up bringing your insecurities into the relationship and that's no good for anyone involved. 
In order to find success in dating as a plus size woman, you must date yourself first. Get to know the things that you enjoy inside and out. We're so afraid of spending time alone that we forget being comfortable by ourselves is apart of the process. 

Once you've mastered being alone, you have the power and knowledge to teach people how you want to be treated. And you should never accept anything less than what you except!! Never minimize your standards to fit a partners mold. He's needs to elevate to fit yours! You're supposed to grow in relationships, no hustling backwards :)

Ladies, there's a man out there willing to love and ready to appreciate every inch of you. Love isn't just for skinny women. Your man is out there sis, just be patient and be very intentional about what/who you ask the universe for. 

Photography: Eagle Vision Photography