cydney: I've learned to admire my body
photo by cydney
Cydney’s pictures have been shared widely all over Instagram - and for good reason. She teaches us to appreciate our body - even if it doesn’t look like the ones we’re used to seeing portrayed as ‘perfect’ in the media. It’s so refreshing - but as we learned from this chat; loving your body for what it is isn’t an easy task.
Make sure you follow Cydney on Instagram here - and we hope you’ll feel as inspired as we did after our chat.
Hi Cydney, thank you so much for saying yes to this chat. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself?
Of course, I’m a mother of one boy, florist, barista, content creator and professional coffee drinker. I’m a little obsessed with astrology and am always down to eat.
We came across your Instagram profile and were blown away by your honest, beautiful and positive posts. How did this journey start for you?
Thank you! Well, it was during lockdown last year, I’d had a really rough time and experienced the worst cystic acne which lead me into a real low point of depression and low self esteem. However through this low point, i started to seek help and advice and found the acne community online. I saw so many beautiful people sharing their skin journey, embracing their acne and just being completely unapologetic online. I was so inspired by what I saw so started posting my unfiltered, bare face purely for me to document my skin journey and help me accept and embrace my skin. Sharing myself in this vulnerable way was really liberating and was a catalyst for me embracing every part of me. The skin confidence went hand in hand with body confidence, so i started sharing pictures of my body too.
What have you learned along the way?
Taking photos of my body in an artistic, raw and natural way, was the first time i really learned to admire my body after years of feeling like it was something to hide away or change. My confidence has grown so much & I’ve seen myself from an entirely different perspective. I’d encourage everyone to take photos or at least spend time in the mirror and see themselves from a different, non critical lens.
We love your photos. What role do they play in your self-care routine?
If I’m feeling crap about myself or un-inspired, I take time to give myself a good wash and scrub in the shower, wash my hair and massage oils or creams into my skin. Afterwords I’ll put on a cute matching set of underwear. I always feel so pampered after this, it’s usually these times when i take photos (especially if the lighting is good), which is like the last step in honouring my body.
Why do you think it’s important to share these honest and beautiful photos on a platform like Instagram?
For years we’ve been overexposed to everybody’s ‘best angles’, filtered faces and altered images, which can be really detrimental to our self esteem. It’s easy to say don’t compare yourself to other peoples highlight reel, but we still do. So by essentially boycotting Instagram, which is set up to make you feel worse about yourself, we’re changing the narrative and pushing boundaries by exposing more people to completely natural bodies & representing the changes that we go through as we age, grow or have children. I can’t wait for the day we see stretch marks, loose skin, saggy boobs, cellulite, hip dips etc actually celebrated and totally normalized.
We at sitre believes that sex wellness is not just something physical but also mental. How do you think our self image impacts the way we experience intimacy?
I think our self image massively and directly effects intimacy, if you’re not confident in yourself, or know your body, this will translate in the bedroom. In my personal experience, now that I’m more self confident and aware, I know how to receive and give pleasure, I’m more direct and assertive and am more experimental. When I had low self esteem I wasn’t able to let myself be satisfied when it came to sexual wellness.
Finally: if you were going to give someone one tip to feel self worth and love, what would it be?
It doesn’t just happen overnight, I didn’t wake up one day and think wow I’m hot stuff & start posting nudes. It’s a consistent effort to love yourself, even on your bad days. Remembering to not be your own worst enemy and criticize yourself. But to show up for yourself as often as you can, start small. Small acts of self love, every single day.
We learned so much from this, thank you Cydney.
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