THE STORY OF ANABBEAUTY: STRENGTH, POSITIVITY, AND JOY

February 3, 2021|Rocío Roca Picó

You probably already know her. And if not, what are you waiting for? :) --> @Anabbeauty's Instagram

One of our #IAMSINGULAR girls

One of the first to join our beautiful #IAMSINGULAR movement, and we hope she stays with us at Singular Corsetería for a long time to come :)

A woman full of strength, positivity, joy, charisma... all beautiful words for someone who can only transmit even more beautiful things.

Do you want to know her great story? A few weeks ago, we asked her to write her story. We thought, as we told you in the previous post, that it's important to hear the voices of many of us, of real girls in a real world. And we have to admit that when we read what she wrote for the Singular Blog... we LOVED it! Because Ana shows that being plus size doesn't mean or isn't linked to having had a bad time at school, or with your classmates, or with the people who have surrounded you throughout your life. Many times, we are the ones who put up barriers. The most important thing we have is ourselves, our positivity.

Are you more beautiful, do you dress better, are you more unique or more special for having one size or another? We believe that Ana demonstrates with these words that nothing is linked to ANYTHING :) -->

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Living in and being from a village has a rather curious dual aspect...

My name is Ana Belén and I'm from Cortegana, a beautiful village in the Sierra de Huelva. I won't deny it, it's a village, and "what will people say?" is part of its idiosyncrasy.

And you'll say: how annoying! She always talks about her village! Believe me, it has a lot to do with everything I'm going to tell you and, inevitably, being from Cortegana is a fundamental part of who I am.

But let's start at the beginning, let's start with my school days, where I was immensely happy. I never felt rejected because of my excess weight and my life was as normal as can be. Oh, what a beautiful childhood!

I was fat, I went to endocrinologists, I gained weight, I lost weight, and I was still just as happy. I only remember crying once because I wanted some yellow bell-bottoms and they didn't have my size, but my aunt didn't stop until she got them, so everything was going smoothly.

My mother and grandmother always tell me that I've known exactly how I wanted to dress since I was little, although I don't remember being very "picky" about my underwear.

High school was also great, although I admit I was afraid that one year's trip would be to the beach.

Because yes, I was a fashionista. Even if it meant opening my grandmother Pepita's closet to put on a fur coat or a shirt with gold buttons, as soon as summer arrived, I would write in my diary year after year about my fear of the first day at the public pool.

Not everything was perfect; as the years went by and my body suffered an endless "yo-yo" effect, my mind noticed it, my self-esteem was at risk. Now, after many years, I know that being with that person did me no good. He didn't want to see me well, because he didn't see himself well. He didn't let me be myself and "the thing" didn't end well. What am I saying? It ended very badly.

Thank goodness I've always been surrounded by wonderful people and open-minded parents who have also shown me life this way and who have never clipped my wings. On the contrary, no matter how crazy my ideas were, they always supported me.

Another big part of me that adds up are my friends, that soft cushion where I take refuge and feel safe.

The truth is that for many years I didn't love myself at all, I avoided wearing a bikini, I avoided going out during the day in summer so as not to wear anything that would make me show my legs, and that's not very far back in time. Appearing in photos, already on social media, I never showed them. Fortunately, that has changed a lot and taking photos with different clothes has taught me to value and love myself in a healthy way.

There were some who believed I would never amount to anything, comments you hear, especially from people in the village. See? I told you it was all related! Let it be noted that I don't blame anyone for saying it, because knowing me, I'm not surprised they think it, since I've always been a bit "fickle" when it comes to my hobbies, because I declare myself an absolute fan of trends, everything new that comes out, I have to try it and that has sometimes made me leave other things behind.

I'm telling all this so you get to know me, but above all so you understand that you can be normal and be an empowered woman, that loving yourself is the most wonderful thing in the world, that making yourself happy is the best thing that can happen to you in life.

I can't say that my life has been a torment towards learning all this, because it wouldn't be true, and I will always say wholeheartedly that I have lived "in cotton wool", but we all go through stages that teach us a lot and now I understand that perhaps, without these little things and without this way of living my life, I wouldn't have been able to face breast cancer positively.

Perhaps my constant desire to smile and my self-love have helped me heal better, close my external and internal scars faster, and most importantly, allowed me to show you every minute of the process, every visit to oncology, and every inch of my new curly hair.