Dana Conlin

I used to care what people thought about me
What I looked like,
What I sounded like.
The way I dressed, the way I talked.
How high I held my head
Or how low I held my standards.

I tried to fit into The Mold
By shrinking myself down
Through punishing workouts
and calculated diets.
By filtering my words
And measuring my actions.
To be a sculpture
Chiseled to perfection -
So no one could say
that they weren’t in awe.

Today I see women half my size
Being glamorized.
Diminishing themselves into The Mold,
Unattainably attained
By needles, and scalpels, and more.
But when will the mirror say,
“This is enough”

So now I say
Who cares what people think of me
As long as what I think of myself
matters most.

With love,
Dana 🤎

Shot by the talented

An unseasonably long winter spent working, playing with babies and in the snow, and HIBERNATING