By Alayna Shulman
Redding Record Searchlight, Calif.
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Darbie Andrews shares her struggle with self acceptance in an upcoming edition of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. The “Curvy & Confident” edition of the popular inspirational book series includes Andrews’ piece and 100 other essays about “loving yourself and your body.”
Redding Record Searchlight, Calif.
Darbie Andrews had made so much progress since she started taking Zumba classes — on her fitness, her self-esteem, even her outlook on life.
Then a man approached her after one of the Latin-inspired dance classes and told Andrews, 49, that she moved well — “for a woman your size.”
“Things like that can knock us on our butts,” the Salisbury High School teacher said.
Andrews didn’t tell the man how much it bothered her to have a stranger critique her looks. He may have meant well, she thought. But eventually, the Cottonwood resident realized something more important: she could obsess over her looks and how others feel about them or she could focus on more important things — including her newfound love for dance.
And now, “People insult me, but I’m like, ‘I gotta go dance!'” Andrews said with a laugh. “The music, the movement — it just makes me feel free.”
It’s this account of evolving self-acceptance and discovered passions that Andrews chronicles in an upcoming edition of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. The “Curvy & Confident” edition of the popular inspirational book series includes Andrews’ piece and 100 other essays about “loving yourself and your body,” according to the publisher.
For Andrews, it’s meaningful to have been chosen for the book because she believes talking about delicate issues such as body-image is what gets people to feel better about them. Apart from her own struggle with body image, she’s seen her students devastated over Facebook comments about their sizes.
“There’s so much more to worry about in life than how big your butt is. Or how small,” she said. “You’re still worthy of love and affection and being treated nicely.”
Andrews is now a coach for Zumba classes, and the combination of learning what her body could do — even with its imperfections, “this vessel that gives you life” — and helping others realize the same has been a life-changer.
“It’s uncomfortable to go at first … but, so?” she said. “Those kinds of things make you feel alive.”
And when it comes to Zumba, Andrews has found there’s even a benefit to being a size 14: her students might not be as intimidated as they would with a perfectly slim coach.
Whether people feel bad about their body because they’re obese or overweight, or starves themselves so they’re not, Andrews said the common denominator is a lack of self-acceptance.
“Women, I think, judge ourselves harshly,” she said. “If we could get over that and still put ourselves out there … it’s healing.”
Andrews — an aspiring young adult novelist — will hold a book-signing at 2 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Redding Barnes & Noble store on Churn Creek Road.
