Wendelyn Daly

 TW: Binge eating, restriction, eating disorder, diets, baking, and cookies. Dear Reader,   I want to share a victory with you, but first, a little history.  I used to love baking.  When my mother was alive, we used to bake together.  At Christmas time, my mom, brother-in-law, and I would each bake a bunch of yummy goodies and share them.  That way, we each had impressive goodie trays to hand out for Christmas gifts.  "Poo!" I say to your tray with only five varieties.  I have fifteen types of homemade goodies on my tray.  (I just revealed a tiny bit of my competitive side to you.)   When I started dieting again in 2017, I stopped baking.  It was an activity and a type of food that I had no self control over and the old "diet-ee" me said that meant it was not allowed.  Oh, I tried every once in while, but alas, it was an all or nothing food for me.  We still talk about the Brownie Blackout of 2019.  That was the time ...

  Dear Body,    You have given me 42 years of life.  You have adapted, changed, sacrificed, stepped aside, and survived various forms of neglect, cruelty, and punishment.  Still, you kept me breathing.  You’ve kept me learning.  You are the reason I am able to write these very words.  Our childhood was filled with messages that we were inherently wrong, too loud, too fast, annoying, pesty, too sensitive, too much.  We were so bad that “god” allowed his own “son” to be murdered in order to save me from my sin. Save me from my humanity.  When our body changed from being petite and small, we began to take up too much space.  Our mother tried to correct this, aka- make us smaller- by taking us to Weight Watchers.  We were only eleven years old. I wish we had had someone in our life to counteract all those messages.  Someone to tell us that we were perfect just the way we were.  A guide to show us how to listen to what...

 Dear Reader,   I am offering this blog to you in the hopes to encourage, inspire, and support each person who gives me the gift of their precious time.  If you wish to comment or engage, please be sure that you are curious, respectful, and kind.  If you currently do not have the capacity to do that, you are asked to simply observe in this space.  Comments that do not meet the minimum criteria of kindness and respect, will be deleted. I am not a doctor, therapist, or a medical professional of any kind.  I am simply a woman on a journey to live the life she's been given to the fullest.  To flourish.  If you are feeling like you need more than this space has to offer, I recommend seeing your general physician, a psychiatrist, and/or a therapist.  They are the professionals who have been trained to care for us. Welcome.  May this be a place of safety, self discovery, and healing. Be well, Wendelyn Wendelyn Daly, Music Specialist musicwithwe...