charlottewray2021

I have always been fat. Growing up in Hong Kong, I could never escape small comments from friends, family, passerbys about my weight, my height, or my general size. In elementary school, I was once told that I could be a supermodel (with my 5’11 frame) if only I stopped eating. All these comments were well-meaning; no one ever meant to tear me down. After 28 years of living in this body, I have finally shaken the need to prove to people that I’m beautiful/ worth loving/ non-threatening. But the one myth I can’t seem to shake is the myth surrounding my relative athleticism. I think I’m ready to talk about that now.

Seeing the 2020 Tokyo Olympics really proved to me something – that there is no singular Olympic body type. The rugby players and weight lifters don’t share the same body size as the gymnasts and athletes. No one body can do it all. Similarly, I can’t judge a body’s capacity based on its physical appearance. I spent my entire childhood trying to prove that to people by being on every sports team that took me. I was a goalie in soccer; I played defense in basketball; I was part of a competitive skipping rope team; I played volleyball; I was on the track team for discus; I was part of a dance troupe; I took home first place in 100m and 400m freestyle for years. Outside of school, my life continued to be filled with physical activity: weekend hikes, ice skating with my father, swimming on the evenings, long walks after school. Despite all that I was never any skinnier.

After I moved to Edmonton 10 years ago, I lost a lot of the structure that surrounded that active lifestyle and I became more sedentary. However, that didn’t mean I stopped trying. I went quadding during camping trips; joined the school water polo team; learned to run & ran a 5K race; went hiking in Banff & Jasper; took long walks through the river valley trails; rode my bicycle across town. I still loved being active.

So here’s the thing: this isn’t a story about how I used physical activity to get skinny. In fact I never plan to write that story. This is a story about how I have learned to appreciate and love my body in motion. I wrote this less as proof to someone else that I am powerful and capable of incredible movement, but as evidence to myself. So here you go Charlotte, here is evidence that your body is strong and that you love to be active. I want you to remember it when you’re in darker places.

Evidence #1: https://twitter.com/Charlotte_JYW/status/1424966288347078661

Evidence #2: https://www.instagram.com/p/CSYfs4-gEVnGrqs_E0yk7j3jetNeRGX4phiovI0/

Evidence #3: https://www.canva.com/design/DAEmrX2gTrk/B6zp75skqh6hULUajwaRIQ/watch?utm_content=DAEmrX2gTrk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink

Social Media is a highly visual medium and any story told on a digital platform would be remiss to not include some form of visual. But it’s not as simple as just throwing any visual onto your Tweet. The following 3 tips are meant to guide the process of deciding what visual to use and how best to use it.

When telling a story online, be sure to consider the following 3 things:

Always find 1

Where possible, consider finding at least some type of visual to accompany your posted content. Pick anything from the list below!

Be Purposeful

Choose your visual carefully and consider the questions listed in the infographic below.

Make a plan

The visuals are part of your story so be sure to plan accordingly!