Triggered

Episode 66 of Via Love and Evolution is triggering. Turns out Sarah and Katrina have at least one thing they fundamentally disagree about: the joy of running.

It starts innocently enough. Sarah shares the dopamine rush of completing Day One of a new running streak and talks about motivation, inspiration, and the satisfaction that can come from simply showing up for yourself.

And then Katrina gets triggered.

What follows is a very real conversation about the complicated cultural messages wrapped up in motivation, movement, body size, and the relentless pressure placed on people especially people in larger bodies to become thinner, healthier, more disciplined, more motivated, more acceptable.

Katrina gets honest about the anger that comes with recognizing how powerless those narratives can make us feel. About wanting more acceptance and genuine community while simultaneously confronting the less comfortable parts of herself that emerge along the way.

Because what do we do when we're angry about a system we didn't create? What happens when our idealism collides with reality? How do we advocate for acceptance while also practicing acceptance within ourselves?

Together, Sarah and Katrina explore the difference between motivation and pressure, inspiration and shame, self-improvement and self-rejection. They wrestle with the stories we've inherited about worthiness and what it means to pursue change without making our bodies the problem that needs fixing.

Katrina ultimately turns toward gratitude not as a way to bypass the anger, but as another way through it. Toward self-acceptance. Toward unconditional love. Toward the ongoing, imperfect practice of becoming more at home in ourselves. Onward!