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But we end up exposing more than our skin: our insecurities about holiday weight gain, another failure to keep up with our new year’s fitness goals, a compulsive need to exercise the winter calories away, deep-seated hurt feelings from a middle school bully who called us “fat,” and the desire to rock our new bikini like the obscenely airbrushed model who donned it online. Instead of waking at 5:00 AM to run before work in order to lose “those last 5 pounds” to better fit your bathing suit, why don’t you take a leisurely bike ride with your family on a breezy afternoon? Instead of worrying if you’re tan enough for a Caribbean cruise planned months out, why don’t you sit on the front porch and watch lightning emblazon the sky amidst the infinite shades of gray storm clouds? Instead of watching hungrily while your family members slurp melting ice cream cones at your go-to local shop, why don’t you get a double scoop of your two favorite flavors because it just freaking tastes good?

To draw attention to the significance of this month and to honor the many inspiring, talented, and beautiful women I know and love, I thought I’d highlight some of my favorite podcasts—hosted BY women and (largely) FOR women. Her podcast is a much-needed result of her medical practice, experience as a mother of two young children, a desire to squash gender bias within the medical industry, and a calling to inspire and empower women in all aspects of life. I enjoy the format of the podcast: first they review a feminist author’s book—discussing the themes and relevance of the book in today’s world—and, in part 2, they conduct interviews based on some of those previously discussed themes. I’ve been following Maddy Moon for years now (and have written about her podcast before), and I enjoy Mind Body Musings because it offers a diverse assortment of interviews—ranging from body image, crystal healing, navigating relationships, managing debt, launching a small business, understanding the balance of masculinity and femininity, resisting the diet mentality, and anything else you could imagine.

Any time that I’ve gone through a rough patch regarding my mental health, body image, or eating habits, my biggest roadblock for changing my direction or asking for the help I needed was simply this: “I am not struggling, unhappy, sick, (insert applicable adjectives) enough. ” We are taught from a young age to take care of ourselves

Reading, much like writing, brings me so much joy, and I’ve been a bookworm for most of my life. If you’d like to take part in a “virtual book club” and share your own reviews or opinions (or offer suggestions/recommendations for future reads), just use the tag #cupofcatherinereads on your social media and we can discuss our thoughts together. I thought the book was extremely well-written, and she managed to evoke so many emotions within me by sharing stories of her lower middle class upbringing, her close-knit family, her experiences and challenges as a minority, her deep drive and sometimes-crushing perfectionism, her early relationship with Barack Obama, and her attempts to balance career and motherhood to the best of her abilities. The four siblings live—or exist—with different interpretations of these questions, and each section of the book follows their paths through life.