This bonus episode is a cozy, honest end-of-year conversation about visibility, overwhelm, and what I’m choosing to carry — and leave behind — as we move into 2026.

I reflect on the past year of creating The Culture Of It All: from stepping into visibility on TikTok, to finding community, to navigating the emotional toll of being outspoken in a fat body online. I talk candidly about the tension between wanting to keep showing up — and needing to protect my mental health, my softness, and my family.

The holidays can be a lot — especially when diet culture, visibility, and body talk are turned all the way up.

In this bonus episode, I share a gentle, honest reflection on overwhelm, being visible in a fat body, navigating online criticism, and why it’s okay to shut down conversations about your body, health, or food.

We talk about:

Holiday overwhelm & diet culture fatigue

Visibility spirals and body image

Responding to unsolicited comments

Protecting your energy this season

Choosing softness over “New Year, New Me” pressure

This episode is a reminder that you don’t need to reinvent yourself to be worthy — rest, boundaries, and self-trust are more than enough.

This is our final full episode of 2025, and what a year it has been. In this episode, I’m reflecting on what it truly meant for me to live at full volume this year: in my work, in my body, in my creativity, and in community with all of you.

I want to take a moment to say THANK YOU for following my work, subscribing, reading and listening to The Culture Of It All. This work couldn’t exist without the incredible support you’ve shown me, and I’m excited to continue giving diet culture a big old middle finger right alongside you in 2026.

This year certainly took me by surprise, or perhaps I surprised myself by deciding to “take TikTok seriously” (that’s what I told my friend Ali earlier this year) and then having a 72 hour viral moment which may not have changed my life, but it showed me that there is an incredibly supportive anti diet community there.

You can hear more about my mini viral TikTok moment here.

I may not have known where this podcast was headed back in January — but it found its way, slowly, softly, and more honestly than ever. Throughout the seasons, one message kept coming back to me: we were never too much.

Not our bodies.

Not our voices.

Not our joy.

And so much of this episode is me reflecting on what it means to carry that belief into every part of my life.

I talk about how fat joy showed up in ordinary moments — especially in parenting — and how my style evolved when I stopped shrinking, performing, or dressing for anyone but myself. I share what it was like to confront old fears about visibility, how softness helped me stay grounded, and what it felt like to create something like Full Volume from a place of curiosity instead of urgency.

And of course, I share what’s ahead for 2026: an anti–New Year energy, new conversations, new guests, and a continued commitment to making space for fat stories, creativity, and community.

In “Joy, Style, Softness: A Year at Full Volume” we’re exploring:

* What living “at full volume” looked like this year

* How an unexpected viral TikTok video helped shape my work

* What it looked like to parent my child (and myself) through body shaming

* How my style has evolved without shrinking, performing, or reinventing myself

* The energy I’m bringing with me into 2026

Takeaway to Hold Onto

Softness isn’t the opposite of strength — it’s the space where I meet myself with honesty and enoughness.

Thank you for being here this year. Whether you’ve listened since the beginning or found the show last month, I’m grateful for you. Here’s to ending softly, and entering next year without the pressure to reinvent ourselves 🧡

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