Embrace Your Features: Christina Testut’s Inspiring Journey of Self-Acceptance and Healing

Hey everyone, welcome back to The Beauty in You podcast! We're super excited about today's episode because we've got a truly inspiring guest: Christina Testut. Christina's an amazing New York City public school teacher with over 20 years of experience and a fierce advocate for social-emotional learning.

Christina dives into her personal journey with body image struggles and how she turned things around to promote self-love and acceptance. We'll hear about her transformation in 2020 and the inspiration behind her book, "Embrace Your Features," which came out in April 2023.

We’ll chat about the real stuff negative comments, disordered eating, and societal pressures, but also the positive practices Christina brings to her classroom, like reading body-positive children’s books and using affirmations.

Hosts Chi Quita Mack and Jacqueline G. join in as we discuss embracing our unique selves, setting healthy boundaries, and the importance of therapy. Get ready for an eye-opening and heartwarming convo that’ll leave you feeling empowered and loving the beauty in you.

So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!

To connect with Christina Testut: www.embraceyourfeatures.com
Amazon Book Link https://a.co/d/0NzjC2R
Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/christina_runstheworld/

To work with Chi Quita Mack: Take Back Your Life 1-on-1 Coaching — Life Coach - The ChiQuita Mack
To Purchase The Beauty in You Workbook:
https://www.thechiquitamack.com/shop-tcm/p/the-beauty-in-you-a-guide-created-to-help-you-discover-the-best-version-of-you
Chi Quita Mack's Website: https://www.thechiquitamack.com
Chi Quita Mack Shop/ Merchandise: https://www.thechiquitamack.com/shop-tcm
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechiquitamack

Chapters

• 6:52 Creating lasting impact through writing and publishing.
• 9:43 Rediscover, follow heart, be inspiration, not easy
• 15:57 Eating disorder misinformation fuels harmful compliments.
• 22:22 Why do we giggle at "fat" word?
• 30:28 Seek professional help to deal with emotions

Transcript

Jacqueline G. [00:00:01]:
Welcome to the Beauty in you podcast, a safe place created for all women to come relax, get inspired, and be constantly reminded that they have not lost the ability to be who they once were. Join us as we dive into the true meaning of rediscovery through inspiring guests and topics such as healing, self love, and creating a positive mindset. So sit back, relax, and get comfortable as we dive into this week's episode. Here is your host, Chiquita Mack.

Chi Quita Mack [00:00:29]:
Hey, y'all. Welcome back to another episode of the Beauty in you podcast. I am super excited because we're heading to New York, you guys. I cannot wait for you to hear this remarkable story. And I know for sure your life is definitely going to be inspired and transformed once you hear from our guest. Our guest is a New York City public school teacher with over 20 years experience. She's a strong advocate for social emotional learning in all classrooms. She's dedicated to fostering confidence and building strong self esteem in her students.

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:06]:
She's committed to changing the narrative around body image for the youngest generation and future generations. Her mission has become her purpose and passion. As the author of embrace your features, she strives to embody the change she wishes to see in the world and invites others to join her in making a collective impact. Welcome to the beauty and you podcast, Christina tested. How are you, mama?

Christina Testut [00:01:34]:
Good. Thank you so much for having me.

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:37]:
I am so happy you're here, and I just can't wait for you to tell your story. Everything that you're doing is so impactful, and it's definitely making an impact on our young minds.

Christina Testut [00:01:52]:
Thank you for saying that.

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:53]:
So if you don't mind getting us started as the title being the beauty in you, just start us off with your rediscovery journey.

Christina Testut [00:02:03]:
Sure. So from as early as I can remember as a young child, I always felt less than and that there was something, like, wrong with me. I could remember every comment that seemed to be that my appearance and my body was always a topic of conversation from family members, peers in school. As early as elementary school doctors, didn't matter who it was. I began to realize that my body and the way that I looked was not acceptable. And I became ashamed of myself and what I looked like at a very young age. And I went on any diet, all the diets you could think of my whole entire life to try to change myself physically. And I wound up having a family, had children.

Christina Testut [00:03:00]:
And one day I just decided that what was going to be, what I needed was to once and for all change my physical appearance and be that hero and role model that my children could look up to, I thought that's what I needed to do, and I did. And I became very good at losing weight and shrinking, and I got a lot of attention for it. I was put in a weight loss commercial. I was put in ads for a weight loss company, and all this positive feedback and attention was all on me, and I felt accepted. Finally. I felt like, wow, this is who I was meant to be. Not knowing at that moment that that wasn't true. But I finally felt enough, and I did that for five years, became this weight loss success story and made it my identity.

Christina Testut [00:04:00]:
And around 2020, I started to feel a shift. I no longer felt like the weight loss community I was in was my safe space. I started to hear and see things. My then preteen daughter, now she's almost 17, but at that time, she was just turning to be a teenager. I heard things that she was saying about herself that was negative. And I'm a teacher. I saw and heard it all in my school. And in 2020, it was the Zoom and Google Meet started to be the thing, right? And I was on those meetings a lot for work or, you know, watching my children and doing their schoolwork.

Christina Testut [00:04:46]:
And every time I noticed, every time somebody came on the screen, they apologized for what they looked like. I'm so sorry that I have no makeup on. I'm so sorry that my hair is not dyed. You know, my grades are showing. Oh, I'm so sorry my eyebrows are not done. You know, it was every negative thing about themselves apologizing for it. And I felt bad. I felt bad for them, and I felt bad for myself, and I felt bad for my children hearing this.

Christina Testut [00:05:14]:
And my children started to say to me, like, why? Why does my teacher keep on apologizing for what she looks like to all of us or telling us not to look at her because she's scary looking right now, like. And they started to feel it, too. And I thought, you know, we call these things that are normal parts of us flaws, and they're really not. They're just normal features that make us who we are. Yeah. And I started to. The teacher in me, the educator in me, I started to go, like, into the dictionary and dissect flaw and feature. Like, what are we calling ourselves when we say flaws like defects, imperfections, something that mars you? Those are the synonyms for flaw.

Christina Testut [00:06:01]:
But then when you look at feature, it's characteristic attribute trait. Those are what our facial features, our hair, our body, those are what those things are, just features. Of us. And, you know, I started out on Instagram as this weight loss account, and I decided to put out this post called embrace your features. And I put the whole dissection in comparison of flaw versus features, and it didn't go anywhere. You know, my audience really wasn't feeling it, but I tried to live it and breathe it, and I kept posting about it. And it wasn't until that was 2020. So it wasn't until, like, 2022 where I said, you know what? I want to make an impact with my students, with my own children.

Christina Testut [00:06:57]:
How can I make the impact I want? Because it's enough. You know, it's not enough to me just to say the words. I want somebody to be able to read it and see it over and over again, you know, have it to be their reminder when I'm not near them, when I'm not next to them. And I said, you know what? I'm going to try to write a book. So I started to pursue, like, the possibilities and reached out to different people and publishing companies, and I had this Instagram post as my inspiration, and then it became my manuscript, and then I made it into my book, embrace your features. And so it came out last year, April 2023. And now I know that this is my legacy for my children, not, oh, mommy was a weight loss success story. You know, I don't want to be called an inspiration anymore because I shrank, because I was good at shrinking myself, because I became smaller.

Christina Testut [00:07:58]:
I want to be remembered. I want my legacy to my children to be like mommy wanted us all to feel accepted and love ourselves and be ourselves unapologetically, no matter what we looked like. Like. So, yeah, now that's what I has become. My. Like, my drive, my passion and my purpose. I feel like this book is so special, and I feel like the message is so important out there whenever I look on social media, and our children are on social media so much more now than ever, and they're getting them the opposite messages. They're getting the messages that they need to change themselves.

Christina Testut [00:08:36]:
And bullying about appearances is still going on in school, and I want to try to help change the way we see ourselves, the way our children and future generations see ourselves. Because I was that child that needed something like this when I was younger.

Chi Quita Mack [00:08:54]:
Me, too. I needed that. I needed that. I remember appearances being, and it still is a big deal now, but I just remember being that middle school child and that even in elementary, seriously going through worrying about what I look like, you know, being of darker skin, growing up in the south and hearing things like, you know, you're beautiful for a dark skinned girl. Like, what does that mean? Like, why do they always say that part? Like, what is that? You know, what does that mean? How does that compare? And not liking my hair and wanting my texture to be different, you know? So it does start at such a. A young age, and it does leave an imprint on yourself and it carries you through your adulthood. Like, seriously. And so it's a lot of work.

Chi Quita Mack [00:09:43]:
It's a lot of work. When we go back and we are on our rediscovery journeys and we tackle that, you know, I want to congratulate you on just even, you know, you found, you thought. You thought you achieved what you wanted, and when you got to that level of success, you realized, this is not really, really what I want. I'm not comfortable. And instead of just staying there because you thought you were receiving something that you've been working toward, you decided to follow your heart and to listen to the way you felt and be the inspiration that you want to be. Yeah, that's not easy to do, especially with the community. That is like, what the heck are you doing? Why are you posting this? Not even what we're doing, exactly what are you talking about right now? And that's hard. It's really.

Christina Testut [00:10:33]:
I felt alone. I felt alone and, like, I was the, like, quote unquote weird one. There was something wrong with me because everybody around me was doing the opposite and saying the opposite. And not just on social media, but in my workplace. And, you know, when you watch tv, on commercials, on the radio, and I thought for. It was about a year I tried to do it by myself. The unlearning, the, you know, relearning. And I thought I was doing okay until I realized that I really wasn't.

Christina Testut [00:11:09]:
And then that's. I had to seek help. I had to seek a therapist that understood, you know, what I was going through. And, you know, I'm to this day, you know, two, three years later, I'm still with that, you know, therapist helping me navigate this new world that I'm trying to live in because body and bad body image days still come. You know, I'm so used to seeing a before and after image in my head, you know, and now I'm closer to that before picture than I am to the after picture that everybody congratulated and everybody said how, you know, amazing and inspiring I am because I didn't look like that before picture anymore. And so tackling the emotions of, oh, my God, I look like that before picture again. And nobody thought that was, quote unquote, good or valuable or worthy. And now I need to tell myself, I am.

Christina Testut [00:12:07]:
I am. Doesn't matter what I look like. I'm still valuable and worthy, and a body size doesn't change that, you know? But the messages I still see loud and clear. The opposite. So it is. It is very difficult. And you sometimes need support, you know?

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:26]:
Absolutely. Support all the way. Therapy, I think it's so important. I think everybody listening, like, you need a therapist. I'm telling you right now. It's so hard. You know, it was hard for myself, too, to seek therapy just because the stigma of therapy, right?

Christina Testut [00:12:39]:
That's the conversation.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:40]:
It's like, what can we do, right? Oh, my God. Every time we do something, someone has something to say. But I think therapy is important, and it's important to add that to your toolbar. Talk about the tool bag a lot. You know, on these journeys, on our rediscovery journeys, on our self discovery and everything that we're doing, it's just we're adding tools to that and we're going to have days that are not the best. We're going to have moments where we're like, oh, my God, I'm so exhausted from doing this. But that's the importance of having the resources and the support around you, because you can just always reach back or, you know, see your therapist, do all those things to get you where you're going. It's a long process.

Chi Quita Mack [00:13:18]:
No journey is perfect. And it's a lot of work. You have to be dedicated to it. And so, you know, seeking a therapist, I will say yes. Like I said before, it is so important to just have that and begin to create that community. The world we live in is so hard, especially when we start talking about the way we look, looks defined, unfortunately, the way society is set up to define everything. Right? Like the way you look, the way you carry yourself, you know, your weight. You're too.

Chi Quita Mack [00:13:54]:
You can be too skinny, and people got something to say.

Christina Testut [00:13:57]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:13:58]:
And then if you gain more weight, then people have something to say. So again, it's like, well, where do I fit in? Or how do I fit with this? My issue with weight loss is what I hate about it is, like, for me, like, I'm a. I am a lot thick. I'm thicker now than I ever been. I was always very small. I ran in high school and I ran track in college, and so I was really small, but that was, like, athletic small.

Christina Testut [00:14:26]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:14:27]:
But then when I got sick. Like, depression and anxiety. It's a different kind of small. That's when you like, girl. Like, there's some mental things happening, right? So now that I'm healthy, this is great. I love my size because this is healthy keta. This is not depression. Keta.

Chi Quita Mack [00:14:46]:
Or anxiety. But then you have. People are like, girl, you're putting on weight or you're getting thicker. And it bothers me because I'm like, where you saw me before, I wasn't even healthy. I was sick. I was struggling. I was going through so much in my life at that time. So people really need to be careful when they start defining, like, what's good weight.

Christina Testut [00:15:11]:
Yeah, exactly. Right. And in the same way, for me, nobody knew how much I was struggling mentally when I was losing all that weight, especially towards the end when I was becoming so obsessed because I couldn't say the weight that I wanted to stay. You know, I was starting to become obsessed. And tears being shed over what I look like and maybe eating out one night and, like, I just became so obsessed and had disordered eating. And I didn't find out until I went to therapy that I was diagnosed then for an eating disorder, and I didn't even know that. And I was shocked, because that's even another story. There's so much stigma around eating disorders and misinformation.

Christina Testut [00:15:57]:
The misinformation around eating disorders is unbelievable. And I was one of those people that had no idea that what I was doing was disordered eating because everybody around me was doing the same thing, saying the same thing. And people don't realize that they were complimenting me for what I looked like, which was fueling my fire to keep going because I'm getting all these compliments, and they didn't know that, that I was struggling at the time, you know, with all of it. So I agree. Like, I don't think people should comment on people's bodies no matter what. If they're. If they look thinner and they think they're giving them a compliment, oh, did you lose weight? They could be sick, like cancer. They could be, you know, sick with depression, like you mentioned, or they could have an eating disorder, and you don't know that and you're complimenting them that they look better just because they're smaller.

Christina Testut [00:16:54]:
So for me, gaining weight was needed in order to recover and heal. And I'll never forget, I had a parent of a past student come up to me right as I was starting therapy. I was only into therapy a couple of months. I just found out what I was struggling with was an eating disorder, and the parent was of a child that I had a few years ago. And she saw me outside and she ran up to me and I went to hug her, and she pushed back and she looked me up and down and she said, oh, my God, what happened to you? You got so fat. And I was just, that's the face I made, what you just did, mouth open, mortified, and I didn't know what to say. And I was just like, oh, I'm fine. And I tried to change the subject.

Christina Testut [00:17:42]:
Ask about her child, former student. And she. Tears started to well up in my eyes, and she was like, did I offend you? I just am worried about you. You're so big now. And, like, it got. Just got worse, and I had to leave the situation. Now, if somebody was to ask me, what happened to you, you got so fat. I don't take it as personally because I now see that fat is not a bad word, that fat is not a bad thing, that the world makes fat bad, you know, and for me, I needed to gain weight and become fat according to the eyes of other people to heal and recover and just be better mentally and emotionally.

Christina Testut [00:18:27]:
But, yeah, that's even another story. The way that we perceive the word fat and how that's the best insult anybody can give all the time when they mad at somebody or talk about how big they are. That's a whole other thing that I'm trying to change in the walls of my classroom, because you hear it in classrooms with kids as young as five years old thinking they're going to make fun of somebody by calling them fat. There's so much this world needs to change with one thing at a time.

Chi Quita Mack [00:18:56]:
Absolutely. One thing at a time. We're trying our best. We're trying to make a change, for sure. I do want to talk about your classroom. What ways are you implementing implanting that seed of positive body image with your students?

Christina Testut [00:19:12]:
Yeah, so I love to collect now all the different body image children books that I can find. You know, I'm so proud that I added my own to the collection. But there's so many other great children body image books out there. There's not a lot, but they're up and coming now. There's more and more. And so I like to read those and have a conversation with my students about, you know, their. How they feel about themselves and find, you know, how they can embrace their features. And we have a lot of discussions about that.

Christina Testut [00:19:44]:
I do positive affirmations every single day and our positive affirmations are built as a class. So in the beginning of the year, I help them out and I do the basics. I am brave, I am smart, I am strong. But then as the year goes on, once I start reading these different books to them and they get the messages from the books, they help me add more affirmations based on the books we read. So, of course, when I read embrace your features, to them, they were like, let's add, I can embrace my features. And we read this great book called bodies are cool. And they decided the affirmation they wanted to be was, my body is cool and awesome. And so we say that every morning, and all the affirmations we could think of that come from their mouths, and we just repeat them every single morning.

Christina Testut [00:20:32]:
They each get a turn to stand up, read off of the slides, and the kids repeat after them. And it's part of our daily routine and daily practice. I have a little affirmation mirror as well, where I invite them in the beginning of the year, I show them how to go up to it and what kinds of things we can say to it. And in the beginning of the year, I have them go up, make a line and do it. But then as the year goes on, the invitation is you go there whenever you need to go there. If you need to go there, you go to the mirror and say your affirmations. And just every time I see something or hear something, call it out and have a conversation. So most recently, kindergarten, when they hear the word fat, when we're just decoding it, ethonics, the word is just up on the screen and we're going, fat, fat.

Christina Testut [00:21:22]:
All of a sudden, all the giggles happen. They don't giggle when they hear the word hat. They don't giggle when they hear any other word, but they hear the word fat, just in phonics, and they start giggling. And so when I saw this happening a few times, I was like, let's have a conversation. Like, why is it that every time we hear that word, we laugh and giggle? And we talked about it, they don't really know what to say at five, but I tried to give them the message that, you know, it's not a funny word. We like to see, we see in the movies people making the fat character, always the funny character or the villain or things like that, but, you know, it's not funny word. We don't have to laugh every time. And just recently, one of my little five year olds, somebody laughed when they heard the word, and she raised her hand and she said, fat is not bad, silly or funny.

Christina Testut [00:22:18]:
That is just a size word. And I was just like, wow, she got the message, you know? So if I can get one child to get that message and then share it with whoever, their family members, their first graders next year. So, yeah, it's just a lot of, you know, conversation, talking about it, pointing things out in books because there are unfortunately a lot of children's books that have anti fat language. And it's just making my business to say something, you know, like, let's discuss this.

Chi Quita Mack [00:22:52]:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's important as an educator that you're doing that we have to start as young as five, like that. I just wish we had that. I can't. I remember my second grade teacher. You do remember your teachers, too, you know, like, you're definitely going to make an impact on them. Like, Mike, kindergarten teacher, because I still remember my second grade teacher. But just being able to plant those seeds, you know, like you said when she, when your student was like, hey, like, this is not the message that we learned.

Chi Quita Mack [00:23:21]:
And they actually said something. I think it's so important. And I often see that the sooner we plant the seed, even when you think your kids, your students or kids, like at home kids aren't listening, they're listening. And so just think about, like you said, you keep you planting this lesson in your kindergartner start first graders and second graders and, and they're going to continue to pass this message on. Like, I remember when my kindergarten teacher taught me the importance of positive, you know, body image and to love myself. These positive affirmations. Like, I didn't learn about positive affirmations till I was an adult. Yeah, same, you know, and it's like they were always there.

Chi Quita Mack [00:24:01]:
It's just that's not really what my family did. Like, no one's teaching me about positive mindset and looking in a mirror and saying I love myself and I'm accepting who I am. And so I made it a point to instill that in my kids positive affirmations. They have them in their room. My daughter has five, and when she wakes up, like right across from her bed, they're there. And my son has them the same thing. His are more for basketball, but they're still positive affirmations. And they're right there when he wakes up because I just feel it's so important to plant those seeds in them.

Chi Quita Mack [00:24:34]:
And my daughter, my daughter will check me if I'm not. I'm having an off day.

Christina Testut [00:24:39]:
She's like, yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:24:43]:
And my son, too. This importance of knowing them and talking about your journey, he'll be like, mom, this is my journey, and I'm dinner. I'm like, okay, so y'all. Y'all are listening to me. Listening. So I think. I think it's important I get excited when I hear this because, like I said, you're such an inspiration and you are impacting so many people at a time, whether you think you are or not. Like, you're definitely leaving a lasting impression on them, whether you're in the room or not.

Chi Quita Mack [00:25:14]:
And just by planting the seed for students and having your book and, like, you're definitely changing the world one step at a time, which I believe that's our mission. Like, we're trying. We're trying.

Christina Testut [00:25:27]:
I hope so.

Chi Quita Mack [00:25:28]:
You are. There's no hope. You're doing it.

Christina Testut [00:25:30]:
Thanks.

Chi Quita Mack [00:25:31]:
You're doing it for sure. I want to talk about the importance of self love and self acceptance. What are some things that you did to begin to implement self love and acceptance in your life, and in what ways have you carried that over to your kids, even students lives?

Christina Testut [00:25:54]:
Yeah. Well, I mean, again, I think affirmations were a big one for me. I have certain mantra bracelets that I wear on my wrists that have certain affirmations that I need, that I know that I need daily. Again, therapy, again, helped me. Practicing shutting down the negative voice in my head and saying, I'm ugly, or, this doesn't look good on me. I can't go out looking like this. I go back at that thought and say, that's not your thought. That's a thought that you learned from the world that you.

Christina Testut [00:26:34]:
You inherited. You inherited that thought without your permission, but that's not your thought, and you don't have to listen to it. So it's like shutting that down and realizing that it's not my thought. In the past, I would believe it. Like, I. I thought it, so I believe it. It must be true, you know? But now I'm able to talk to myself, you know, that positive voice that I'm trying to have instilled in my children and my students. I'm doing the same thing for myself.

Christina Testut [00:27:08]:
I feel like I'm reparenting myself as I'm teaching my students and my children. So all the things that I do for them, it's because I do it, and I need it for myself. And just asking for help when I need it, I think is so important to self love because self is in there. It's all about yourself. But you do need help sometimes. You know, you do need the support. And so when I'm not feeling like I'm doing so well, I reach out to important people in my life, like the therapists, like my husband, to try to talk it out. Like, a lot of, like, a lot of talking it out.

Christina Testut [00:27:52]:
I love to write journal. I like to write down how I'm feeling. That helps as well. But I have to, like, work hard at negating all the things that I think to make it more positive.

Chi Quita Mack [00:28:05]:
Yeah, yeah. Fighting through the negative noise. That's a big one. And it can be exhausting, too, but we have to definitely be intentional. I talk a lot about being intentional about what you feed your brain.

Christina Testut [00:28:22]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:28:22]:
And being able to recognize when it doesn't fit and even being intentional about who you let into your sacred circle, I guess, and who you got to push out because some people you have in that you think should really maybe be supportive of you or on your journey, and then you come to find out, like, they're not, which can be hard to accept, but just understanding. Like, y'all gotta go. You can't. You can't be here because you're no longer beneficial to myself as I'm on my self acceptance, self, self love, self healing journey. And if you're not a benefit to me, I can't just keep you around because I'm afraid to hurt your feelings.

Christina Testut [00:29:03]:
Yeah. Boundaries.

Chi Quita Mack [00:29:05]:
Oh, yeah. Important. So important. And it's like, the hardest thing to.

Christina Testut [00:29:10]:
Establish as a people pleaser for myself. That's very hard. You know, I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. So I had to learn throughout this that my feelings are what's most important, you know? And trusting myself is more important. So, yeah, that was another thing that I had to relearn or learn in the first place because I never. I always did for others and walked on eggshells for others to make sure they felt good and accepted, but I wasn't doing it for myself, you know? And I think you're right. Like, I had to lose a lot of people who I thought were. I was, you know, friends with or cool with.

Chi Quita Mack [00:29:54]:
Yep. And just like, sorry, guys, it is what it is. I've lost a lot of people along the way, too, so it is. I'm not saying it doesn't hurt, but it's very much so necessary and something that we just have to do sometimes.

Christina Testut [00:30:10]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:30:12]:
What advice would you give to a young woman who is struggling with her body and may even be suffering from an eating disorder? What advice would you give her?

Christina Testut [00:30:28]:
The number one first thing I would say is that to seek help, to seek out a professional to speak to, because even if you don't, it's still great to, like, speak to somebody about how you're feeling, to deal with your emotions. That's my number one first thing that I would say because I can say to them my story, but they don't know if they're ready to listen, right. Like, sometimes people are just not ready to hear it. I know if somebody told me my story when I was in a thick of diet culture, I would be like, well, that's you. That's not me. Like, and I've had that. I've had that several times already. And I've had, you know, people say, I think, thank you for sharing your story.

Christina Testut [00:31:15]:
I think it's made me think that I should probably seek somebody to talk to. And, you know, that to me is the biggest compliment because I am so glad they're going to get help for whatever it is that they're struggling with. But so I don't force opinions on anybody because I think that you have to be ready and I don't know if you're ready yet to accept the fact. So I think the best thing is to seek out professional help and tell them how you're feeling, you know, of course, validating their feelings I would do. And making them know they're not alone as well because I suffered alone. I tried to do it alone. Didn't even tell my own family how much I was struggling. And it's not fun.

Christina Testut [00:32:03]:
It's not fun to feel like you're alone, you know? And so I would definitely validate that person's feeling, tell them that I'm here for them if they need anything and they're not alone, and offer them maybe my therapist's number to talk to. And if they don't want that therapist, have offer to help them find one for themselves.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:23]:
Yes. They're guys, like, through all of this, through everything that we've spoke about today, mental health is big, you guys. And I just think that therapy is just, it's just so important.

Christina Testut [00:32:38]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:38]:
You just never know what people are going through. And so just even having that person, whether you're ready to open up or not, just having a therapist there to just listen to you sometimes and already, I think is so important to have. And so I just really want to push the importance of learning who you are, loving who you are, and just not being afraid to ask for help and seek that professional. Like, I know I struggled with it in the beginning, just because, like I said before, stigma with talking to someone and like, oh, my God, you're in therapy. You must be crazy. Which we don't say exactly. Right? Yeah, but, you know, that's was. That's what.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:17]:
What I was afraid of. And then I realized, like, I probably should have been here a lot sooner.

Christina Testut [00:33:23]:
It's really eye opening. It really is eye opening. Makes you realize why you do the things you do and why you feel the way you feel. And I felt the same. Like, I used to whisper the word, like, you know, therapy, like it was a bad word or something, like, you know, and I thought you had to hit rock bottom as well to go to therapy. Like, but you don't, like, you can start for any reason, like you said, just for somebody listening to you and hash out feelings, you know?

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:52]:
Absolutely. Like, so y'all seek therapy. Don't be ashamed. Your story is beautiful. Your rediscovery journey is beautiful. It's only tell it to you. You are the author. So come on, you guys.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:03]:
I just want to encourage you to, you know, get the help should you need it. Just get the help. Can you tell the audience where they can find your book?

Christina Testut [00:34:15]:
Yeah. So my book is available online and where most books are sold, like Amazon, barnesandnoble.com. you can go to my website, www.embraceyourfeatures.com, and learn more about me and my book and different events that I do. And there's a link there that brings you straight to where you can buy the book as well. Yay.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:36]:
Also, where can the audience find you on social media?

Christina Testut [00:34:40]:
So I have, I'm on Instagram. I'm Christina runs the world. And on TikTok, I'm embrace your features.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:51]:
Yes. I want to thank you so much for being a part of my journey and being a guest on the beauty and you podcast. I'm just thankful that you trusted me to share your story, and I am forever grateful for that.

Christina Testut [00:35:08]:
Well, you're very welcome. I am thankful to you for allowing me to share my story and to share the message of my book. I appreciate you so much. Thank you.

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:17]:
Absolutely. All right, you guys, I'll make sure to link everything in the show notes so you can grab your copy and thus be a part of Christina's journey and a part of her world. I want to thank you for tuning in today. Until next time, thank you for joining.

Jacqueline G. [00:35:32]:
Us on this week's episode of the Beauty in you podcast. Don't forget to rate, review and subscribe. Visit us@thechiquitamack.com or join us on Instagram at thechiquitamack for your daily motivation and inspiration. Tell a friend to tell a friend until next time.