Serena Novelli – Sex, Love & Relationship coach & founder of Love Thy Body Project
Hey gorgeous, I am thrilled to be here and truly honoured to have won a spot in the Women to Watch blog of Darling Magazine. You see, when I was growing up I never really had any faith in my own abilities, and I certainly lived with a belief that I wasn’t worthy of the good things in life. I had a poor self-image, struggled with extreme anxiety and severe body dysmorphia and my panic attacks were so bad that there would be days when I couldn’t even leave the house. My self-esteem was extremely low and never believed that anyone would truly love me.
There were times growing up where I felt like a ghost, no one was interested in what I had to say, I was talked over. My opinions didn’t seem to count, and I struggled to truly find my voice. I fell pregnant at eighteen with my first of my five children. Although a blessing, the stigma of teenage pregnancy surrounded us and I fell into postnatal depression, my panic attacks and anxiety went out of control. It wasn’t until I had my second child, a beautiful baby girl that I started to realise the devastating effect my own health issues were having on my children. You see I caught my toddler talking down on herself mimicking my own self-hatred actions. This was the wake-up call I needed, this was the turning point, my true awakening.
Drawing strength and knowledge from her own experiences
Over the past seventeen years I have worked on my own mental health, practicing and trialling tools to perfect my own self-care routine. I have dedicated my life to supporting others to feel confident and comfortable in their own skin. In 2019, not long after my husband was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, I decided to really step up my game and launched the Love Thy Body Project, alongside Laura Bland and Ana Bonasera. A safe community space where women can come and gain the tools and receive the support they need in order to begin their own self love journey.
We had some big plans when we launched in the autumn of 2019, nut as we stepped into our power the world had other ideas and lockdown hit us. In the past, I would have seen this as a sign to give up. But I wasn’t going to allow a pandemic to stand in the way of us reaching those who truly needed our support. I had been there and I knew that if I had had a loving community behind me all those years ago, it wouldn’t have taken me as long as it did to realise my full potential.
We decided therefore to reach our audience in a different way. As our community grew, we started to see huge shifts and transformations in the women within us. That’s when a book series Love Thy Body – Real life stories Volume one hit the Amazon charts. It was November 2020 and the book went in at the number one spot in multiple categories, Volume two followed in February this year with volume three out in November. All three books are Number One best sellers. They are about sixty women sharing their real-life stories. I am truly grateful for my eyes to have been opened, for the innocence of my beautiful baby girl to have awakened me. And I am truly honoured to be leading the way for women across the globe to step into their truest power.
Supporting Hopefull Handbags charity
Love Thy Body Project are working closely with a domestic violence charity called Hopefull Handbags. 2022 will see us stepping up our game, as we venture out to help even more women to feel confident and comfortable in their own skin.
You can find out more about Love Thy Body Project and join our Facebook community here
Love thy body project 💋 | Facebook
Or check out our books here https://bit.ly/LTBPVol3PBUK
