On this page, you’ll find a few blog posts I’ve written for a few different organizations.
Blogging is a hobby of mine that I hope to do more of post-college.
This piece was first published on 28 Row’s Blog, Study Break, in 2020 and then republished on the Kappa Delta blog on January 2, 2021.
I Promise You, You’re So Much More Than a Body
I am the heaviest yet most confident I’ve ever been in four years. I’ve struggled with multiple eating disorders for years and when I look back on how unhappy, self-conscious, depressed and anxious I used to be I am truly shocked that this amount of joy and happiness is now possible. This is SO uncomfortable for me to write about. I’m not looking for sympathy - far from it - I’m just looking to share some strong thoughts that I know will benefit others.
I’ve always considered myself to be a happy person. A positive person. An optimistic person. A strong person. But this battle for the past few years, that truly felt like an eternity, really dragged me down and made me forget who I was as a person in so many ways. As someone who deprived their body for months to the point where my organs were shutting down, as someone who lied about eating and my feelings and everything going on, as someone who relearned how to eat as binge eating rather than “normal” eating, as someone who didn’t go out so many nights in high school because I was
ashamed of how I looked and felt constantly, as someone who couldn’t get out of bed this summer because I was so depressed, as someone who never showed negative emotions to the outside world, I now wake up happier than I could’ve ever imagined. I seriously considered not leaving for college this summer because I was in such a bad place. I didn’t think I’d ever be happy to be me again. Huge accomplishments that I should have been so proud of like getting into college, graduating high school, getting into a marketing agency as a freshman at Tech, never felt good. They all felt dull.
I was never proud to be me no matter what I had accomplished because I only ever cared about being small. My mom (pictured with me on the “Dive In” page for this piece) constantly told me that I am so much more than a body, but it never meant anything to me. If anything, it angered me that she, and so many others, didn’t understand my feelings.
Going through rush I truly changed as a person. Rush has such a negative stigma around it, but for me it was life-changing. Girls stress over their looks and outfits for hours, but the process of rushing a sorority was one of the least artificial experiences I’ve ever experienced. It was the first time I didn’t care about looks and neither did anyone else. It was my personality alone that got me into the sorority I wanted. For the first time in so long I was proud to be me because I realized I am so much more than a body - and so is everyone else.
As different as I feel now though, I’m not 100% healed. I’m not going on spring break with some of my best friends because that means wearing a bathing suit which I am not ready to do, but it’s all big steps in the right direction. These days,I finally feel like I’m living because I most definitely wasn’t these last few years. It kills me to think I wasted so many good times on being fixated on food and how I felt so terrible inside my body. It hindered me from so many relationships and that hurts to think about too. Again, I never thought I’d be able to be so happy, but I am and it is possible. I’m not perfect, I still get self-conscious and I have good days and bad days BUT it’s what you do with those days that matter. You can’t let the bad days take over and throw you backward. You have to take control of your thoughts and busy yourself with something else. Yes, I still eat shitty sometimes (which for me means eating too much or too little) but honestly no matter what social media portrays, there’s no such thing as “perfect” eating. There’s so much more to life than looks and I really hope everyone is able to come to terms with this one day in their lives before it’s too late.
Words that have brightened some of the dark days…
I hope they can do the same for you <3
“While you are waiting for those certain things to happen, I hope you know there are still books to read. There are still people worth getting to know and there are still really good songs to sing. And these little things might not “fix” everything, but they will surely remind the soul: though the journey is long and winding, there is a life to be lived on the road.”
— Morgan Harper Nichols
“Someone out there feels better because you exist.”
“Imagine if we saw souls instead of bodies, how different our perceptions of beauty would be.”
Transformation
Transformation is not about creating a new life, it’s about seeing life in a new way.
“I hope you don’t see happiness as a fight that you have to tire for in order to win. I hope you also don’t see it as a gift that you have to wish and wait for other people to give. I hope you see it as an art. That you can create for yourself and share to other people.”
— Jerico Silvers
“One day you will tell your story of how you overcame what you went through and it will be someone else’s survival guide.”
This piece was published on Kappa Delta blog on January 2, 2021.
Business Casual : A How-To Guide for Lost College Students
So, business casual…
What is it? Why? How? Where? Business - what? WHAT????
Trust me; I had all of those same questions until one free day over Thanksgiving break lead me to spend 5 hours inside LOFT and Marshalls trying on so many outfits that I closed all of the fitness rings on my Apple Watch.
Here’s the deal, by this time in our lives (mid-college), we’ve had to dress for proms, the halls of high school, winter formals, waitressing jobs, movie nights, etc.
But, where most of us hit a roadblock is that first time we’re required to dress in business casual attire. I am fortunate enough to have multiple different styles filling up my closet for other events, but what the past 20 years of my life didn’t prepare me for was these two daunting words…
Business. Casual.
You’ll need it for job interviews, business-oriented club meetings, internships, and more. It basically feels like once we graduate college, our style goes from spunky, unique, and vast to strictly business casual.
This piece was published on the Kappa Delta blog on January 10, 2022.
Cate's 2022 Winter Basic Must-Haves
If I could live in my oversized denim shorts and cropped white Brandy Melville tank top year round, trust me, I would. But sadly, I’d freeze to death so I’m officially trading in my jean shorts for long pants and crop tops for puffers and sweaters.
First up, JACKETS!!!!!
You could wear the same jeans and basic tshirt every day of the winter and somehow still be the best dressed on the street. How?
Two words, A JACKET.
For me, my winter closet is filled with basic tees, long sleeves, and plain pants but I elevate these basics every day with unique coats and outerwear. It’s so easy to be stylish during the winter and I think that’s what makes winter fashion so fun.
