“Women should try to increase their size rather than decrease it, because I believe the bigger we are, the more space we’ll take up, and the more we’ll have to be reckoned with.”

-- Roseanne Barr

Before one of my concerts, a gentleman (and I mean that in the truest sense) requested the song I wrote named ‘Big Beauty.’ It was his 30th anniversary of marriage, and he wanted to dedicate it to his “beautiful wife and partner.” He said, “I want her to celebrate her beauty the way I do.” I realized in that moment that this song, for all its tongue and cheek humor, really was communicating something very important. It was communicating that we must learn to celebrate all shapes and all sizes!

There is no doubt that we Canadians are hardworking and stressed. In an attempt to keep up with unrealistic expectations, we have turned to quick fixes and fast food. In the end all that happens is that we grow far beyond healthy limits and then batter our precious selves about it, placing even more stress on our bodies. The result is a vicious cycle that feeds (so to speak) on itself.

The message in Big Beauty is not that we need to be diet crazed or exercise crazed or work crazed but simply that we begin by finding a sense of humor about it all. It is my experience that starting from this point offers permission to treat ourselves with respect and light-heartedness. From that place of love, everything is possible.

Every song presents itself to be written so that I may learn. Big Beauty has taught me to enjoy who I am in this life and to remember that compared to the Universe, I am tiny. Everything, as they say, is relative!

~ Kat Danser