I honestly think that my friends and family want me to win the crown more than I want it. Let’s face it, Mrs. Colorado is a JOB! It is not a year of flitting around being pretty and admired all day long. There are expectations of a queen and it takes an extremely committed woman to win and hold the title. My goal this time was to do well in the interview and improve my stage game. While I won’t find out how my interview was received for a couple of weeks, I will tell you that when I opened my mouth to introduce myself, my voice betrayed me with this shriek-slash-crack noise that I have never heard come out of my mouth before. I said, “That is not my actual voice! Let’s start over . . “ Then I sat down and we all went along as if nothing had happened.
I would be shocked if I had been chosen as one of the top 12 for my interview, but I won’t be too hard on myself if I wasn’t. Sometimes learning how to recover is just as important as learning how to present. My main goal at the interview was to let the judges know that there are two ways to combat Hashimoto’s disease; one is to accept your medication and see your doctor every six months while still suffering from hypothyroid symptoms. The other is to take a more holistic approach and dig deeper into the causes of Hashimoto’s as well as consider the vitamin and nutrition deficiencies that lead to the debilitating symptoms. Since I have been able to thrive 90% of the time for the past 3 years with minimal symptoms, I wanted other sufferers to know that they can also live a relatively normal life compared to their non-Hashi counterparts.
Since August of 2020, I have lost 20 pounds thanks to my friend Maggie for introducing me to Kickboxing and the mitigation of many Hashimoto's symptoms! My muscle tone has skyrocketed since starting this journey at 9Round Colorado Springs and my fatigue, brain fog, and sluggishness has diminished considerably. This brings me to the swimsuit portion of the competition, arguably the most controversial aspect of pageanting. So let’s stop for a moment and get on the same page with swimsuit competition.
Swimsuit competition is about nothing more than how a woman carries herself. One can hide a lot of insecurity behind a long gown or other fashion, but wearing a swimsuit forces the participant to take only her confidence across the stage. Our director, Emily made sure that our swimsuits were flattering and had good coverage. Regardless of what my standing was with the other contestants in this portion of the competition, I can assure you that I significantly improved my overall performance in this area of competition compared to my previous attempts. I walked with more confidence, my suit fit much better than in years past, and my overall physical health was far and away better than my previous attempts. If I had it to do over again, I would have practiced more with my sarong in order to remove it more smoothly. I ended up looking down at it and fumbling a bit to remove it once I got on stage.
But once all was said and done, I was still myself, and let's face it, untying a sarong with flair is not the easiest thing to accomplish. I will have to post swimsuit pics later after I get them back from the photographer, Megan Anderson of Graphique Fine Art Photography. But you may enjoy this group shot of all of us in swimsuit :)
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