Erin McKelle

Erin McKelle

Bio

Erin McKelle is a feminist blogger, social media consultant, and body positive fashionista who is currently living nomadically (i.e. traveling the world). She is originally from Cleveland, Ohio and has a BA from Ohio University. When she's not writing, you can usually find her whipping up a vegan dish in the kitchen, creating an art project, or reading a book in bed.

Erin McKelle Articles

I want to centralize women’s MMA and combat sports, as well as uplift everyone involved. (photo courtesy of the author)

Why I Started A Website To Empower Women in MMA

I decided to stop searching for an MMA platform that was going against these norms, since one did not exist, and create it myself.

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Take care of yourself.

5 Ways You Can Fight The Holiday Blues

This year I’m going into the holiday season with a self-care game plan, so that I’ll be ready when the holiday blues come around. I think that probably more people get the holiday blues than you would think, since this isn’t an issue that’s often talked about openly.

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Average life events evoke extreme anxiety and deep, internal sadness that most will never understand.

10 Things People With Bipolar Disorder Want You To Know

I’m ready to demystify the stereotypes and break down the stigma of bipolar disorder.

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Love yourself (easier said than done, right?)

4 Ways You Can Be Body Positive Even If You Still Hate Your Body

I’ve been writing about body positivity on the Internet for a couple of years now, but I have to admit that if anything, loving my body has become harder than when I started. Since then, I came to understand that I had an unresolved eating disorder that I battled for six years, I’ve started working out and I’ve discovered a passion for cooking.

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"Sometimes it is necessary to have days of doing nothing but staying in bed and taking care of you."

Productivity And Depression: A Guide

Even though I've suffered from clinical depression ever since I was 15 years old, my depressive episodes have a lot more at stake as I’ve gotten older, especially since I’m dependent on my own productivity in order to survive.

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You're #1!

Why The "You Have To Love Yourself First" Rule Is True

You may have heard "you have to love yourself before you can expect someone else to love you,” and I’m here to say that this rule is really true! Self-love is essential for creating any healthy (emphasis on healthy), sustainable relationship with another person or people.

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This idea that I need to be perfect all of the time, at everything I do, is something contained deep within my psyche.

Why I'm Done Pretending I Have It All Together

I’ve said I was “good,” “fine,” or “doing well” after crying for hours, lying in bed all day with no motivation, and even experiencing suicidal ideation. My worst days are when the temptation to mask my pain with a smile is the strongest.

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Image: Wikipedia

Why The Real Housewives Is A Feminist Franchise

One reality TV franchise people often point to when talking about misogyny in the media is The Real Housewives. However, I believe that many aspects of The Real Housewives make it a feminist franchise.

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Just thinking about having sex with someone literally made me feel nauseated. Image: Thinkstock.

I Tried Celibacy To Find Sexual Healing — But It Backfired

[CN: sexual assault] No more sex — no touching, fondling… Nada. I was done. I had a new mission: to heal.

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How much sex you have has nothing to do with how sexually empowered you are.

My Most Sexually Empowering Choice? Not Having Sex

There’s nothing worse than taking a pregnancy test when you don’t want to be pregnant.

It’s especially bad when you don’t know who the father is.

Last year, this is the exact situation I found myself in: 23, single, not on contraception, and with a late period. I was nothing short of panicked.

After finding the least expensive test that CVS carried (by the way, can we talk about how expensive pregnancy tests are?!), I went home to find out my fate. After locking myself in the bathroom, I turned the shower on to drown out the noise of my thoughts. I waited five minutes and then peered at the stick, leaning as far away from the sink as possible in case it showed two lines.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw one clear line on the screen.

I quickly tossed the test in the trash, turned off the shower, and hopped in bed with a bottle of cabernet.

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