Happy Thursday as well. Hello everyone. Today I'd like to introduce you all to Naira Goodhart, a digital activist and an online community host for women who are spoonies survivors and feminists. She is is herself an intersectional feminist and a trauma survivor who lives with Cptsg, Fibromyalgia, IBS and orthorexia
Nyra Goodhart
@suchallthings · 0:37
It sort of puts me at ease is that there is a nice person on the other side. So to start with, thanks for that. Thanks a lot. And thank you for having me here once again. Bye
That's so sweet of you. Thank you so much. Means a lot. And thank you so much for coming on swell and having this conversation with me. I'm really excited. So my first question for you is you identify yourself as an intersectional feminist. What does feminism mean to you
Nyra Goodhart
@suchallthings · 0:43
Feminism, according to me, is just the belief that people who are not CIS males are people too. It's as simple as that. It is. It includes. Also includes, of course, offering the same humanness in terms of race, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic background, immigrant status, etc. Etc. But the idea is that nobody, and that means nobody deserves to be marginalized, period. That's what feminism is all about in today's context. Intersectional feminism
I totally agree to you when you say that feminism means offering same humanness. Because for me, feminism is not about being above men, but it is about providing women in equal opportunity and equality of treatment. That is what feminism means. So my second question for you is, can you tell us about a feminist icon who continues to inspire you? And what about them motivates you
Nyra Goodhart
@suchallthings · 1:27
The other person that I find immensely inspiring is Blair Imani. Her work is very well researched, very well represented, and she speaks for various marginalized groups and gives us a very logical, educational understanding of how anyone can approach feminism if they truly want to. And the third person that you're inspires me a lot is me. Because if I don't draw inspiration from me, I can't draw inspiration from anyone
It makes me really happy to listen that the third person that inspires you the most is you yourself. Because I feel like each one of us should be proud of our own selves, we should be proud of our journey, and and we should always keep inspiring ourselves to be better versions of ourselves. So my next question for you is, what message do you have for women who suffer from severe body image issues
Nyra Goodhart
@suchallthings · 2:40
There are some amazing women there owning their bodies and helping other women get comfortable in their skin and their sexuality and their bodies. And I think the friendships I have built with these women have played a huge role in me learning to look at myself and see beautiful in my skin. And that's all I can say to anybody who's struggling with body images. Please don't take it lightly. Start working on your shame. Start questioning shame. Start deconstructing shame
You said it correctly that we should start questioning shame, we should free ourselves, we should be happy in our own skin. And it is really important to change our mindset and change our hearts and we need to accept ourselves. You said it so beautifully. So my next question for you is if you had a few tips on dealing with trauma which can be applied to anyone, what would they be
Nyra Goodhart
@suchallthings · 4:38
Some manage better than others because of various reasons. But either way, what has really helped me is love and healing for myself, prioritizing my safety, my boundaries, my survival every single day. And I know this sounds very cliche. I know this is talked about a lot, but at the cost of sounding cheesy and all things cost of sounding repetitive and very cliched, I will still say that prioritizing myself is what really takes me through the trauma that I live with on a daily basis
Everyone has their own ways of coping up with trauma. But like you said, love. I also feel that love plays an important part in our lives, to overcome trauma in order to heal, accept and live a healthy life and a happy life. And the people around us, obviously, the environment we surround ourselves with plays a very crucial role. And thank you so much for sharing your experience. So my last question for you is you live with Cptst and Fibromyalgia
Nyra Goodhart
@suchallthings · 4:30
Chronic illness of any kind changes a person entirely and permanently. And I think this is a common experience that most people who live with chronic illness will will share the fact that it makes us completely different people from who we used to be. And I don't want to undermine how much we miss the earlier versions of ourselves, how much nostalgia haunts us at all times
I am so grateful for you for coming on Swell and having this conversation with me. It makes me really happy that I had this opportunity because I get to know all these experiences and your journey, which is so inspiring. A very big thanks to you from the whole team of Swell. And I hope you continue to inspire young people, women and everyone around you because it is very important to give people knowledge is to spread awareness. So thank you so much. It was lovely having you on swell
Nyra Goodhart
@suchallthings · 0:23
Thanks, Kashish. It was really wonderful talking to you, and you were absolutely amazing as a host, and you were so warm, and you were hand holding me on the back end throughout the process. It was really great being here on Swell. And thank you so much for the opportunity. Good night. Bye
Ananya Shrivastava
@Ananya. · 2:05