Q&A with Sarah Sapora

 

 

 

Sarah Sapora is the author of the new book Soul Archaelology: A (Totally Doable) Approach to Creating a Self-Loving and Liberated Life. Also an inspirational speaker and retreat organizer, she lives in Las Vegas.

 

Q: What inspired you to write Soul Archaeology?

 

A: I wrote Soul Archaeology to be the voice I so desperately needed to hear in my darkest moments.

 

As a plus size woman I was searching frantically for relatable inspiration that did not push a weight-agenda on me as a method of “solving” my problems, but also did not ignore the impact that living in a larger body had on one's overall happiness.

 

I needed relatable inspiration that actually acknowledged pain--that made me feel seen in all my sticky imperfections. I needed to see someone who looked like me doing the hard work to actually create change from the inside out. And so I set out to become this person for others!

 

Q: How would you define self-love, and what do you see as its most important components?

 

A: I have a very specific definition of self-love that goes “beyond the bubble bath” into something much deeper. To me, self-love is anything you think or action you do that connects you to your Ultimate You. Your Ultimate You is a version of you that is not defined by weight, age, or income but by your ability to be self-aware and committed to your growth and self-love.

 

Self-love is…

Oftentimes the hardest stuff we can do. It’s not always easy or fun and can feel really challenging in the immediate sense, but deeply valuable to us in  the long run.

 

Different for everyone. We all have different needs, values, desires, and challenges. What is self-loving for one person may not be for someone else. 

 

Going  to evolve as we grow. Life guarantees change so what is self-loving for us now may not be in our next chapter. 

 

Q: On your website, you write, “Self-improvement is a process that all people – at every weight- should be empowered to participate in, in whatever way feels relevant to someone’s unique needs.” Can you say more about that?

 

A: First, we need to understand that all people - ALL PEOPLE - should feel empowered to create change in their life. We all have different values, needs, challenges, and lifestyles--so what one person deals with will be different than what another does. What one desires will be different from another. We should never assume  that all people have the same “goals” or want the same experiences in their life! 

 

Body liberation is an essential part of overall life-liberation. How we feel about and in our body impacts how we feel in and about our life.

 

For example, for a person in recovery from a restrictive eating disorder, liberation will include a relationship to food that allows them to eat freely without shame or fear of weight gain. For someone who has eaten impulsively, liberation may include learning how to eat with more restraint.

 

Weight loss is a net-positive for some, and a net-positive for others. We should never assume all those who are heavier desire to weigh less. We should never assume a correlation between weight and happiness.

 

Mobility, able-bodiedness are not a guarantee for anyone at any time - a person may be seemingly healthy one day, and experience something in life shortly after that changes this. At ANY state of being, each person should be empowered to look at themselves and say, “What can I do to create change to feel the way I want to feel in my life?”

 

The self-help industry does a terrible show at representation and showing diverse bodies participating in self-improvement. This lack of representation can lead those who are invisible and unrepresented to feel as if the processes of self-development are not available or accessible to them--they are.

 

Weight does not define self-love. What defines self-love is our personal value system. 

 

Q: What do you hope people take away from your book?

 

A: There are a few things I hope people will take away from Soul Archaeology. 

 

The first is that you can (and will) be both messy and imperfect and empowered at the same time. You can do hard things and be feeling hard stuff all the while knowing that you are OK and being self-loving.

 

The second is that you can be both radically self-compassionate for who you are and who you have been all the while being radically self-accountable in order to create change--you can accept yourself and not take the bulls*t at the same time.

 

The third is that self-help doesn’t need to be rooted in inaccessible bulls*t - it can meet people where they are at. 

 

On the whole, I hope this book will help people to feel seen. To give them practical tools to create change. To teach them self-forgiveness and how to look at shame for hard things in their life. Mostly, though, I hope it will help people to see who they REALLY are and to be unique, live authentically, and shine as themselves. 

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: The next book I hope to work on is about mothers, daughters, and self-esteem. So that is always on the drawing table! I’m also planning some live events for 2024! My favorite thing to do is create safe spaces for women, specifically plus size women, to come together to facilitate self-awareness. Body-inclusive spaces are SO needed!

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

 

A: Yes. I don’t care who you are, what you weigh, whatever mistakes you feel you made in the past. You deserve hope that you can create change if something is unaligned in your life. You are more powerful than you can even imagine! Never forget this.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb