#LetsTalk Is a series featured as part of the #MyYear Documentary as a means to hear individuals stories about their own experience with mental and physical health problems.

In  this episode we talk to Second Place Vancity showdown Vancouver Body Building Champion Tia Richard  about her experience with training for her first bikini competition. Tia sees a lot of people out there 'living their best lives' adventuring and making memories and sometimes she feels like shes missing out. But the grass is always greener on the other side. Shes blessed she gets to live out her fitness dream and spend every spare moment going to the gym or prepping for the gym. This comes with sacrifice but it doesn't mean shes not making memories, her journey through bodybuilding has been an adventure in itself. Shes thankful everyday.

For most of her life (like 99.99% of it) Tia has  never felt good enough. Tia shy's away from calling herself an athlete or a bodybuilder (no matter how many hours she spend at the gym) because she just don’t think she is good enough for that title. Growing up Tia was constantly put down for being overweight or not being "attractive", not only by peers, but at home, by family. Tia was reminded of this during prep and of course her overactive prep mind went off. Tia was worried that because of the issues she  had with her appearance that this wasn’t the right sport for her, that she wouldn't love her body after eating a healthy number of calories. - she was wrong.

Stepping on stage has proven to Tia  that she is good enough. Not for anyone else, but for herself. Being 15lbs up from stage weight was a hard pill to swallow at first (given there was a lot of things she could’ve done differently). But life is about falling, learning, and recovering. On stage, Tia wasn’t good enough for herself because she was lean, it was good enough to herself because she proved to herself that she can do what she  once thought was impossible for her to achieve. "Fuck everyone else. No matter what you look like, YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH!"

Follow Tia On Instagram: www.instagram.com/tiarae.fit  
Wear The Gear - Devoteewear: www.devoteewear.com  
Use the Supplements  https://ca.tc-nutrition.com/pages/early-reviewer-program