Darnah Mercieca: 0:02

Today is a really special day for me, and not just because it's 11-11. We all know I love a little bit of woo-woo, but it became extra special because three years ago today, I removed my breast implants. Or should I say Dr Dev removed my breast implants because I certainly needed help with that, and so it is my three-year explant surgery anniversary, and there are a few words for that, there's like explantiversary, there's a whole bunch of things, but I'm just going to say it's my three-year explant surgery anniversary and, looking back on these three years, wow, I realized how much that decision to remove my breast implants has transformed not only my health but my confidence, my faith and my understanding of what true acceptance looks like. Truly, explanting can be completely transformative. I've witnessed it in myself, in my mom who explanted a year after me, and in other women I've worked with and supported, and that's why I am so passionate about this topic, in case you can't tell and it's it's not just about removing breast implants, even though that's a huge and very significant part of it, but there is this opportunity for so much more here. If you haven't explanted yet, I want this for you. I want this to be transformative and to change your life in ways that you can't even imagine. Yet. If you have explanted and you haven't really experienced healing or transformation and you're struggling with it, you should absolutely stay here with me for this conversation, because you can still experience a shift, you can still experience a transformation. You can still experience a transformation and if you've explanted and you're feeling great, yay, that's wonderful. Keep going, keep showing up for yourself, and I hope you really resonate with what I'm sharing today and I think you still might take something from this.

Darnah Mercieca: 2:44

Every time I go live, I do a little prayer beforehand and I just ask God to put this in the hands, this message, in the hands of whoever needs to hear it. And it might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, or it might not even be next week. It could be like in six months from now, it could be in a year from now, that somebody watches this and is impacted by it. I'm just about to dive into the first lesson that I learned on my three-year explant journey. All right, lesson number one. All right. Lesson number one your health is worth prioritizing.

Darnah Mercieca: 3:26

Oh, my goodness, when I was sick and I suspected that I was suffering from breast implant illness, I had this realization like duh. Of course, I mean, I was a health coach, eating pretty clean and exercising. But there were a ton of ways I wasn't choosing my health. For starters, I had silicone in my chest, you know. I mean, let's get real on a surface level, at a common sensical level, obviously that's not going to be the healthiest choice for your body, regardless of what all the surgeons say or what society says. Implants are safe, blah, blah, blah. Let's be really real about that. So I was getting Botox. I was drinking a lot of alcohol. You know, I was getting Botox. I was drinking a lot of alcohol. I was using conventional cosmetics, not paying attention to the ingredients on my skincare products. I had acrylic nails. Gosh, they were lovely and I still miss them.

Darnah Mercieca: 4:34

I was definitely choosing beauty over health and I had learned to identify with having large breasts. That was a part of my identity, that was a part of how I showed up in the world, that was a part of what I considered beauty. So this whole choice to remove my breast implants was a huge shift for me because it was making me redefine everything about beauty in my life and it had me make some really challenging choices and the fact is, sometimes prioritizing health means letting go of things that might feel good in the moment, whether that's a favorite beauty habit, certain foods or lifestyle choices. It's about loving yourself enough, prioritizing your health enough, respecting your body enough and being connected to your why? Being connected to that future, you enough to choose what truly supports your long-term well-being. And sometimes that really sucks because it's like well, you know, in some cases I like my implants. I kind of got into the point where I was pretty over them, but in some cases some women here are like I still really love my implants and I don't want to get rid of them.

Darnah Mercieca: 6:09

I like what I have aesthetically. For me, you know, like I said, I miss my acrylic nails. I used to love having like beautiful nails and um and like Botox, you know, to just give that like smooth, kind of perfect, perfect face look. Oh, there are things I miss, but the more I kind of dove into making those changes, I realized there's so much available to us that might take a little bit more effort. And I think that that is one of the keys here is like the there's amazing makeup available, like non-toxic makeup that now I just love. I wear RMS beauty now, and I love their makeup so much. There's just there's so many great products out there, but it does take research, it does take effort, it does take energy, it does mean reading labels and doing your research and it does make. It does mean letting go of some things that you don't want to let go of for the sake of your longevity and your health and being the you that you want to be when you're insert age. If you're in a place where you're struggling with similar choices, just know that protecting your health is a powerful form of self-love and it's actually going to help you build trust with yourself. So it has a really powerful effect and the courage it takes to put yourself first is always worth it, always All right.

Darnah Mercieca: 8:08

My second lesson is that true confidence is internal, not external. My implants gave me what I like to call band-aid confidence. It's become a fun term that I like to play with here, um, but removing them taught me that true confidence has nothing to do with how you look literally nothing. It's. It's rooted in who you are, so like. It's kind of about separating body image and confidence and self-worth. There's like a separation that occurs here. I'll explain, but I used to care so much about what other people thought that I changed myself for it. I shifted how I showed up for it. I shifted how I spoke for it right, and in the process I started dimming the qualities that made me special and unique. And the cool part about this journey, this explant journey, has been that over the past few years I have been getting more and more comfortable with being me, and I think that started with the removal of the implants and the learning to accept my new look. But it became so much more than aesthetic, came so much more than aesthetic, and I think the more we focus on the internal, the easier the shift becomes. For the aesthetic.

Darnah Mercieca: 10:06

I've been using my voice more. I've done some speaking engagements and stood on stage holding a microphone again, which is something that I hadn't done since I was a teenager because I was too scared. The breast implants did not help me overcome that fear. The breast implants did not help me use my voice again. Help me use my voice again. I started the Empowered Excellence podcast Once again. I guess that's using my voice and showing up in that way, but I thought that getting breast implants was going to give me the confidence to do all these things right Show up in all of these ways that I was afraid to, but they didn't. They actually kind of had the opposite effect and, funnily enough, I ended up seeking the wrong kind of validation, the wrong kind of attention, and so, instead of feeling confident in who I was, I ended up feeling confident in this new shell of an identity that I became, shell of an identity that I became, and it was actually upon removing them. Getting my health and mental clarity back is what's given me the confidence to go out and actually use my voice again. Knowing my worth and value has given me the confidence to put myself out there in both work and relationships.

Darnah Mercieca: 11:47

So if you're considering explant surgery or maybe you've had explant surgery already remember that confidence doesn't come from appearance. You're already enough and worthy exactly as you are, and that's the truth. Whether you've got implants, you don't have implants. You are like it doesn't matter where you are on the journey. You've had implants. Now you've got scars, like whatever it is. You are already enough and you are worthy. It is. You are already enough and you are worthy. Band-aid confidence can feel nice temporarily, but lasting confidence is found within, and it's okay if you're still working on this. It takes time.

Darnah Mercieca: 12:36

One trick for building this internal sense of value and worth. This is a fun trick, right? I like this. Imagine no one can see you. Maybe you're behind a computer. The people are on the other side of the computer. They can't see you. There's not even video. Or maybe you're in a dark room and there's other people in the room but no one knows what you look like at all. They can't see you, they can't touch you, they have no idea what you look like. You're stripped completely of your physical identity. Who are you? What impact do you have on people's lives? What impact do you have on people's lives? What are your talents and your skills? Recognizing the beauty and strength in who you are, without the masks or modifications, is so freeing.

Darnah Mercieca: 13:42

So I hope that you actually sit down and take a moment to run that exercise. Set aside five minutes, if that's all you've got. Take five minutes. Maybe you go into a dark room, turn out all the lights, forget about what you look like for a moment. Imagine no one can see you and then get to know who you really are. And if you do that and you still feel empty and you still feel worthless and you still feel like not enough.

Darnah Mercieca: 14:24

Then, my love, a couple of things are true. One, you got to do some work. You got to show up for yourself, your mental health, your emotional health, and you got some work to do and I mean that with love, but you do, and that is so important. And number two I would start to look at who you have around you. What kind of messages are you hearing from the people around you? What do they say about you? Are you hearing from the people around you? What do they say about you? What are you saying about yourself? Yeah, that's important as well, right, and that comes back to the self-work. I'm kind of just ad-libbing here, freestyling on this, because it's on my heart, right, but there's work to do. And the other thing is, in doing that work, start to think about like what, how do you want to to? Who do you want to be in the world? How do you want to show up in the world? What does that? Who are you? Who do you want to be? So, if you're really truly unhappy with who you are on the inside right now, it's time to connect with who you want to be and figure out that piece and then start taking the steps of self-development, professional development, whatever that looks like. Take start taking steps to actually strengthen yourself in those areas, because that will build intrinsic confidence. All right, that was a little freestyle.

Darnah Mercieca: 16:14

My third lesson on this journey over the last three years is that you are lovable exactly as you are. Oh my goodness, 23 year old me thought that breast implants would solve my man problems. It's kind of funny that I got my implants because my partner at the time, being unfaithful, made me feel like I wasn't good enough. And then there was a whole comparison journey that came along with it and I'm like, oh my God, breast implants, yes, duh, of course that's what's missing. Of course that's what I need. And then, nearly a decade later, as I was getting them removed, I found out my then partner was also being unfaithful. I laugh about it now because I'm like, oh my gosh, of course I don't believe in coincidence, right? I think it was God giving me an opportunity to heal the wounds that I needed to heal 10 years earlier, but I chose to get implants instead. So I was presented with the exact same lesson to learn. Wow, of course that's how it worked.

Darnah Mercieca: 17:56

So 16 months after my explant surgery, months after my explant surgery, I met the man I'm with now and being in a loving relationship without my implants showed me something powerful I don't have to be perfect to be loved. My boobs didn't have to be a certain size to attract the person who actually loves me for me. My breasts have imperfections. Yes, this bra makes them look good. Thank you, meg. Thank you, love, lexi. This bra makes them look real good, but they have imperfections and that's okay, because real love sees you just as you are. My partner actually loves that I've been on this journey. He appreciates the depth of my story and experience and perspective. He loves that I show up in service of this community and that I have a deep passion for purpose work. If we go back to that dark room I spoke about a couple of lessons earlier and him and I can't see each other, but we have a conversation We'll still be in love with each other's hearts and minds, and that is the coolest thing.

Darnah Mercieca: 19:29

Sometimes we feel like we need to change ourselves to be loved or accepted, but trust that you are lovable as you are. True love and acceptance starts with you being authentically yourself, and if this is a challenge for you, then go back and focus on the emotional healing and confidence building within yourself, because I'm telling you, girl, the sexiest, most attractive quality in a person is knowing and loving who you are inside and letting that shine, being somebody who wants to show up in the world in a special way, who wants to make an impact, who is good and who is kind and who is purposeful, who is floating through the world exuding joy. God, that's sexy. Health is sexy. Health is sexy. So I think it's just a rewiring, a reframing of thought and really believing, knowing that you are lovable as you are.

Darnah Mercieca: 20:58

It was such a big lesson for me was such a big lesson for me. I never felt lovable as I was Not growing up, not as a teenager, not as a young adult, not with breast implants. My fourth lesson is that faith is the key ingredient, is the key ingredient. Yeah, faith is the key ingredient. My faith has evolved so much since my explant surgery, but even then, oh my gosh, I was so.

Darnah Mercieca: 21:38

I was so, so afraid, I was so lost. I'd gotten into such a place of like despair in my life. I was in. I was in a really dark, scary place in my life and it it was the illness, it was the symptoms, it was the the being about to change so much about myself, and it was my broken relationship that I was in at the time, goodness and I was practicing prayer and surrender on a daily basis. I was asking for help and guidance. I was trusting the path laid out in front of me, even when it didn't look like what I had planned. Surrendering to God's guidance helped me through the hard times and it still does. In fact, I got baptized last week. 36-year-old me got baptized last week. 36 year old me got baptized last week. Oh my gosh.

Darnah Mercieca: 22:50

And I truly believe that this entire journey has been a part of bringing me here and elevating my faith and getting me ready for what my purpose is about to be on this earth and in this life, and I'm so excited for that. And so, if you're on a healing journey, lean on whatever faith or spirituality resonates with you. It might not be the same as mine, and that's okay. Trusting in something bigger than yourself, trusting in just a bigger plan, can provide the strength and the peace that you need, and faith doesn't make challenges go away, but it helps you find meaning and purpose within them and the strength to be resilient. So, yeah, that was a really special lesson on this journey.

Darnah Mercieca: 23:49

And, yay, for three years, implant free. I feel amazing, y'all. I feel amazing. I've been sitting here talking nonstop for an hour and a half Old me. Breast implant me couldn't do that. She could barely spit out a sentence oh, my goodness. So, ah, this is just proof. This alone is proof of what an impact it's had on my life. So, thank you for celebrating with me and I'm going to wrap up now.

Darnah Mercieca: 24:25

I'm just really hyped and I'm really excited, and I'm just so excited that Empowered Explant is making a difference and I know it is because I'm seeing the difference that it's making and I'm hearing about the difference that it's making. And it's three years old now and it's about to make even more impact. Now that I'm full-time in my own endeavors, I'm able to really pour into empowered explant, and that you're here with us for your own sake and also for the sake of others, because you're a breastie, you're an advocate in this space and your story just you being here can help so many others. So lots of love you all. Oh my gosh, yay, happy Monday, happy 1111. I love you. My heart is pouring out. I don't even want to get off of here right now, because I'm just so excited and I'm so happy to to be here and to have you all in my life Um, you light me up All right, that's all Bye. And to have you all in my life, you light me up, all right, that's all Bye.