Relationships3 min(s) read
Woman who had sex with husband every day for a year reveals what happened for 'the first time in a long time'
A woman who had sex with her husband every day for a year revealed what happened for "the first time in a long time".
Brittany Gibbons, a writer for Women’s Health, made headlines after opening up about the unusual challenge she set for herself: sleeping with her partner every single day for 365 days.
The blogger said the idea came after she began struggling with body image following the birth of her third child.
"Shortly after having my third child, I remember getting out of the shower, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and wondering, ‘Who let my mom in here?’ From that point on, I didn’t let myself be naked," she wrote.
"I kept the lights off during sex, hid my stomach and boobs inside a camisole, and I waited for my husband to leave the bedroom before barreling from the shower to my closet to get dressed," she added.
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Having three children meant they had to get creative
The mom opened up about the experiment during an interview with HLN and was asked how she and her husband managed to maintain it while raising three kids.
"I'm not going to say it was easy, but it definitely made us get a little creative. It definitely lasted longer than 15 minutes," she quipped.
Gibbons explained that the physical side of the challenge "wasn’t hard," but the emotions surrounding the intimacy were always something she "dreaded".
"The act wasn’t the problem; it was that I was always very anxious, uncomfortable, and insecure and had a lot of fear associated with it. The idea of having sex was something that…was a really heavy feeling for me," she said, adding that she soon "lightened up" and "became fun".
She began paying attention 'for the first time in a long time'
She said that "once I got out of my head," she "paid attention for the first time in a long time."
The year-long challenge gradually became "less work" and "more fun" as she learned what she liked and no longer felt uncomfortable in her own skin.
"It was a really fun learning experience that just happened to take 365 days," she added.
Three years later, the effects were still there
Gibbons shared an update three years after the experiment, revealing that while she no longer has sex with Andy every day, many of the benefits had continued.
"First, we learned that it's hard and that's normal. The majority of people around you are not having sex every single day. They're busy being stressed at work, coordinating their kids' football schedules and paying bills," she said.
"Fitting sex into all of that is difficult, but for us, it's necessary. Sex is what reminds us that we're intimate partners and not just roommates in charge of keeping kids alive."
It also helped them to learn how much sex they need to keep them both happy in their marriage.
"I no longer freak out if two weeks pass and we forget to have sex, because we work to connect in other ways," she continued. "Intimacy doesn't always mean penetration. Sometimes it's making out on the couch like teenagers. We all get to decide what turns us on. The point is, the effort to show love to each other is there."
The main takeaway was that she finally felt connected to her own skin again.
"It was never about anyone wanting me, it was about me wanting myself. And it only took an entire year of getting laid to figure that out," she concluded.