My name is Timothée, I was born in Geneva, Switzerland.
Since I was a kid, I’ve had a complicated relationship with my body. I was a little chubby growing up, and I often had to deal with comments and jokes from other people. Even when they seemed small or harmless, they stayed with me. For a long time, I looked at my body through other people’s eyes and felt like I never really matched the image I was supposed to have.
When I moved to Berlin in 2017, something slowly started to shift. The city gave me a sense of freedom I hadn’t experienced before. I met people with different ways of living, expressing themselves, and relating to their bodies. Being surrounded by that openness helped me question some of the ideas I had carried for years. I slowly started accepting myself more, even if I didn’t fully realize it at the time.
The real turning point came in 2019, during Whole Festival. I remember looking around and seeing people existing so naturally in their own bodies, dancing, dressing how they wanted, taking up space without apologizing for it.
Something clicked for me that day. For the first time, I wasn’t thinking about hiding parts of myself or wondering how I looked to others. I felt present, free, and comfortable in my own skin. That moment stayed with me.
But acceptance wasn’t a single event. It became a journey.
In 2023, after a period of major changes in my life : a new job and the end of a relationship, I decided to move more and reconnect with my body in a different way. Not to change it, but to experience it.
I started swimming, and very quickly it took an important place in my life. Swimming became more than exercise: it became a space where I could feel strong, calm, and connected to myself. Being in the water taught me to appreciate my body for what it could do rather than how it looked.
Later, I joined Berlin’s queer rugby team. At first, it felt intimidating. Team sports and rugby were far from the image I had of myself growing up. But being part of that team showed me another way of relating to people and to my body: through trust, support, effort, and community. It also became the place where I met Ioannis.
We’ve been together for more than a year now. Our relationship is easygoing and built on listening to each other and giving each other space to grow. Being with someone who sees me without judgment and who values how I feel rather than how I appear has reinforced something I had already started learning: acceptance doesn’t happen alone. Sometimes it grows through places, experiences, and people who allow you to be fully yourself.
Looking back, I realize this story was never only about my body. It was about learning to stop seeing myself as something to fix, and starting to see myself as someone to live with. Fully and openly.