08/07/2024
Some days I use filters to boost my confidence. (And that’s okay!)
Especially being 6 months postpartum and learning to love this new body of mine. I’m at the heaviest I’ve been in my life and my body does not look familiar when I look in the mirror. Pregnancy blessed me with new stretch marks, cellulite, acne, an apron belly, and a wonderful baby boy. I’m slowly coming to terms with the newness of my vessel… But this struggle isn’t new.
Throughout my adult life, my weight has fluctuated often. I have had stretch marks, cellulite, and acne since I was a teenager. I have struggled with my mindset around these “imperfections” because I was consistently fed the message that bodies with “flaws” were only acceptable if they were postpartum bodies. Weird, right? Even weirder now being postpartum.
As I’ve gotten older I am gently coming to peace with this: My body has always been perfect and precisely what I needed.
Yes, I’ve dealt with some health issues due to my weight, but I am grateful that my body works (and has worked) the way it does. I am (and always have been) beautiful and strong.
I have healed my relationship with food, I no longer restrict or binge, I eat when I’m hungry and eat what I want and what makes me feel good. I wear what I’m comfortable in, I no longer alter myself to fit my clothes, I instead buy clothes that fit me.
Do I still occasionally nitpick? Of course, everyone does. But I no longer get stuck in that spiral of staring in the mirror pointing out that pimple, this stretch mark, that blemish. Instead, I catch myself and remind myself I am beautiful just the way I am.
And guess what? You’re beautiful too. You should try saying that to yourself in the mirror sometimes, and witness the magic that unfolds when you do.
All bodies are beautiful and you can’t say anything to convince me otherwise. And it’s okay to use filters occasionally to remind yourself of your beauty, have no shame in your game as long as you remember to look at your true & beautiful self in the mirror at the end of the day and say, “I am beautiful just the way I am.” 🧡