“As you get older you slowly but steadily start to unlearn all the ways you have been socialised to hate your body. To look at it in a negative way and to compare. To banish the negative way in which we have perceived our bodies. What do you say to yourself when you look in the mirror? Do you give yourself complements or do you go straight to criticizing what you feel are your flaws? I for one have always been my own worst critic. We spend our lives trying to build other people up, to make them feel good about themselves when they are struggling and we are taught to be kind to others. Even the smallest of compliments can make someone else’s day. It’s rare though that we strip back our own layers and see ourselves for the people we are. That not only is it important to focus on inner beauty but to focus on loving what we look like. We all have ‘flaws’ that we look straight at when we look in the mirror and often they are things others would not even notice. The white stretch marks all over my bum and legs just mean that I have grown. Right now I’m so in awe of my body. That it is growing another life. It makes me feel ashamed for all the criticism I have given myself over the years. Don’t ever compare yourself to others. I look in the mirror and I see a strong and beautiful mother nurturing and growing her child. Truth is that we are one of a kind for a reason and there is no shame in loving the fact we are individual and come with our own uniqueness. When we are old and grey I don’t think we will look back and worry about what we looked like, we will look back and realise that our bodies were just a vessel and that the real importance is if we stopped worrying about little things and lived life. I realise now that this body ain’t so bad. In fact it’s pretty damn amazing. I’m proud of what it is doing right now. I’ll look back and cherish photos like this, ones that I never would have dreamt I would take. After I have given birth I know that it will look at lot different but it will still be the same amazing body. Be conscious of what you tell yourself. Sometimes you just have to embrace every single inch of yourself ❤️”
Instagram: @julescoffey_
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