Mom Shares ‘Photo She Hated’ To Remind Us Our Memories Don’t Require Perfection

Her post is a reminder to love ourselves, no matter what

We’ve all had moments when we wish our bodies looked different – maybe a flatter stomach, more muscular legs, or less stretch marks. Our body image can prevent us from being truly happy with ourselves, despite all of the other good in our lives. One mom reminds us, especially as mothers, not to let this self-doubt impact how we live our lives.

Olivia White, who writes at House of White, a motherhood and lifestyle blog, shared a photo on Instagram that most of us can relate to – a picture she didn’t like of herself from a recent vacation until she decided to look at it in a new light.

“I didn’t post this photo while we were away because I hated how my stomach looked,” she writes. “As much as I try to be self confident and be positive about my appearance, it’s not just a switch and one day you’re completely 110% okay with yourself.”

The Australian mother of two, who often writes about body positivity, says that although she loves her body and all that it’s done for her, everyone still has good days and bad days. But she reminds us that “you can’t stop, especially when you have little eyes watching you.” She also says as a woman, it’s a daily battle to continuously remind ourselves we’re “amazing no matter what anyone else or your own brain tries to trick you into thinking.”

This can be a difficult task for many women. We’re constantly inundated with images in the media about how we “should” look. Once we have kids, there’s a whole new set of expectations about how quickly we can “bounce back” to our pre-baby bodies, as if we never went through nine months of growing another human being inside us. It takes a lot of us years, even decades, to feel comfortable with who we are.

White said despite not feeling entirely confident about the photo, it was “a beautiful moment between my daughter and I, a memory I want to treasure forever and nothing can ruin that.” And it is. It’s a perfect moment between mother and child enjoying a day at the beach. White tells Scary Mommy she believes if we become to concerned with how we look “then we miss out on huge moments in our child’s and families lives.”

Her post is a powerful reminder that this is what’s most important, this moment, this time with her daughter.

We need to look past the unrealistic expectation of how we believe we should look and just enjoy our lives now. Because in the blink of an eye, our kids will be grown and we don’t want to look back with regret at all the things we didn’t do because we felt less than who we really are.