“Girl, you’re going to ‘snap-back’ after you have your baby!”
Has anyone ever said this to you once they found out you were expecting? How did it make you feel? Empowered? Excited this additional human hanging out in your body would leave no lasting…body change?
Now, let me ask you: How did you feel when you didn’t “snap-back”?
Personally, part of me felt like I’d failed. That my body had somehow lost the memo on what it was supposed to do and it was now a damaged vessel. Ugly to behold. Left deformed after being a part of an incredible miracle. My baby-free baby belly was now a curse, not the reminder of an immeasurable blessing.
How awful, right?
Who declared our bodies shouldn’t show sacrificial love from making room to carry a small human being?
My question is who decided our bodies weren’t allowed to display it’s journey through life? Who declared our bodies shouldn’t show sacrificial love from making room to carry a small human being? Who felt they had the audacity to pressure us into making sure our bodies never showed growth, trauma, age, or uniqueness?
Hear me, loves. I am NOT saying we don’t eat healthy, exercise, have body goals, etc. My concern is WHY are you doing those things? Is it because you no longer feel beautiful? What’s the root of that thought? Is it because you can’t fit any of your clothes and you’re in that weird middle-weight stage? Whew, I get that and it’s a stinker. Or is it because someone convinced you that beauty doesn’t grow, shift and mature along with your body.
…if we don’t personally love our bodies and allow our beauty to be re-defined, loving opinions won’t matter.
At times, I would stand in the mirror and stare at my squishy belly and new hips, and wonder if “this body” could be loved as well as my pre-baby body. I’d see friends that had several kids but looked like they hadn’t had any, and would lower my head in shame and do all I could to hide my imperfect body. Thankfully I have a husband who has made me his standard of beauty, loves my body and all of the shapes it has taken. I also have an incredible tribe that will call me up and out if I go dark concerning my body, or anything else for that matter. But the reality is not all of us experience that support, and to be honest, if we don’t personally love our bodies and allow our beauty to be re-defined, loving opinions won’t matter.
Beloved, your body is beautiful whether it “snapped-back” or took on a new shape you’re learning to love. It’s your body and that’s not open for interpretation. Your body is a gift, even if it’s changed and is now unfamiliar to you. Take the time to pour into loving who you are, your body and build up from there.
Photo by Austin Wade on Unsplash
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