Olivia White, a fashion and mom blogger who lives in Australia, has gone viral in the past for her super-honest, down-to-earth social media posts. Earlier this year, she made headlines for sharing photos of her C-section. Now, she's winning props for her latest post — a photo of herself on the beach with her daughter. White confessed that she didn't want to post the shot initially, because she wasn't a fan of how her stomach looked.
"I didn’t post this photo while we were away because I hated how my stomach looked," White shared on Instagram. "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. It’s a daily thing, and you have good and bad days… But you can’t stop, especially when you have little eyes watching you. You just need to keep reminding yourself everyday that you’re amazing, no matter what anyone else or your own brain tries to trick you into thinking."
Ultimately, White realized how precious the moment was — and how important it was to share. "This is a beautiful moment between my daughter and I, a memory I want to treasure forever and nothing can ruin that," she concludes on Instagram.
The post has racked up over 2,500 likes and many supportive comments in the 13 hours since it was posted. "You carried your daughter inside you, your belly did an amazing job! I have the same struggle… but we have to remember that and be happy with our little ones," one commenter wrote. Another shared, "Funny how we're much harder on ourselves than others. As a mum of three girls (2 teens) I try to be really conscious of this and not show my own insecurities about my body so I can hopefully instil body confidence in them. It's tough sometimes!"
White has been floored by all the positive feedback. "It’s been mind-blowing to have such a beautiful response from so many other women, those telling me they never even noticed and those praising me for posting it and how much better and ‘normal’ it made them feel," she tells Parents.com.
She explains what ultimately motivated her to pull the trigger on sharing the shot: "I posted it, because I loved the photo otherwise. If my friend was worrying about posting the same image of herself, I’d have told her she was silly, and that it was a beautiful photo of her and her daughter, so why can’t I tell myself the same thing?"
In a follow-up post, a beautiful black and white close-up shot of herself with her daughter, White elaborated, "Wow. I am so overwhelmed by the response I had to my photo last night. It’s amazing that what I saw and felt hindered my ability to put that photo out there, didn’t even register or matter to one single person here and especially not my daughter. It just goes to show that in a world where we preach to people to be kind and never be a bully that we sadly are the bigger bullies to ourselves. But how amazing are all of you with your kind words of support and encouragement. I know it really is so much easier to tell someone else they’re beautiful, but gosh if only we could talk to ourselves the way we talk to one another, that would be bloody wonderful. Thank you again for all your kind words and love you loads!"
Although body confidence and acceptance is always going to be a work in progress, it never hurts to be reminded of just how important it is that we continue to do that work. Especially as parents! Cheers to White for sharing that all too important truth. Preach, mama!
