Reason Why I Love Tumblr No. 4,373
Four months ago, I had my first child. I gained twenty kilos while pregnant, and am still carrying at least half that weight around, because funnily enough, having a tiny baby makes me even less inclined (or able) to calorie-count and exercise than usual. I am covered in stretch marks. Covered in them. My body has completely changed shape. My boobs are different. Next to none of my old clothes fit, which is depressing, but then again, I spend so much time indoors in my robe and my slouching dress that it doesn’t really matter, which is depressing in a different way. Pre-pregnancy, I did stomach crunches and other toning exercises every day, having started the routine in high school. Once pregnant, I had to stop, and as a result the modest amount of muscle-tone I’d managed to keep for a decade is gone. I’m flabby and soft and bulky, and while that’s not a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination, it’s also not what I want for myself right now. So even though I love my son and husband and life, there are days when I look in the mirror and just feel awful.
But.
Tumblr makes me feel normal again. I follow sex- and body-positive blogs, and those blogs post pictures of bodies like mine: bodies that are curvy and streaked and dimpled, and which are still portrayed as beautiful. I scroll through my dash, and I see the bellies and breasts and hips and thighs of braver women than me, women who understand their own loveliness and aren’t afraid to show it. And even though I’m never going to post any skinbared photos online, it makes me feel better, because when every other facet of my media-consuming life is overrun with images of slender, airbrushed-and-photoshopped and perfectly made-up beauties, I can log on to tumblr and find gorgeous, empowering images of women who look like me, and whose confidence in their own beauty helps me to believe in mine. And that’s an incredibly powerful, worthy thing.
juilyasmith liked this
kilted-giraffe liked this itsbootime liked this
bookshelfpirate liked this wojit liked this
humphreysart liked this
torukun1 liked this obscurereferencewoman liked this
sylviasybil reblogged this from fozmeadows
iliveinashed liked this
awildervoid reblogged this from fozmeadows
profalexandra liked this
bunstrousfur liked this
someonepostswriting liked this
jkoyanagi liked this
ofcityromance-blog liked this
jenndoesnotcare reblogged this from fozmeadows and added:
Pregnancy is huge in terms of changes. But in addition to this post (which is great), is like to add that, having grown...
ad1ffffa0b5aca344b060fd5ad8-blog liked this
razziecat liked this neenajaydon liked this
phoenixsoul13 liked this
awildervoid liked this
abadplanwellexecuted liked this
ionsfolly liked this
eldritchwug liked this jennifergearing liked this
myriadism liked this
voicessayhello liked this
fozmeadows posted this