Lets be honest here, MOTHERHOOD IS HARD…even without the added pressure of social media! We sit and scroll through accounts day in and day out. What we look at and who we follow has a massive effect on how we feel and what we do right? Thais can be a great tool to help up stay motivated and get inspiration about what we want to do and how. BUT, and this is a big one…is everyone you follow giving you the ‘feel good’ factor OR are they hammering an image you want to see but is unrealistic?? This doesn’t just have to be related to body image…it could be parenthood in general.
I began my journey in motherhood over four years ago, thinking what I saw was helping me achieve my goals…later to find out it was having the opposite effect. Accounts of women who are ripped/six-pack abs and looking great in everything they do, working out 5 times a week. It made me hate my body, I would feel guilty for only fitting in 2 workouts a week (and short ones at that), I would nit-pick about how I could change my flat bum…how I could add curves and muscle and how I could stop looking like I’m going to waste away! Each message took a little piece of my soul away and made me doubt who I was. Yes I LOVE exercise, but I didn’t want it to take over my life. I didn’t want to feel guilty, I wanted to enjoy my life with a new baby.
I felt terrible after everything I saw, so I went ahead and deleted all the accounts I followed that had an unrealistic image of what I wanted to be. There was just too much pressure and I was under enough pressure with bringing up a new (very fussy) baby…love you Eden! My personality type is to be down on myself and punish myself for not achieving what I want to achieve. I would cut corners and obsess over the numbers on the scale. This just isn’t healthy for anyone!!
Now I put it to you, how do you feel after scrolling through Instagram? How do you feel after reading posts on Facebook? Does it inspire you? Does it give you positive thoughts about your body? Do you leave feeling happy about what you saw and read? IF NOT….DELETE and UNFOLLOW allllll the accounts that give you negative thoughts or have images you like but will never achieve. Decluttering the space on social media will allow you to open up your mind to positive change.
Once you have cleared out the clutter, you can start adding more positive accounts who welcome you and support you.
Who do you follow who you LOVE?? Who makes you feel great after the images and words you see? I love the movement towards positivity, healing and recovery rather than bouncing back…here are a few accounts I love.
@thebirdspapaya
@knixwear
@thebloommethod
@thebellemethod
@jessiemundell
@belliesinc
@vaginacoach
and soooooooo many more!!
Why should we conform? Why should we treat our selves like an object….a fellow trainer said it best
We are not some body, we are somebody!
AMANDA INGRAM FITNESS
We have feelings and we deserve to be happy in our own skin. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t want to change our bodies, just that we deserve to love ourselves and have realistic expectations.