I am a mother.
I am a role model to two growing and changing girls. I tell them every day that they are beautiful, that they are radiant, how wonderful they are. I encourage them to grow . . . to learn . . . to challenge themselves.
They are the light of my life.
I want them to be confident women with healthy body images. To become women who take care of themselves and are empowered. To be women who stand up not just for themselves but for others, too.
I think that this alone is every mother’s dream.
But what am I really teaching them?
For 10 years, I couldn’t even look in the mirror. There is almost no photographic record of me in that part of their lives. When complimented, I would harshly cut myself down or just politely say, “Well, thank you” or “Ha ha…you’re cute.”
I was obsessed with the scale, those climbing, accusing numbers. If I did catch a glimpse of myself, I would dissect all that was wrong with me and then claim it as my identity so I knew I was worthless.
I would praise my daughters for being beautiful but cringe when they were told how much they looked like their mother. I hated, even loathed, people who compared their beautiful, shining faces to mine, often hoping they would never see a resemblance for their own sake.
How would it be possible for them to see beauty in themselves as they became women if they saw their mother in the mirror? The woman who never saw beauty or worth in her image?
What was I teaching them? How could this possibly lead them to a healthy place?
Where did I learn this behaviour? How, as a mother of growing girls, could I think this was an acceptable way to lead them to a positive body image?
At the prodding request of my husband, plus encouragement from some close friends, I went for a nude photo shoot. I was horrified at the thought of exposing someone to the horror of my imperfect, disgusting, flabby body. It was the hardest thing that I had ever done in my life.
As a mother, it was one of the most important things I could have done for myself and for my Girls.
These photos began changing the way I viewed myself. They were the first step in helping me create a healthy body image and a healthy relationship with myself.
They were the first of many steps to revealing my own Inner Spirit.
These images have allowed me to become a better mother, a better guide for my girls, and a better example for them to embrace themselves, their bodies, their scars, and even their imperfections as they age. By being authentic and accepting my image, they will know they are beautiful in every shape and size at any point in their development.
I am proud that my kids have seen my naked photos that have helped me go from a self-defeating person to an empowered woman with a positive body image.
I proudly hang these photos on my wall to symbolize my beauty and power. They are seen as examples of healthy images of a woman’s body as art. They are a statement about me, how I see myself, and how I want to be seen.
For my tender young women, these images remind them to grow with a loving respect for themselves and their changing bodies, knowing that they are beautiful at all points.
Do you have some daughters you would like to be an example for? A roll model of embracing your body and personal beauty?