01/22/2023
“For so long, I held my breath.
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As a child, from somewhere, I learned that my stomach needed to be flat.
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So I held my breath. I sucked things in. I fit clothes instead of clothes fitting me.
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And with each year, my clothes became tighter. My breath became shallower.
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I did it for so long that I did it without knowing.
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Then I had a child, who as he grew, made me blossom from the inside out.
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They told me I was beautiful.
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And I could breathe.
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When he was born, they cut the muscles that I had used to hold my breath. To fit.
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I had a second child, who as she grew, elicited the same words from others.
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And again, I could breathe.
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When she was born, they cut through more to bring her to me.
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And with that, I couldn’t hold things the way I once could. I couldn’t fit.
I learned two important lessons -
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The world loves mothers, but only when they still house their children.
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The world loves children, but not the evidence of their creation.
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The marks we get from growing them, the skin we stretch to keep them safe, the pieces that don’t quite fit the same once they’re gone -
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They’re not allowed.
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So we hold our breath.
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We suck it in.
We tuck it in.
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We try to hide the parts of us that created the children this world loves.
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We feel like failures, when we are anything but.
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We are mothers.
We are life-givers.
We are nurturers.
We are strong. So strong.
We are beautiful.
And we don’t exist to please you.
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I’m tired.
And I want to breathe.”
Words & photo by . We know so many moms can relate to this 💔 feeling like our bodies are only beautiful while growing babies & we need to hide the evidence of this postpartum. But we are tired too. And done trying to hide the evidence that we’ve grown, birthed, nurtured & raised babies. Our bodies deserve so much more respect & love for this journey ❤️
