In an ideal universe, we would all have great relationships with our bodies, always. But for now, we live in a world where it's not always possible to love our bodies all the time — and that's okay.
In a candid Instagram post last month, mom Kristelle Morgan admitted that she had to come to terms with a difficult reality after giving birth to her daughter.
"I used to be pretty fit, I had my ups and downs with body image but overall I know I looked pretty good," she wrote alongside a photo of her stomach with her newborn baby resting next to her. "Then came pregnancy and I was huge. I got HUGE towards the end extremely quickly. "
Morgan explained that a mixture of having extra amniotic fluid and having her daughter be breach (when the baby hasn't moved into the position to be birthed) caused her to have an "extra large stomach" and stretch marks that "appeared overnight basically at around 32 weeks."
"I had such unrealistic standards of what my body was going to look like after birth (yes probably because I'm way too into following all those super hot Instagram mums)," she wrote. "But this is the reality for so many of us."
However, Morgan wrote, she's okay with "my body temporarily looking like this is a good price to pay for the sweet little angel I have sleeping next to me."
"I have to remind myself to be nice to my body, I spent 9 months creating a life and yes it may never look like it used to but that's okay," she wrote, adding, "but it's also okay to be sad about it."
She's right — while it's important to have a healthy relationship with your body, it's also important to remember that this won't always be the case. It's okay to not feel as 100% body-confident as you want to, as long as you also know that not feeling great about your body doesn't diminish your worth.