How Being A Mom Made Me Love My Body More

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Famous Footwear for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Everything changes when you become a mother. Of course, your life changes for the better in more ways than one but one change that can really affect us as women is the changes our body goes through after having a baby. From the stretch marks to the weight gain, our bodies are never the same. I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t always confident or happy with myself after having my boys. After some time I’ve learned to overcome those challenges and finally see How Being A Mom Made Me Love My Body More which is exactly what I am going to share with you today.

How Being A Mom Made Me Love My Body More

Motherhood is one of the biggest challenges we will face in our lives. It is a time when we are trying to figure out what it really means to be a mom but also a time we are trying to find a new version of us. As mothers we evolve and learn to adapt to our new surroundings. We care for our young but often forget to care for ourselves. In the process we get lost knowing who we are and what we are made of and allow the “outside” of us to reflect the inside. I know this because I allowed it to happen to me.

You see, my pregnancies took a major toll on my body inside and out. From Preeclampsia to Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques (PUPPS, a pregnancy related skin rash) my body went through it all. You would be right if you thought that my body was scarred and changed forever and that is where my lack of confidence came into play.

With life and the ability to never have enough time in the day, my confidence grew short and I hated the way I looked and felt. After struggling for years with finding clothes I could fit into rather than finding clothes that fit me, I grew tired of fighting the person I saw in the mirror.

So how did I change and learn to love my mom body even more than before? It was literally one simple thing I did in my life…

I changed my thought process!

I finally came to the realization that the way I look is all because of my two beautiful boys and that was NOT a bad thing. I know my body was put through some amazing and incredible things to bring life to this planet. Every time I look at my children I see incredible human beings that wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t gone through what I did and that is pretty amazing. So when I changed the way I saw those scars, I immediately saw a difference in my confidence.

Sometimes it truly takes us just seeing something negative in a positive way. Change the way you think and your life becomes different. Those are some words to live by and those are my words (can’t ever recall hearing that anywhere else). Nobody can truly tell you those words and you just one day believe them. Instead, I feel like there is a moment in time when you will come this yourself. Maybe there will be a sign or something that finally turns on that lightbulb and you just feel like you can conquer the world. I don’t know how or when it will happen, but it will.

A few months back I finally started buying clothes that fit me and not that I fit in. I bought shoes that dressed me up and made me excited to get ready (I used to only rock flip flops) I began wanting to do my hair and makeup everyday. I began wanting to lose weight not because I feel ugly but because I want to be here to see my grandchildren grow up and that means I have to be healthy and take care of my body. I became happier and in return, so did our household. Our family is happier and we are working on being healthier as a family.

No matter how you see yourself, know that you are beautiful in so many ways. Battle scars and all (stretch marks are just battle wounds ya know). Don’t let your “mom bod” define who you are. YOU define who you are. Love your body and be the mom you worn born to be.

Now you might be wondering why I shared this with you today, and it is because I took the challenge to participate in the Famous Footwear #StepForward campaign by sharing my journey to self-confidence. The #StepForward campaign is all about helping you move forward in your journey to find self-confidence. From your head to your toes (shoes) they want to help you rock confidence like it’s a cat riding a unicorn (yes it’s that awesome of a feeling).

For those of you wondering, I am rocking some new Fergalicious Women’s Punch Bootie with my outfit above and I am loving the way they make me feel. I can definitely step forward with my confident self in these!

So now I challenge you to take that step forward in being confident with who you are and how you look. Snap a photo of yourself and share it on the Famous Footwear Instagram and don’t forget to use #StepForward in your caption.