The lady has been interviewed and is very unapologetic about her quite harsh comment which other mothers have taken offence to. Myself personally, I don't have a problem with what she does and how she values looking after her body, I think it is a great message to show that wow, she does look amazing and she should be very proud of herself. You can tell she has worked hard to look like that and is a very busy mum that takes pride in her health and appearance and is setting a good example of healthy living for her children. I'm also a mum of 3 boys, but I do not look like that, but I never have either! And my life and values are different to hers which is totally ok, we don't all have to be like each other now do we? The main thing I have an issue with is, the caption, what's your excuse? To me it's just not a very supportive or uplifting comment, as it immediately gets people defending themselves for not looking like her while juggling motherhood which is a hard enough job as it is. I'm sure she didn't intend the comments to get the reaction it did, she probably wanted to use it as a motivator for other mums, but at the same time it comes across as judgemental, like if i can do it, so should you.
As a mother and I'm sure many mothers can agree, we are constantly putting others before ourselves and a lot of the time that means we don't give ourselves the time to nurture ourselves, to nourish ourselves and to take care of ourselves. I think we need positive influences to say, hey you know what, you are a busy mum with children, but don't lose sight of yourself, your needs are just as important. Without us mums doing what we do day in and day out, a whole lot of people will suffer. So the message I want to get from this is that, being a mum is tough, it's a juggle, but don't forget about YOU, you too can feel your best and set a healthy example for your kids by leading a more active and physical lifestyle.
The other bigger issue I have with this is how much judgement came flying back and forth from other women about this mother. They criticised her for probably staying at the gym all day, getting someone else to look after her children, her husband must be rich and she has nannies and a nutritionist to look that good. Just ludicrous accusations about her lifestyle when noone knows her from a bar of soap and have just seen this picture and passed judgement on her. When did life become about what everyone else is doing and making judgement on them, is it really that important to you what she does or how she choses to live her life and raise her kids?
This leads me to another semi-related rant about images like this, we seem to think society values appearance above all else and then in turn people always are very quick to identify their flaws or certain aspects of their body they are not happy with. Thus many women already suffer low self esteem and body image issues, images like this certainly might make someone think about joining a gym or some other lifestyle change, but it might lead another to a pack of donuts or chips. It's this that is upsetting to me, as I recently heard a quote/analogy from someone that has a disability and it seemed rather fitting to this topic. He said, why do we always seem to focus on the hole in the donut and not the actual donut. It was a funny thing to say, but it's so very true. In life we rarely give ourselves compliments, we rarely say, you know i'm proud of what i've achieved and what i've done. We always seem to think we're not good enough, we haven't done x,y,z, why should we always live in that negative mindset? It's because society is good at pushing these unattainable views of the world onto us, it's always someone else's reality we want to be a part of, not our own? Why is that? I find that very sad. For those that don't know, my reality, I'm a mum of 3 beautiful boys, and I'm a carer for my husband who suffered and acquired brain injury 9 years ago. Our lives have changed in so many ways, I could be stuck in a negative mindset about our situation, but who would that benefit? I don't want to let one incident define the rest of our lives. We all have situations that we don't expect in life, it's how we adapt to it that matters. If we are happy with ourselves and give ourselves some praise instead of criticism we would all be a lot happier with our own lives and might be less judgemental of others and how they live their lives. We only have one life, why make it more difficult on ourselves than we need to? Take joy in what you do, have pride in what you've accomplished and treasure those around you. That's what fills me up and makes me happy, and that's what matter most to me.
As a mother and I'm sure many mothers can agree, we are constantly putting others before ourselves and a lot of the time that means we don't give ourselves the time to nurture ourselves, to nourish ourselves and to take care of ourselves. I think we need positive influences to say, hey you know what, you are a busy mum with children, but don't lose sight of yourself, your needs are just as important. Without us mums doing what we do day in and day out, a whole lot of people will suffer. So the message I want to get from this is that, being a mum is tough, it's a juggle, but don't forget about YOU, you too can feel your best and set a healthy example for your kids by leading a more active and physical lifestyle.
The other bigger issue I have with this is how much judgement came flying back and forth from other women about this mother. They criticised her for probably staying at the gym all day, getting someone else to look after her children, her husband must be rich and she has nannies and a nutritionist to look that good. Just ludicrous accusations about her lifestyle when noone knows her from a bar of soap and have just seen this picture and passed judgement on her. When did life become about what everyone else is doing and making judgement on them, is it really that important to you what she does or how she choses to live her life and raise her kids?
This leads me to another semi-related rant about images like this, we seem to think society values appearance above all else and then in turn people always are very quick to identify their flaws or certain aspects of their body they are not happy with. Thus many women already suffer low self esteem and body image issues, images like this certainly might make someone think about joining a gym or some other lifestyle change, but it might lead another to a pack of donuts or chips. It's this that is upsetting to me, as I recently heard a quote/analogy from someone that has a disability and it seemed rather fitting to this topic. He said, why do we always seem to focus on the hole in the donut and not the actual donut. It was a funny thing to say, but it's so very true. In life we rarely give ourselves compliments, we rarely say, you know i'm proud of what i've achieved and what i've done. We always seem to think we're not good enough, we haven't done x,y,z, why should we always live in that negative mindset? It's because society is good at pushing these unattainable views of the world onto us, it's always someone else's reality we want to be a part of, not our own? Why is that? I find that very sad. For those that don't know, my reality, I'm a mum of 3 beautiful boys, and I'm a carer for my husband who suffered and acquired brain injury 9 years ago. Our lives have changed in so many ways, I could be stuck in a negative mindset about our situation, but who would that benefit? I don't want to let one incident define the rest of our lives. We all have situations that we don't expect in life, it's how we adapt to it that matters. If we are happy with ourselves and give ourselves some praise instead of criticism we would all be a lot happier with our own lives and might be less judgemental of others and how they live their lives. We only have one life, why make it more difficult on ourselves than we need to? Take joy in what you do, have pride in what you've accomplished and treasure those around you. That's what fills me up and makes me happy, and that's what matter most to me.
