A message to all the people who've told me I "let myself go" since giving birth.

I was told recently that I had 'let myself go.'

I’ve gained some weight, my eyebrows are shaggy, I've got a couple of chin hairs.

And so it goes, I’ve let myself go.

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It’s just like after I, and many other women, put on weight during pregnancy, don’t “bounce back”, we are labelled as 'letting ourselves go'.

As soon as a woman is considered as having let herself go, anything she does in that current state of 'letting herself go' doesn’t count. Me for example, talking about depression with unplucked eyebrows means what I say doesn’t have merit.

A woman who has given birth 18 months ago without having a washboard stomach must be lazy and anything she says about health isn’t true.

As women, we are not meant to show ourselves in any other state than perfect. No one is meant to know that getting dressed up - applying makeup, fixing your wrinkles, exercising, getting lip filler, having your nails done, shaving your legs - all of that is work. 

When we do that, we appear normal. When we don’t, we’ve let ourself go.

You don’t have to wear the most flattering outfit to be considered beautiful. You don’t have to dye your greys to be considered smart. 

If you want to wear something that feels comfortable, why not wear something that feels comfortable?

You don’t have to wear layers of spandex and Spanx to shape your body if you don’t want to, because the shape of your body is simply the shape of your body. Amazing the way it is.

If all of that means letting myself go, why wouldn’t we?

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Mothers don’t let themselves go. However, they let a lot of things go. Like sleep, time to themselves, their own self.

Having some extra weight and bushy eyebrows is not a crime and I won’t apologise for it. My body is not an apology. I don’t owe anyone “health” either.

So yeah, I’ve let a lot of things go...

But me? Letting myself go?

No, I’m just embracing it and letting myself be.

So wear the sweatpants, the yoga pants and the trackies and let yourself go! Let yourself go of all society’s expectations. 

Your beauty is defined IN you.

In whatever state you chose to be.

This post originally appeared on Facebook and has been republished with full permission. For more from Laura Mazz, you can find her on Facebook or Instagram.

Feature Image: Laura Mazz/Faceboook.