Question by Ida Højegaard. Answer by Nanna Liljekvist.
Q: The body changes naturally throughout life. Have you experienced that becoming a mother has changed your view of, and your thoughts about, your body?
N: Throughout my youth I have had a hateful relationship with my body. The last thing I want is for my children to have the same relationship with their body that I had with mine. That's why, after I became a mother, I started talking nicely to my body, because I don't think it makes sense for me to try to pass on good physical values to my children, if I myself have an extremely strained relationship with my own body.
I don't always believe the good things I tell my body, but I'm gradually starting to believe it more and more. I don't love my body 100%, but that was never the goal either. In return, I rest more in my body today than I ever have.
Q: How has it been for you to see and feel your body change?
N: A wild concoction of emotions, where I have felt both sadness at having "lost" my old body, as there was so much identity associated with my body, but also an enormous pride in my body, which has managed to bake 2 children and carried me through 2 pregnancies.
Q: What is your motivation for sharing yourself publicly?
N: I need to be the one, on social media, that I myself have missed through my motherhood and youth. When I was pregnant myself, I never saw any bellies with stretch marks.
I hope that I can contribute to advancing the culture of perfection. And I hope that I can help give some self-confidence to women who don't feel they "live up" to the ideal.
BECAUSE WE ARE FREAKING DELICIOUS TOO. More diversity on social media. And then I just wanted the things that are difficult to talk about to become a little easier to talk about. That's my motivation for sharing it the way I do.
Q: What would you say to others who are experiencing body changes (e.g. during pregnancy and childbirth)?
N: I really feared getting stretch marks during my pregnancy.
And then when I got fiery red streaks during my second pregnancy, I never thought my husband would think I was hot again, or that I would ever feel pretty again.
Fortunately, that was not the case. He thinks I'm just as lovely as before, and I still feel beautiful, even though I faced the body changes I feared.
Also, I hope that women with abdominal problems after pregnancy and childbirth never just bite the bullet. There is help available, you must never find yourself in it. If you had back pain, you would have gone to a physiotherapist - your abdomen deserves the same care.
