This Mom Ran in a Sports Bra to Prove "Confidence Doesn't Come From 6-Pack Abs"

Get the Full StoryLifestyle blogger Rachel Hollis of The Chic Site is done caring about what other people think of her postpartum body. The inspiring mommy, who went viral back in 2015 when she posed in a bikini at the beach, recently opened up about why she decided to start running without a shirt on. "Or, I should say, I started running in only my sports bra with my saggy skin and stretch marks fully on display," she wrote on in a lengthy post on her Facebook page.

The mom continued, sharing what brought her to finally stop caring about what her body looks like to others.

For years, YEARS, I've dreamed of being the woman who was in such great shape that she could run in just a sports bra. Oh sure, I'll wear a bikini by the pool. But running? As in, my stomach that's stretched to capacity from carrying three babies is not only VISIBLE, but it's bouncing around like a crash test dummy in one of those slow motion videos of a head-on collision.

Um, NO.

No, I kept thinking. No way am I unleashing that on the world! "But someday, I'll be in great shape, and then..."

But, recently I was running on mile four or five and I was SO hot and sweaty and I just finally got fed up enough to pull my shirt off. My stomach? It was the same thing as always. It was swaying and slapping into itself and bouncing around like it was at a rave. And y'all, if anyone noticed or was disgusted or didn't like it, I was moving too fast to care.

That's the key you know? Getting on with your life so that if someone doesn't like it, you're growing too fast to care! What a gift this body is. What an absolute blessing to run and move. What a divine and sacred thing it is to have your body changed by a baby. Sometimes we forget that. We get so wrapped up in the way we're supposed to be or act or look that we become ashamed; we forget to see our blessings.

I was afraid to run in a sports bra because I worried about what other people would think of my body. I forgot that true confidence doesn't come from six pack abs, it comes from deciding to love yourself exactly as you are.

Now that's an empowering message we can all get behind!

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