Body positivity and self love – no, not that kind – are all the rage among a subset of Instagrammers at the moment. They're the ones opening up about the "flaws" that ensure they don't conform to society's impossible beauty standards. The trend is obviously great news for all of us – the more varied and unedited bodies we see represented, the easier it is to silence our own self-critical internal monologues once and for all.
But, for many of us, maintaining a positive body image is easier said than done. It's just not realistic to love everything about ourselves at every moment of the day. So, we're grateful for one fitness Instagrammer's reassurance that we're not letting the side down with our niggling negative thoughts.
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Louise Aubery recently shared a split-image photo with her 50k followers to highlight the stark disconnect between how others see us and how we see ourselves, and remind them to "not be so harsh" on themselves.
The post shows two identical images of the Parisian science student, with arrows pointing out the difference between how others see her and her own body image. In the first, she emphasises her "big nose", "back fat" and "cellulite", while in the second she focuses on her "big smile", "long legs" and "strong butt".
"I am here to always be completely honest, because I feel social medias need more of it," she wrote in the accompanying caption. "As much as I preach self love and truly made some progress accepting myself, there is something I really struggle with: pictures. Whenever I see a picture of me, the first things which catches my eyes are my FLAWS.
"I always see what is wrong. 'Too close.' 'My nose appears too big.' 'My legs look too white.' 'I look terrible," Aubery continued. Yet, when she looks at pictures of other people, their flaws are by no means the first thing that spring to mind.
"On the contrary, I tend to focus on their assets. So why not do the same with yourself? We really need to learn not to be so harsh on ourselves. It is not healthy. I am going to work on it, and I hope you will too," she added.
The post has received more than 8,000 likes at the time of writing, with many commenters praising Aubery for her candour and saying they regularly have similar thoughts. "I totally saw ALL your assets when I glanced at this pic, but then when you started using all the negatives about yourself, I was like 'That's exactly what I do when I look at pics of myself,'" one wrote. "Thanks for the lesson in self-love!"
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Aubery has preached similar messages of body positivity in previous posts on her Instagram account, @mybetter_self, with one of her key points being that self love must come from a place of self acceptance.
Positive body image is all about readjusting our thought processes over time, she told Metro.co.uk: "The mind is what can help us most. We underestimate our ability to send it signals and influence our behaviour. It can’t happen in one day and it all comes down to practice: waking up telling you three things you are grateful for today, stating one thing you like about yourself every time you caught yourself despising something, and actually talking about it with like minded people and engage with positive influencers on Instagram."
"But you’ve got to be willing to work on it! It is primordial to overall happiness," she continued. What better time to inject some self love into our own thinking than the present?