This Photo Nails The Way Women Criticise Their Bodies

For many of us, self-love can start with recognising our strengths even if our flaws sometimes seem to outnumber them, and in a pair of side-by-side images on Instagram, blogger and student Louise Aubery nailed our habits for focusing on things that we see as flaws, rather then acknowledging what is good about our bodies.

The side-by-side image shows what others see about her versus how she sees herself, with the former highlighting her "big smile," "long legs," "strong butt," while the latter points out a "big nose," "back fat," and "cellulite."

"Whenever I see a picture of me, the first things which catches my eyes are my FLAWS," she wrote in the post. "I always see what is wrong. 'Too close.' 'My nose appears too big.' 'My legs look too white.' 'I look terrible.'"

She posted the image, she told Metro, because she wanted to practice more honesty.

"I created this post because I feel social media platforms are not quite what they could be and should be – i.e a tool to promote empowerment," she told Metro. "‘Self-criticism comes from several causes. The society we’ve evolved in overemphasises our physical appearances. The influence of role models, the use of photo editing; it puts a great pressure on our shoulders and nourishes the feeling of not being worthy enough."

While social media has the great ability to connect us, she said, it can also cause us to compare ourselves to people who we may think have it better (the grass is always greener, and so on).

"It is important to me to make women feel good about themselves and not otherwise, as Instagram can do sometimes," she tells Refinery29.

As for how to stop criticising ourselves?

"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," Aubery told Metro.