You’re Not Alone: When Your Body Doesn’t Feel Like Yours

Welcome to the You’re Not Alone series — a space for real, unfiltered motherhood. These are the conversations we don’t always have out loud, but that so many of us are living through. Here, you’ll find honesty, encouragement, and the reminder that whatever you’re feeling… you’re not the only one.

Motherhood changes everything and I mean everything.
Your schedule, your priorities, your sleep (or lack of it), your patience, your wardrobe, and most of all, your body.

I’m not just talking about the obvious changes… the soft belly, the wider hips, the stretch marks, or the way your favorite jeans suddenly need a retirement plan. I’m talking about that strange, unsettling feeling when you look in the mirror and… don’t fully recognize the person staring back.

It’s not vanity. It’s identity.

The Body You Knew

Before pregnancy, most of us know our bodies like a well worn roadmap.
We know how they move, how they react to exercise, how clothes fit, what feels comfortable.

We might have insecurities, sure, but we know them.

Then pregnancy and birth come in like a wrecking ball with zero respect for your sense of normal. Suddenly, the body you spent years living in doesn’t feel like it’s yours anymore.

It’s softer in some places, heavier in others, achier in ways you didn’t think possible. Even your center of gravity feels different.

And if you’re breastfeeding? Congratulations! Your chest has entered an entirely new chapter, complete with unexpected leaks, soreness, and the occasional feeling that you’ve been transformed into a 24-hour buffet.

More Than Just Physical

The weirdest part is, it’s not just the way your body looks that throws you. It’s the way it feels from the inside.

You might feel disconnected, like your body is a stranger you’re borrowing instead of the one you’ve always owned.

Movements feel different.
Your stamina is different.
Your posture is different.

Sometimes it’s the exhaustion talking, and sometimes it’s deeper. A quiet reminder that you’ve been through something monumental and your body is still catching up.

Society loves to romanticize “bouncing back” as if your only job is to erase the evidence of what you’ve been through. But here’s the truth: you didn’t just change physically. You transformed, in every sense.

You cannot “bounce back” to the person you were before, because she doesn’t exist anymore. And that’s not a loss — it’s an evolution.

The Emotional Weight

It’s okay to mourn your old body.
It’s okay to wish your jeans fit like they used to.
It’s okay to feel frustrated when nothing feels comfortable.

But it’s also important to give yourself permission to feel both:

• Sadness for what’s gone.
• Gratitude for what your body has done.

Your body carried life.
It stretched, shifted, and worked harder than it ever has before.
And now, it’s learning a new normal right alongside you.

Rebuilding the Connection

The journey back to feeling at home in your body isn’t about getting “pre-baby” anything back. It’s about building a relationship with the body you have now.

That might look like:

• Gentle movement — walking, stretching, or postpartum-safe exercise.
• Wearing clothes that fit your now-body, not clothes that shame you into the past.
• Listening to your hunger and energy cues, instead of chasing diet trends that drain you.
• Touching and appreciating your body — even the parts you struggle with.

And maybe most importantly: giving yourself time.
Healing isn’t linear, and confidence doesn’t come back on a schedule.

You’re Not Alone

If you’ve ever stood in the shower wondering why your body doesn’t feel like yours…
If you’ve tugged at your shirt in public, feeling like everyone notices the changes you see…
If you’ve caught your reflection and felt like a stranger was looking back…

You are not broken.
You are not shallow.
You are not alone.

You are a woman in transition from the body you once knew, to the body that tells the story of where you’ve been and the life you’ve brought into the world.

One day, you’ll feel that deep sense of ownership again.
And when you do, it won’t be because you “got your old body back.”
It will be because you learned to claim and love the one you have now.