It’s a beautiful image of a mum playing with her little girl on a sun-drenched beach. But the woman in this photo has revealed she hated it so much she initially refused to share it.

Now Australian mother-of-two Olivia White, 28, – who blogs at House of White – has spoken about why she had a change of heart.

‘I didn’t post this photo while we were away because I hated how my stomach looked,’ Olivia wrote in a candid Instagram post.

‘As much as I try to be self confident and be positive about my appearance, it’s not just a switch and one day you’re completely 110% okay with yourself.

It’s a daily thing, and you have good and bad days…’ she went on.

This was the image that Olivia almost didn’t share on her return from holiday

‘But you can’t stop, especially when you have little eyes watching you – you just need to keep reminding yourself everyday that you’re amazing no matter what anyone else or your own brain tries to trick you into thinking.

‘This is a beautiful moment between my daughter and I, a memory I want to treasure forever and nothing can ruin that.’

The Melbourne mother said she hated how her stomach looked in the photo

The Melbourne mother’s honesty led to an outpouring of support on social media. 

‘The other day when I shared my beach picture I was blown away by the response from other mums who empathised they had felt the same way about themselves in photos and they too had not kept or posted images because they didn’t like how they looked,’ Olivia shared in a follow-up post.

Her candid post led to an outpouring of support on social media

‘Some people of course didn’t have the nicest things to say. And some people reminded me that I’m lucky to even have those images and you know what – they are totally right!!

‘And one mama in particular really reminded me exactly why…’

Olivia went on to say that one comment she had received was from a mother in the US who had just lost her two eldest sons, aged 18 and 20, in a car accident.

Olivia said she had been brought to tears after being contacted by another mother in America who had lost her sons

‘She pleaded with me to not care what I ever look like in these images because she regretted that she herself had next to no photos of her with her children for this very same reason,’ Olivia shared. 

‘My heart absolutely broke into a million pieces for her. My eyes began to water and in that moment, it hit me like a tonne of bricks!

‘I know that this woman’s story is unique, but we so often complain that we aren’t in images because we are always taking them, only to then get one and pick apart how we look and not even keep it.

‘TAKE THE PHOTOS LADIES!! TAKE ALLLLLL THE BL***Y PHOTOS. Ask your hubby, set up self-time, take a selfie – WHATEVER!! Ask a… stranger to take it WHO… CARES what any one else thinks or says.’

This article originally appeared on New Idea

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