What are the beauty marks of motherhood? What are the beautiful imperfections that are the tell-tale signs that a mother has brought a being into this world, has cared for, stayed up for, laughed with, and cried over? What are the hallmarks that we all wear, every day, on our faces, features, and bodies, which shown that we have loved like we have never loved before, feared like we never thought possible, laughed with such fantastic joy, and worried to within an inch of our lives? Look closely, and you will find these beauty marks on every, single, mother:

1. Eyes that twinkle with beauty and joy, well up with tears, strain with tiredness, reveal a rainbow of emotions and follow our beloveds so closely.
2. Lips that smile a thousand smiles, that have whispered loving words, that have encouraged and shaped with the sentences that have been formed by them.
3. Breasts than once swelled so full, and now are shy retiring versions of themselves.
4. Grey hairs that cheekily poke through  give then opportunity, a silent mark of the stressful and sleepless times passed by.
5. Lines that appear and connect, like a roadmap for our journey into this hard to navigate world, that chart our highs and lows and everything in-between.
6. Hips that have become wider, more womanly, more shapely, that once took the weight of our babies as we carried them within.
7. Tummies that have excess skin which was once stretched so fully, a beautiful reminder of the life we once nurtured inside ourselves.
8. Stretch marks that pay homage to the wonder of our bodies expanding so rapidly beyond belief and before our very eyes.
9. Cellulite that ripples and dimples, hiding underneath our squeezed on jeans, telling a story of change and transformation concealed under woven fabrics.
10. Veins which spark like lightening bolts down our legs and across our feet, marking out the uphill journey that is motherhood.

These 10 parts of our body may be a beauty reality check, but let us honour them as beauty marks awarded for our passage into this world as mothers, as beautiful imperfections that reveal your own motherhood story. Let us embrace them, not abhor them. Let us celebrate them, not conceal them.  Let us uphold them in all their beauty, not shun them with contempt. Let us know that the imperfections of motherhood can indeed be beautiful, and without them, we would simply be incomplete as mothers.

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About the Author

Talya Stone

Talya is mum to a very intense, amazing little toddler gal who most of the time specializes in driving her round the bend. Having given up the working mum role when she hit 12 months (she was the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief for an online lifestyle platform) she’s sat on both sides of the fence as a working and then stay-at-home mum and like many, has grappled with the issues which come hand in hand with both scenarios. Read more from her on her blog .