Mom opens up about sharing 'zero filtered, real life moments' on social media
Ashley LeMieux isn’t shying away from sharing her reality.
Over the years, social media sharing has evolved from posting blurry and grainy snapshots to sharing beautiful and edited photos and videos.
Many have since decried the practice of showing only a glowing, seemingly perfect life online, and now, one mom is encouraging fellow mothers to share more of their "unfiltered" realities instead.
In a recent Instagram post, Ashley LeMieux shared photos from a summer trip with her husband Mike and their 2-year-old toddler and offered followers a closer look at "completely unedited, zero filtered, real life moments," as she described in her post's caption.
"The post was such a simple, here's a real look into my everyday life, my toddler melting down, the cellulite that I have when the sun hits me, the internal anxiety that I sometimes feel as a mother, those types of things," the 37-year-old explained to "Good Morning America."
She said she hopes the less-than-perfect vacation photos will help other moms remember not to always compare their lives to others' experiences.
"I think that when we can see other people having this real life that is similar to ours, we're like, 'OK, maybe there's not something wrong with me, or maybe it's not that my life is so different from theirs,'" the mom of one said about her motivation to share.
LeMieux, who is also an author and mental health educator, said she wants to encourage healthier social media and mental health connections.
"I hear from so many women every day, because of the work I do, that they just don't feel good enough," she said.
"We can never fully see the bigger picture, which is why I think that conversations like this are so meaningful and important, so that we can have this quick reminder of, we're all human, we all have our stuff, we just don't see the entirety of it happening all the time," LeMieux added.
At the end of the day, the Arizona mom said she wants others to remember that there's more than what social media portrays and to embrace their own realities -- flaws and all.
"I just want to encourage every woman out there, put on the suit, go make the memories with your kids, because they aren't going to remember what jiggled or wiggled," she said. "Don't let any internal fear about how you look externally stop you from experiencing that with your kiddos."
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