Kate Wasley reveals truth behind bikini picture

At first glance this photo of Kate Wasley looks like it was taken during a happy day at the beach — but her smile hid a relatable truth.

Photos taken on holidays usually mark happy memories, but for one woman it’s been a reminder to be kinder to herself next year.

Kate Wasley has shared a series of pictures from a beach trip she took a few years back of herself in a bikini.

In the caption, the Perth-based model revealed she had been unhappy with how she looked at the time of the pictures.

“I remember looking at these photos when they were first taken and thinking I wish I had of worked out harder before this trip,” she wrote on her Instagram post.

Sharing a series of photos from a previous holiday, Kate Wasley she had been unhappy at the time with how she looked.

But with hindsight, Wasley said she felt very differently about the photos and wished she hadn’t been as hard on herself.

“Looking back now I think DAMN GIRL you were looking finnnne, as if you wasted your energy worrying about your body & not indulging on this holiday cause you were self conscious,” she wrote.

Wasley said the photos now acted as a reminder not to be too hard on herself, as she would most certainly regret it further down the track.

“I’m feeling this in just a few years,” she wrote.

“Imagine in 40 years time when I look back at think why didn’t I take all these opportunities or go to these events and have a few cocktails and make memories because I felt crap about my body? It’s all a state of mind.”

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Wasley said she now planned to be more “in the moment” rather than worried about how she looked.

The photos have inspired Wasley to be more “in the moment” and have fun, rather than worrying about how she looks.

“For 2020 I’m making a conscious effort to live in the moment and enjoy it and the last thing that’s going to hold me back is the fear of what other people think of my body,” Wasley wrote.

Wasley’s post struck a chord with her followers, who praised her message — as well as how gorgeous she looked.

“And first thing I thought when (I) saw the pic was: damn girl, you look so good,” one person wrote.

“Here’s to living every moment!!!!” another commented, while a follower added: “You look great then and now.”

Others commented saying they were going to “take a page out of your book” and follow Wasley’s example.

“Such an important message. I do with myself all the time. To 2020 and not waiting to LOOK BACK to see the beauty … but to see and feel it in the present!!” one person wrote.

Besides working as a model, Wasley rose to prominence in 2017 after starting body positivity Instagram account AnyBodyCo with best friend Georgia Gibbs.

Georgia Gibbs and Kate Wasley founded AnyBodyCo in 2017. Picture: Christian Gilles.

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The two models decided to start the account after a photo of the pair went viral, with Gibbs wrongly accused of photoshopping herself to look smaller next to Wasley.

Wasley told People at the time they started the account in the hopes of changing “society’s beauty standards”.

“After reading comments and questions from people I know, one of the most common was ‘Don’t you ever feel self-conscious being the bigger one?’,” she said.

“We want to change society’s beauty standards that smaller is better, when in reality neither is better than the other. We think your health and wellbeing should be the priority.”

In December last year Wasley left AnyBodyCo, citing scheduling and work commitments, with both women now working in different cities.