Why a selfie taken in an Old Navy dressing room went awesomely viral

Wedding photographer Rachel Taylor posted a full-body selfie in an Old Navy dressing room wearing a (fabulous) patriotic tank-top on July 3rd, just in time for Independence Day. But the red, white, and blue photo wasn’t in celebration of the holiday. Instead, it was highlighting a very emotional and difficult moment in Rachel’s day.

“Today I was shopping in Old Navy, standing between a teenage girl and her mom,” Rachel wrote in the caption of the photo. “The girl picked up a plus-size tank top, showed it to her mom and said, ‘Look! Me and So-and-so can fit in this tank top!’ Her mom laughed and said, ‘Yeah, you could! That thing is huge!’”

What the girl and the mother didn’t know was that the tank-top was in Rachel’s size. “I couldn’t help it; I started crying,” Rachel continued in the caption, breaking our hearts. “I guess the girl and her mom walked away. I have no idea.”

A distraught Rachel was walked out of the store to the car by her husband. “I sat in the car crying for a long time but eventually went back inside to finish my shopping,” she continued. “I ended up buying that tank top because, it turns out, I look fierce in it!” YAAAAS.

Rachel finished off her message with three simple-yet-powerful lessons. “Be kind,” she wrote. “Think about others before you speak. And if someone hurts you, you have to move on.”

The photograph has been liked over 68,000 times and shared over 10,000 times. Various commenters have offered their support and inserted their opinion that she looks absolutely beautiful.

We totally love that Rachel took such a hurtful moment and transformed it into a powerful, inspirational message that lifts others up while reminding us all to be more sensitive. We’re sure the girl and her mother didn’t mean to hurt Rachel, but it’s so, so important to consider other people’s feelings, and to remember that size does NOT matter. Every woman is beautiful, just the way she is.

Thanks, Rachel, for the reminder! We think you’re totally, 100% fierce, inside and out!

(Image via Facebook)

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