Summer is rapidly approaching and for most, it is the best time of the year. Students are relieved that they are done with the school year, and those in the workforce find time to take vacations. Everyone flees to the great outdoors to spend as much time as they can in the warm sunshine before the seasons change again.
Although summer might sound like all fun and games, it can be a stressful time, specifically for people lacking confidence in their bodies. Why? Because every year, with sunshine and warmer weather, comes lack of clothing and according to society, "bikini bodies," emerge.
Unfortunately for young people today, there is an ideal body type set by society across different social media platforms. Applications such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and VSCO, make people feel the need to conform to the set body images that these applications show off to the world in order to feel and be considered, attractive.
Though many viewers fail to realize this, many of these images of other people's bodies online that they are comparing their bodies too are fake and quite frankly unrealistic and unachievable. Most of the time, people post photos in bathing suits that have been edited in some way. Whether they made themselves appear skinnier, tanner, or muscular, added a filter or even a background, the photo has been edited in some way.
If in a rare case, an image happens to be unedited, in the end, it shouldn't matter. Contrary to popular belief, winter bodies and summer bodies are one and the same and nothing should make you feel bad about you, and your body in the summertime.
Personally, I know that I have struggled to purchase bathing suits, wearing bathing suits and especially taking pictures in bathing suits. It's not a great feeling, to say the least. Looking in the mirror and feeling uneasy about your body can be hard to take in. However, the best way to go about it is to embrace yourself and embrace your body.
I've seen so many people posting about working on their summer body, or getting ready for bikini season when they don't need to be. Yes, if someone wants to work out and get in shape, or eat healthier for their own well being, they should go for it. But, if someone is working out or dieting simply to get a "summer body," for "bikini season," maybe they should take a step back to think about what they are doing.
What matters isn't how your body is perceived to others during, but instead how confident you are in your body and how you embrace it. Unfortunately, feeling confident in today's day and age isn't an easy task. The media might be pushing body positivity, but unfortunately, it does not seem like they are pushing it for all audiences.
It should be known, throughout society, that someone's beauty should not be defined by their size, in any season. Saying somebody is pretty, regardless of how "fat," or "skinny," they might be is nothing but a backhanded compliment in the end.
With summer rapidly approaching, I know that I won't be working towards my "summer body," for "bikini season," because society is telling me to. I'm going to do my best to love myself and hopefully, others will follow by my example.
