Ever since I can remember, I’ve struggled with self-image, along with almost everyone else. We all know that this feeling grows immensely as the swim suits hit the racks. Advertisements of different diet supplements and fat-free programs can be found everywhere promising that they'll give you that perfect beach look you always wanted. People start to feel pressured to starve themselves of certain foods, or all foods, spend a crazy amount of time exercising, take strange vitamins and tan their skin; just so we can all look good for those random strangers near the water that we’ll never see again.
These last few months, that’s all changed for me. One question that really hit me was, “Who am I trying to impress?” If I’m on the beach or at the pool, most of the people there are too worried about what they look like to stop and judge my body type. And like I said before, I’ll never see most of them again anyway. Then there’s the people you came with, and if they’re your real friends, they’ll love you for the size of your brain and heart, not your legs and stomach.
It’s almost disgusting how much time, effort and attention we give to changing people’s body types. We need to stop this and just realize that you’re beautiful and your body is beautiful. We need to stop finding ways to change our bodies and instead, change the things that make us feel like we’re not worthy.
If we were all that perfect body type, would it still be perfect? Or will the "perfect" body type change because it’s too common, because it’s now looked at as copper instead of gold? Society will never be happy with you, but who cares? You be happy with you.
There is no such thing as the perfect body. All of us are perfect in our own selves. It doesn't matter if I'm a medium instead of a small, or any other size. If a bowl of ice cream makes you happy, eat one every day. No one has the right to tell you that you won't look great this summer, because you will look great and ice cream is definitely worth every calorie.
Let’s embrace difference as beauty. So whether you think you have too many curves or not enough, the only thing we need to change this summer is our mindset, not our bodies.
