"I don't have my beach body yet"

"Just waiting for my summer body"

Everywhere you look social media imposes this dogma that you need a certain body type or certain look to participate in summer.

It's a joke.

A cruel joke.

I do not have a "beach body" nor will I ever have one. Girls and guys alike, no one can fulfill these overt expectations.

I recently read this great article on one of my favorite sites, The Lala, titled "I Forgot I Was Fat Until I Went Shopping".

The author Abby said "When I leave my house in the morning, I always have three things with me. My phone, my wallet, and 20 pounds of what many would call ‘excess’ body fat.

It’s true. I confess. I’ve got some extra stuffing in a number of my nooks and crannies. But I’m not an unhealthy person. My doctor has never told me that I need to lose weight. I’m capable of [fairly] strenuous physical activity. I eat a vegetable — sometimes two! — every day. I’ve never been bullied because of my size.

A lot of people look like me.

Yet here I am, very aware of my voluptuous padding. I’ve spent as many hours waiting in the drive-thru line at McDonald’s for a large Diet Coke as I have hating my body. That’s so many hours of my life.

Recently I realized how exhausted I was thinking about how much I hate my arms in tank tops. I decided I was sick of googling ‘inexpensive stretch mark removal cream.’ I was done letting this stuff consume me, letting it determine my worth, letting it get in the way of loving myself."

This hit me hard. Real hard.

How long have I been letting the way I see my body get in the way of my self love and self worth? How long have I sat back and listened to people joke about their lack of summer bodies, listened to society tell me that my body isn't worthy of a bikini on the beach and let my inner voice actively contribute to bashing my body?

Someone once told me "You know you're really mean to yourself, right?" one day while I complained about my "fat arms" in a Snapchat.

I can't believe I would allow myself to think things about my body that I would never tolerate someone else saying to me.

I can't believe I would also say those thoughts out loud.

I allowed social media to turn my body into a joke.

And frankly it's pissing me off.

I am not going to let anyone tell me I shouldn't wear a bikini at the beach because I'm not beach body ready.

Wanna know how to get a bikini body?

Put on a bikini.

So I suppose this is my declaration.

Screw social media. Screw everyone who makes my body and my body type a joke.

I'm going to proudly wear my bikini at the beach this summer and I'm not going to let some foolish doctrine tell me I can't because I don't look the part.