“I just want to have the perfect swimsuit body, and I’ll do whatever to get it!” That’s all I ever hear from my girls when Spring Break season is here and summer is right around the corner. For some reason, after being around so many females in college, there’s a little voice inside of your head that is telling you, “You’re fat” “Your boobs are too big” “Your butt is too small” every time you get ready to put on that swimsuit and head to the pool. With every college girl complaining about their body, how are you supposed to be satisfied with yours too? It’s like a plague, once you start thinking negatively, you can’t stop: it just spreads.

Throughout high school, I had always been that teenie tiny string bean and I was never disappointed with my body or any part of me. After coming to college, everything seemed to change. It’s as if every girl around me became obsessed with fixing their bodies before summer. For a while, I didn't care what they said, I thought it was silly they thought like that. But then after a while, I too started slowly picking at parts of my body that weren't "perfect." I worked out six days a week, ate three meals a day of only healthy foods, and would not go to the pool unless I felt like my body was perfect. At first, I didn't see the big deal, everyone, I mean everyone was doing it. But then, here’s what happened: I got obsessed. I always thought my friends were crazy when they would obsess over every pound on the scale, but like I said, self-consciousness and negativity is a plague.

So what? It’s normal to want to look like a Victoria's Secret model since they're the definition of "perfect." Wrong! Society seems to think that it’s okay to make young women feel as though they're not good enough to wear that tiny bikini to the pool. Our society also likes making unrealistic ideals for women to look up to and try to compete against. After spending my first two years of college obsessing over how I looked every summer, I realized it wasn't worth it. Sure, looking great and feeling great in a bikini is something we should all try to accomplish, but only for the pure happiness of ourselves, and not to please anyone else. Every female is built differently, and we can’t compare ourselves to unrealistic images.

What I’ve realized is that yes, I love going to the gym and eating healthy. But what I’ve also realized is that I love feeling great all of the time because I’m not trying to mold myself into what society thinks I should look like. I do it for the purpose of my own happiness because if you're not happy with yourself, you’ll never be happy. So ladies, stop trying to be someone you're not and never will be. Stop trying to look a certain way for anyone else but yourself. Every woman is beautiful and unique and in order to be happy with yourself, you have to realize your own beauty and learn to fall in love with it. There’s a huge difference between being skinny and being fit/healthy. Your health should be your number one priority as your body is the most important part of you. But by being fit and healthy, you might not look like the models in the magazines; and that’s okay.

So don’t go to the extremes to fit the mold society wants from you, be happy in your own skin and wear that tiny bikini to the pool… Hi, haters!