Summer is here. You know what that means. Time to get that summer body ready… Maybe? 

It seems that department stores, online ads, and EVERY single diet organization on the planet is taking the glorious season of summer as an opportunity to shame American women about the size of their bodies, so to emotionally take advantage of their insecurity, and thereafter take their money, by convincing them they NEED a summer body. 

While I could rage for days about the how problematic this is for women’s’ self esteem, I’ll stick to three main points. First of all, these ads and organizations are creating an idea that it is society who gets to decide which bodies are good or bad when in reality, we are the deciders of whether or not our bodies are good, and whether or not we can wear something. If we accept the idea that our bodies have to meet a certain criteria to wear certain articles of clothing, then we are surrendering to the notion that we are not able to determine OUR OWN worth. 

This leads me to my second point: How our bodies look to other people is the LEAST important thing about them. It is so easy to go to the pool and feel hyper aware of what the other people there think, because it is human nature to judge, and feel judged. When we get caught up in this though, we miss out on the joy, freedom, confidence, and excitement that thinking and acting solely for ourselves can bring. When we act according to how we feel, we become far more immersed in the moment, and are able to live a much more full life.  

This leads me to my final point, and that is, life is far too short to be worried about the size of our bodies all summer long. My summer, for one, has so many other incredible aspects to it. I have a fun job, hilarious friends, a caring family, amazing opportunities to travel, beautiful weather, new adventure, and much more. So why don’t I focus on those things, and ignore the voice that tells me that how my body looks is more important, because frankly that voice is wrong.  

At the end of the day, our bodies are and always have been a summer body. Want to know why? Because they are bodies. That’s all it takes.