Taking Back Bikini Season: Getting (Mentally) Fit For the Beach

Every year I have the same problem: I get so excited for bikini season (aka beach, pool, water park season) and when the day finally comes for me to put on my swimsuit I look in the mirror and feel suddenly ashamed of what I see. I look at my figure and mentally note every "problem" area with sarcastic disgust: that ripple is a cheeseburger, that pocket of cellulite is Ben and Jerry's, that squishy section is too much red wine, etc. I pinch, I wiggle, and I poke the not so firm areas, and am totally horrified. "But I don't understand," I say dismayed to my reflection, "I look pretty good in normal clothes..." Then my boyfriend tells me its time to get in the car and I spend all day on the water slides focusing on sucking in my belly that enjoying the thrill and sun and company.

But, my friends, I say to you: no more! This summer, this bikini season will be different, no matter what it takes! I am sick of fearing my bathing suit appearance just because there are thinner, more model-like girls on the beach. I am sick of wondering why my butt doesn't look like the girl's in the catalogue picture of the bikini. I am sick of obsessing over "my problem areas" just because Glamour magazine has told me how to conceal them (as if they needed concealing).

I know there are so many people out there, men and women, who are taught from an early age to be ashamed of their figures. You know what, there is always going to be someone "hotter" than you out there, on the boardwalk, the beach café, or the cruise ship. So what? I say to you reclaim your unique shape, I say to you feel pride in your curves, swirls, dimples, and swooshes. I say to you that those other people out there with the "perfect beach bodies" are probably not as happy as they look - I mean, think of what they must have to eat? The time they must spend in the gym? If it came down to it I'd take a nice steak dinner of looking hot for strangers any day...so here are five things I've been doing to psych myself up for bikini season, and I recommend you so the same!

1) Wear Your Bathing Suit Around Your House: I know it sounds kind of strange. But I have found that the first hour or two I wear the suit during the summer is the most uncomfortable time for me. So by wearing it around the house I get used to the way I feel in it, the way it looks on me, and how much (or little) skin is exposed. If you are feeling really saucy do the same thing, but naked. Putting it all out there and getting used to it is the first step in confidently striding onto the sand.

2) Check Yourself Out: Ohhh, hey there gorgeous, you're looking HOT today...OK, so maybe that's a little over the top, but we all have those moments when we think, "Huh, I look pretty good today." Ramp that sentiment up abit and spend some time appreciating the glory that is you: Wow, this dress make my legs look like they go for days, sweet. My legs look really good... By appreciating the stuff you really like about yourself and your body, you are conditioning yourself to always feel great about them. If you are totally confident in the fact your legs look fabulous then strutting around in those tiny-winy bikini bottoms will be cake.

3) Stop Reading Beauty Magazines: I remember a million years ago, Baz Luhrman came out with a song called "Sunscreen"...some of you dinosaurs like me might remember it. He gives tons of advice against a hip-hop beat, and the line that always stuck out in my mind was "Do not read beauty magazines they will only make you feel ugly!"

While I am not completely convinced that that applies all of the time (I like to look at the shoes, ok?) when it comes to models in swimsuits, I completely agree. Most of us will never look like Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, or the most upsettingly beautiful, Giselle (no last name needed, you know who I mean). So why torment ourselves by spending time looking at pictures that reinforce that? Giselle doesn't have your awesome blue eyes or elegant wrists or that birthmark on your back that looks a little bit like Nixon's profile...and those things are 100% and 100% fabulous.

4) Don't Compare Your Body to Your Friends (And Vice Versa): We can't help it: we all have the friend who looks fabulous in those pants that we can't pull off, or the friend whose hair is always supermodel wonderful. Everyone has said at some point a compliment that goes like "You look great in those shoes, if I tried to wear them I would look like a retarded Chihuahua." That is not helping anyone: it is awkward for your friend and it is damaging for your psyche: the world is hard enough without you bashing yourself, especially in front of someone you deem to be superior at what you lack. Make the compliment, but only keep it to the first part. We should always be kind to others, but we always need to be kind to ourselves as well. And if you have a friend who compliments you that way, please say something to the effect of, "I don't like it when you say things like that about yourself, I think you look great."

5) Flatter Your Figure...With Comfort Comes Confidence! : Finally, and perhaps most importantly, wear things that you feel like you look good in. Just like you cannot (and wouldn't want to) have a "perfect" body that is a carbon copy of someone else you also wouldn't want to dress like everyone else. Some people can wear leggings, some they don't work as well for. Some can wear a string bikini, others are better with sports fit. If you love it and feel happy in it than by all means, rock whatever. But if you wear the latest trend and it just doesn't sit right, or makes you feel self-conscious then ditch it for something you feel more comfortable and beautiful in. You are a unique constellation of body parts, personality attributes, and experiences, and no one else will ever have exactly what you have. So why try to be like everyone else?

So, after months of mentally training to basically be almost naked in front of strangers while the sun attempts to burn my skin and I fight of dehydration, I think I am ready. I am fabulous. I think my shoulders look great in the shirt I am wearing. I refuse to read about swimsuit trends in Vogue. And I think that all of you are going to look great too. Walk tall, walk proud, and know that I wouldn't change my body, or yours, for anything. We are all just perfect.

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