How I stopped worrying about swimsuit season

So a funny thing happened last month when I went to put on a swimsuit for the first time:

I noticed that I wasn’t worried about how I looked.

Ok, I mean, sure – I checked myself out in the mirror to see if my suit straps were straight, and to take another look at my hair…

But my standard, slightly self-loathing acceptance of my body in a swimsuit? It wasn’t there.

My reluctance to put on a swimsuit has been such a part of my summer experience that it’s practically an unspoken flow chart inside my head:

Memorial Day → hot temperatures → put on a swimsuit → feel bad about my body → feel bad about my worth as a human.

But this year? I don’t feel that way. Somehow I seem to have short-circuited that chain.

How’d that happen? Honestly, at first I was kind of mystified.

But after reflecting on it, I realized that something pretty major has shifted within me over the last year – and I think it’s made all the difference in LOTS of areas of my life:

I have finally embraced the reality that this is my ONE life. I get one shot at this. And I don’t want to waste a second of it.

People say that time is our only non-renewable resource. And I agree. The clock ticks the same for all of us.

So I have a choice:

Will I spend all of my time fretting over my body – or can I accept myself and the beauty of my body right now?

In fact, we all have a lot of choices:

Will we spend our time slogging through jobs that don’t light us up – or will we make conscious choices to realign our work with our values? 

Will we spend our time blaming other people or circumstances for our feeling stuck – or will we take responsibility for the ways we unconsciously sabotage ourselves because it’s safer that way?

Will we spend our time feeling stifled and unfulfilled in our relationships and workplaces – or will we finally take a stand for what we know is true and authentic for us?

Just like me, you have a choice. This is YOUR one life. So how will you spend it?

I don’t want to pretend anymore.

I don’t want to hide anymore.

I don’t want to waste my time and energy on feeling bad about my body, my relationships, my money, my potential – anything.

This is my one life. This is your one life. And it’s time we started acting like it.

I don’t want to see you waste one more second in a situation, relationship or mindset that isn’t in service of what you’re actually here to be and do. For yourself. For your community. For the world.

So tell me – what choices are you making with the time you have?

You’ve got this!

Onward,

PS: Pulling this one out of the archives, because Tina says it best!