As college women get ready for Spring Break, the first instinct they have is to lose all the weight they can so that they look good in their swimsuits. But what if your first instinct was to think about how much you’re looking forward to the vacation time? What if you thought about the positives of break instead of the stresses it adds? It’s time to have a new outlook on bikini season. It’s time to enjoy the beach for the fun in the sun and the beauty of the ocean. It’s time to go on vacation and spend it relaxing instead of worrying about what a scale says.
I recently worked a bake sale on campus and I noticed that the majority of people who donated did it for the cause instead of the treat. Of course, it’s great to support a good cause, but what kind of college student turns down a $1 donut? Not me, that’s for sure. In fact, I was stuffing my face with dessert the entire time I worked the bake sale. So, I decided to start asking people why they didn’t want the desserts, and every single person said something along the lines of “Spring Break is next week, are you kidding me?” or “I have to wear a swimsuit.”
This really made me think about how our culture can influence a woman to completely starve herself just to obtain the “perfect” bikini body. I mean, it’s pretty easy to see when all of these people were denying dollar dessert because they were terrified of gaining weight. They should be treating themselves for the hard work they did during the week. Instead, they thought about how much weight they want to lose before they hit the beach.
Of course, I don’t blame anyone specifically for this. We’ve grown up thinking these negative thoughts. We hear them from boys all the time and they settle in our brains and spread. Boys make snide comments that make us feel downgraded and unworthy. They make us feel like we don’t deserve the same as everyone else if we don’t look like a toothpick. They want us to chug beers and order them pizza, but also be the size of Kendall Jenner. Well, I did the math…and that’s pretty much impossible. Being healthy doesn’t equal a 6-foot model who weighs 100 pounds. Being healthy means assessing your body and how you feel. It means learning about what you need to do for yourself to live a good life. Everybody has a different shape and size and that doesn’t make you unhealthy. It’s natural to be different shapes and we should embrace that.
I’m not telling you to go all super-size me and eat McDonald’s every day, but there’s nothing wrong with letting yourself splurge. In fact, not eating is a lot more unhealthy than having that one donut at the bake sale. It’s unhealthy both physically and psychologically.
I know I can’t influence your self-confidence or how you feel about your body, because we’re always going to have doubts. But I’m here to tell you that you are perfect the way you are and you shouldn’t change for anyone but yourself. You definitely shouldn’t try to change yourself for something as silly as college spring break. I have a feeling that once you’re there, the boys aren’t going to care much anyway. Trust me, they’re lucky to have you no matter the size and they know that. It’s just getting yourself to believe that’s the truth.
Take a second today to love your body for what it is right now. Tell yourself that spring break is just a tacky drunk-fest that shouldn’t cause harm to your self-esteem. Tell yourself you’re hot and that you deserve to have a good time no matter what size you are. Weight has nothing to do with who you are as a person. It doesn’t make you any better or worse. Work on the parts of your life that will make you a better person, instead of dwelling on the stressors you can’t help.