Body Image And Swimsuit Shopping

Curious what your body image is like? Go swimsuit shopping!
If you’re ever feeling as though life is just swell, the future’s looking bright and all is right with the world – swimsuit shopping is a sure fire way to wipe that smile of your face.
In my opinion? No good mood can survive such an expedition…..

Summer has well and truly arrived here in New Zealand and since my old swimsuit retired last summer, it was time to hit the sales and shop for a new one. There was only one teeny tiny thing I had over-looked; two weeks after Christmas (over-indulging) is not a good time to go shopping for a new swimsuit…..

There’s just something about bright lights, sweltering temperatures, a tiny confined space and a large mirror that sucks the joy out of the universe. Wouldn’t you agree?

On a beautiful sunny day I left the house feeling a million dollars. Everything was perfectly fabulous….until…….I stood in that small confined space, in front of a huge mirror, having just squeezed myself into a tiny swimsuit when I realized there were many bumps on my body I swear I had not seen before.

Talk about killing your buzz and your perfectly fabulous day.

Good things might have happened after that; the sun was still shining, the day was still perfect…heck..Ryan Gosling might have even walked past, but my good mood had dissapeared; instantly. Along with my healthy body image.

Now, in all fairness, perhaps it was the wrong time to go shopping for a swimsuit – it was 2 weeks after Christmas after all, who in their right mind would attempt that?? But it was at that precise moment that my ‘feeling healthy new years resolutions‘ got replaced with ‘going on a diet resolution‘. You see, I had accepted the extra few kilo’s that wouldn’t budge last year, telling myself they were meant to be there as it’s more important to be healthy. I still agree with that concept as I’m not one to go on diets and aim for a healthy lifestyle…..
However, every now and then, these extra kilo’s pop by for a visit just to remind me they’re still there. (so kind of them)
This is often, coincidentally, when I am in a sweltering, brightly lit, confined space, squeezing myself into trying on a swimsuit….

So, I’ve decided that the only way to look good in a new swimsuit is to not look at all. This way your day will still be perfect, life will still be swell and your body image will remain intact. I chose a changing room without a mirror, tried on pair after pair until I found one that felt like a million dollars and bought them. If Ryan Gosling had walked past again, it would have been the perfect shopping experience

It’s not really what we look like that makes us feel good or bad – it’s what we think we look like. As long as I don’t spend any time in front of brightly lit mirrors, I’m going to continue imagining I look like Elle Macpherson and everything will still be perfectly fabulous.

Thanks for reading, have yourself a fabulous day ladies!