[Tweet “Let’s Talk About Wearing A Swimsuit In Public”]
In the last few weeks, I’ve been taking advantage of the lovely summer weather and going to the beach. I am all about the beach bum life. I love sea, sun and sand. It only comes naturally as an island girl. It’s so relaxing to get to the beach and strip down to enjoy the warm sun on usually covered parts of your body. I find it to be a liberating experience and I just bask in that freedom. The first time we went to the beach this season, we were so focused on our Father’s Day treasure hunt that I didn’t pay much attention to other fellow beach bums. However, last week I had all the time to focus and dare I say stare a bit. I noticed something that bothered me a whole lot. Moms who seemed to be determined to hide their bodies. Now, of course, I don’t know everyone’s story but what I saw felt like a trend, women on the beach with their families wearing t-shirts over their bathing suits or fully clothed. I saw one mom go into the water fully clothed. This bothered me on many levels. I know that our society isn’t the nicest to us, we are told that our bodies are unattractive after bringing life into the world and if we don’t look like the ladies on the runways we aren’t beautiful.
[Tweet “Don’t sacrifice your fun because of society’s beauty standards.”]We need to refuse to believe those lies. We are beautiful! Having babies is beautiful and it makes us much more beautiful. All of the experiences that lead us to lose or gain weight makes us more beautiful. The beautiful kids that we are raising see us as beautiful.
[Tweet “Encourage fellow moms to see their beauty.”]If you don’t believe you’re beautiful, wear your swimsuit anyway. I am 10 pounds heavier than my usual weight and I didn’t let that stop me from wearing my swimsuit. When I see another mom post a photo on social media in her swimsuit, I make sure to compliment her to encourage not just her but her followers. We can let other moms know it’s okay. Really, it’s okay to wear a swimsuit! Ask your husband, I’m sure he doesn’t want to see you getting into the water on the beach in jeans and a t-shirt. If we change our expectations of each other, we will change our expectations of ourselves and not be too hard on ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not preaching here. I am part of the congregation.
If you’re on Instagram, share your #MySwimsuitStyle. Fellow mom Mimi of MimiCuteLips have an awesome campaign to encourage women to boldly share swimsuit photos.
Leave me a comment letting me know why you do or not wear a swimsuit to the beach?
I love this Adanna, I was at the mall recently and saw a bunch of very cute bikinis and thought to myself welp, won’t be wearing those anymore thanks to my stretch marks, I may have lost some of the baby weight (thanks to nursing) but those dang stretch marks LOL – This is a great post mama, very encouraging!
Author
Yes, the bikinis at the mall. I give them the evil eye. I wish the nursing got rid of the stretch marks too LOL You can always do a high waisted bikini though. Those are cute!
Love this. I wore a bathing suit for the first time a couple of weeks ago and I was so scared to do so but I did it with a coverup. I felt okay and the color looked good. Will I wear without a cover up not right now I am not that comfortable but I love when women flaunt their stuff and have so much confidence.
Author
Yay Kita! That’s awesome.
If I lived somewhere that was always warm, I would be a total beach bum because I love the beach so much. But I live in Chicago & the warm days can be few & far between so on I try to take advantage of them as much as possible & for me there is no better way to do that than to go out in one of my many fabulous “fatkinis” and enjoy the water, sand & sun.
Normally its just me in my swimsuit but I found so many fab cover ups this season so I have been rockin them because they are cute & not because I need/want to hide.
Life is such a gift & potentially so short, I refuse to not live out loud & enjoy it!
Author
I love this! Live out loud!
I love seeing my fellow moms, and mommy bloggers getting out there and rocking that bathing suit, this is really inspiring, I am sharing, sharing, sharing!
Author
Right Nancy! Thank you for sharing 🙂
There seems to be a movement on the blogosphere encouraging women to love their bodies especially during swimsuit season. I love it!
Author
I need to get “in” on the movement LOL
I do wear my swimsuit, I would love to put on a two piece but I just think I’m not ready, not that I don’t love my body just that I’m not where I want to be size wise. I truly encourage all women to do what’s best for them when it comes to body image and wearing swimsuits.
I have no problem wearing a swimsuit. I love your tweets too!! Don’t sacrifice your fun because of society’s beauty standards.
I love this and the movement. I’m definitely way more critical of my body post kids than I was before but I’ve come a long way. I need to get a couple of new swimsuits. And while I’m not at a two piece wearing comfort level yet, I did buy (and wear) a swimsuit last summer with a cut out around the mid section. That was a big step. But no way will I wear clothes into the swimming pool/ocean