If you are anything like me you would have clicked on this link hoping for “10 magical steps to get the body you have always wanted in 7 days !” or something like that. This is because a few weeks before the end of every winter I get myself all hyped up for the forthcoming summer and my headspace is usually something like this:
“This year things are going to change ! This year I am going to start a healthy eating plan early and finally loose all the baby weight ! I’m going to wake up at 5am every morning to have an early morning jog. I’m going to buy that cute water bottle from Typo and drink at least 8 cups of water every day. I will watch all the sugar movies and then banish sugar from my diet because it’s pure evil. I will do all of this because I will have an iron will ! On Monday. For now I will eat the rest of the chocolate in the cupboard so I won’t have it there to tempt me.”

Yip, this is me. Every time. Then two weeks before summer I start to panic. “Oh goodness, what am I going to do ? I have done nothing, absolutely nothing ! (Beside eating all the chocolate.) I still have a lumpy bottom, muffin top, wobbly thighs and there is absolutely nothing I can do about those varicose veins or stretch marks.” As summer approaches I can almost hear that creepy thriller music of impending doom in the background as I sip my morning coffee and notice my cute water bottle still sitting in the door of the fridge.

But not this summer. This summer things will be different. This summer will be
different because I I have decided to accept who I am and what this body of mine looks like after birthing four beautiful children. I am tired of perching neatly on a beach towel to avoid running and playing with my kids because I wobble. I am tired of feeling self conscious after being fed media drivel from childhood on what the perfect woman looks like. It’s time to wake up ladies because we all know that the images are photoshopped and yet we still allow them to permeate our subconscious and restrict the way we engage with our kids. Those fake images have fed the monster of self loathing which most woman struggle with. Yes, there are gorgeous women out there who have perfectly toned bodies, but guess what – they don’t care about you! In fact it may come as a surprise, but most people on the beach don’t care about you or what you look like. They are too busy worrying about their own body image which is pure ridiculousness. This summer will be different because I am so over my own vanity. Yep, that’s what it really is – vanity in a twisted kind of way. That body obsession that we have all grown up with in western society – I am officially done with it.

So what am I going to do to get my body ready for summer? I am going to get my mind right. I am going to have long chats with my grandmother because when you get old you suddenly don’t care what other people think of your looks. I am going to learn from her and have her attitude now while I am still young enough to be active and play with my kids. I know I will always strive toward healthier living and still admire those who, “have it right,” but it won’t be for the sake of my looks or my wobbly thighs. It will be for the sake of my health and the way I feel so I have more energy for my kids. I’m sure I will have moments of self doubt once that swimming costume comes out because let’s be honest, old habits die hard, but one things is for sure – I am not going to be ashamed of my body this summer because life is very short and, “ain’t nobody got time for that !”

view the full blog at https://samthemom.wordpress.com/

*featured image from http://www.demotivation.us/