Just wear the darn bathing suit! Wear the bikini or the tankini or the full piece or the thong. Wear whatever you please, and own it.
This is photo number 536 that I made my husband take. Why? Because the other 535 were unflattering… Says me. You could see too many rolls or the angle wasn’t quite right or shadows were all wrong or the lens zeroed in on all the flaws.
Mind you, this isn’t the best one either – again, says me – but the difference here is that my kid is in the shot and I’ve found a little perspective.
My kid isn’t paying attention to what I’m wearing. He couldn’t care less about what I look like in any swimwear.
He’s looking for mom to play. He’s looking at mom to swim with him, pass him water and snacks, and listen to his whining to about how the sun is blazing on the wrong side of life.
I live with body dysmorphia and have been fighting it for eons. But now that I have a kid, my fight is that much stronger. I don’t want my son growing up knowing he has an insecure mom. I don’t want him placing value on body types. I want him to embrace acceptance and difference.
So I put on the darn bikini because I want to wear it and because no one but me cares what I look like.
Change starts here, with me.
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A version of this post originally appeared at The Antsy Butterfly, published with permission.
