Your Body Is Not A Trend: A Summer Well Lived

Your body is not a trend. It’s not something that needs to keep up with the seasons.

We’ve all heard the term “get your summer body” and this year it seems like a lot of messaging is “abs for summer”. When the truth is, your summer won’t be better because you have abs or because you have a thigh gap, or a body that fits whatever ideal is being sold to us this season.

Your summer gets better when you let go of the expectations society has placed on your body and actually enjoy the moment you are in.

The “Ideal” Body Has Always Changed

We are here to tell you something that should be obvious, but somehow still needs saying: the “ideal” body is made up.

In the 1920s, women were expected to flatten their curves for the straight-up-and-down flapper silhouette. By the 1950s, it was all about the hourglass: tiny waist, fuller bust, rounded hips. Then came the ultra-slim, mod look of the ’60s and ’70s, aerobics bodies in the ’80s, the supermodel-thin ideal of the ’90s, and the low-rise-jean, visible-ab era of the early 2000s.

The standard has changed again and again, not because bodies suddenly became better or worse, but because culture, fashion, media, and marketing decided a different look was “in.”

Today, we are still watching culture cycle through different versions of the same old message: there is one right way to take up space.

There is not.

Your body should not have to reinvent itself every time the internet decides a different silhouette is in.

You Do Not Need a “Summer Body”

All of that to say, you do not need a summer body. You already have one.

The one that carries you through extra-long, sun-soaked days. Through swimming, running, traveling, playing with your kids, sitting on the beach, dancing at a wedding, staying out too late, and feeling a little more carefree.

Your workout and movements should help you feel stronger, more capable, more grounded, and more confident.

There is a big difference between moving because you are trying to become worthy of summer and moving because you want to enjoy your life.

We are here for the second one.

 A Summer Well Lived Looks Different on Everyone

A summer well lived might mean trying something new. It might mean getting stronger. It might mean taking a break from tracking, comparing, fixing, or criticizing yourself.

It might mean wearing the swimsuit now.

It might mean being in the photo.

It might mean letting your body be part of the memory instead of the reason you sat it out.

Your body does not need to fit the trend of the moment to deserve joy, movement, sunlight, good food, community, or a seat by the pool.

It never did.

This summer, let the goal be bigger than looking a certain way.

In case you needed the reminder: Feel good. Move how you want. Take up space. Live it.