Why You NEED To Work On Your Beach Body Confidence NOW

Every single one of you has a perfectly beautiful beach body but not everyone has beach body confidence.  I know that over the years, we’ve been ground down by society as the media has taught us to believe that we . need to meet some highly constructed sense of perfection before we can enjoy life with the sane between our toes.

WHAT A LOAD OF SEASHELLS THAT IS!

You, my beautiful reader are perfect, exactly as you are, in this very moment, and guess what; you’re only going to get this summer once.  That’s it.  Once it’s gone, it’s gone and 2K19 is never coming back.  You have two choices; sit on the sidelines sweating, feeling exhausted and overheating from the sun shining on all of those layers or you can peel them back, freshen up, feel the sun on your skin and say YES to all of those amazing opportunities to make happy memories this summer.  I urge you to choose the latter.

We only have one life and it doesn’t matter whether you want to remain as perfect as you already are or whether you want to change something about yourself be it aesthetically or from the inside, because it isn’t going to happen overnight.  All that you are promised is this moment, TODAY.  So enjoy it, be grateful for it and love who you are and your body while you’re working on your goals and making memories.

I WANT TO GET REAL WITH YOU.

Last year, I posted a body confidence video in a washed out old plus size swimming costume at my local pool and in it I was talking about how I was going swimming because I had just as much right to as anyone else.  I was amazed by the number of women who contacted me with stories of all of the beach and poolside moments they were missing out on because they didn’t feel confident in their swimwear.  What really broke my heart was a lady who had said that she had never taken her children swimming in their young lives because she was so frightened about what others would think about her body in a swimming costume that she left it up to her husband to take them and instead, she sat on the sidelines watching on from afar.  She told me that my video and other images with captions that I’d posted on social media had made her realise what she was missing out on making memories with her children and that those memories for her and them to treasure were far more important than what other people thought about her in her swimwear so she had ordered a costume online and was going to go with them.  This made me realise that I could have the potential to help others to feel a little more self assured and body confident which could have a hugely positive impact on their lives.

You see the harsh reality is, you’re NEVER going to get this day again.  Your children will only be this age once, you’ll only be at this point in your life once and the experiences that you could have today will only occur in this exact way ONCE.  Don’t spend your days wishing your life away until you’ve changed into this magically happier person that you’ve constructed in your head.  Stop caring about what others will think about you in your swimwear and instead, care about saying YES! to all of those things that you really want to say yes to because in the end, you’ll only truly regret the things you didn’t do.

There are plenty of people who believe in reincarnation, heaven, the afterlife and any other number of life after death possibilities.  For sure, it would be comforting to know that we could be looking down on our loved ones after we’ve passed but the reality is that no one knows what happens when we die.  No one has ever come back from the other side and said:

“Listen love, it’s lovely up here.  I’ll tell ya what, you just sit in the house for the next 40 summers, hating your body and watching the world go by through the window because you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy yourself when you get up here; its great!  You’ll have a body just like in the magazines and you’ll be able to frolic on the beach like a spring lamb on a daisy covered hill, free from worry as everyone else is so positive about you!”

If we do look down on our loved ones from way up there, then what is the difference between that and sitting on the sidelines now because you’re too scared of what other people will think about you in your swimwear or even worse, what you will think of you?  If you are physically able to pull on your swimwear and join in but you are choosing not to, then you’re missing out on making these once in a lifetime memories and delaying your happiness.  I promise you, no ones opinion about you in your swimwear is more important than you truly living your most authentic life with happiness.  You aren’t hurting anyone but yourself.

When I was on my journey to plus size bikini body confidence, I discovered that there was a real element of having to get over myself.  It felt a bit like the shock of a slap in the face followed by a wave of internal embarrassment before feeling the FREEDOM to LIVE.  I realised that Sharon, 44 from Hull was far too concerned with enjoying her family holiday, sipping on a cocktail, topping up her tan and keeping an eye on her kids to make sure they don’t drown in the pool to care about what I look like in my swimwear.  Funnily enough, she hadn’t spent the last 6 months slogging her guts out doing 20 hours overtime a week to pay for her summer holiday to Tenerife to lie there and fat shame me for how I looked in my bikini.  She had happy memories to make, so did I and this summer, you do too.

Don’t waste days away wishing you were different & feeling like you have to cover up; you have nothing to be ashamed of; zilch, NADA.

That’s why I am making it my mission to help you with your body confidence so that you spend more time saying YES! and less time hiding away, feeling self conscious this summer.  The #CurvissaSummerOfYes campaign that we’ve just launched means the world to me because it is the perfect opportunity for me to do this and it goes hand in hand with my message.  I was so passionate about working with Curvissa again because I wanted to bring you swimwear looks on my beach body so that you know that it’s ok to love yours too.  This campaign is a great step in the right direction towards offering more representation and showing that beauty isn’t confined to the very limited ideal that we see in the press.  Even at the meetings for #WhatLauraLovesXCurvissa at the end of last summer going into the autumn, I was talking about plus size swimwear and how I wanted to bring that to you all and finally, I have been able to with the capsule summer holiday collection that I have curated.

I’m so passionate about helping you to build your body confidence because I know how far building mine has taken me.

With this edit, I wanted to take confidence with swimwear back to the start because while there are plenty of women out there who are on the same page as me, who love the skin they’re in and will happily wear a bikini on the beach regardless of their size, there are so many women who aren’t even in the same library let alone reading the same book.

I picked out the fringed v-neck swimsuit as a starting point for building that beachy confidence which you can read more about in this summer body confidence post.  Wear it with a kimono or some beach trousers and try out my tips on removing those around the pool for small, increasing time slots so that you feel how wonderful it is to be in the sunshine when you know that actually no one bats an eyelid and the world hasn’t ended because you’re in a swimming costume.  By the end of the holiday, you’ll have so much more confidence and wont feel the need to cover up all of the time.

Once you’re there, it’s time to take your poolside style to the next level with the Hanky Hem Tankini by Bonprix.  Of course if you’re already there or have really had enough of holding yourself back at the beach, then you dive straight into this beauty!  I wanted the pieces that I picked out for this collection to really be able to help the women out there who are working on their confidence no matter what stage they’re at and adding this tankini to the edit in particular was really important to me because not only will it help you to gain confidence in a tankini but in a bikini as well.

I waited until I was 28 before I ever wore a bikini and it wasn’t even that long before then that I had begun to feel truly comfortable around a pool in a swimming costume.  While I’m happy wearing most swimwear styles, I discovered that separates really suit my shape the best as often my large, lower hanging tummy is competing with the top, trying to pull it down in the race for a nip slip vs a tummy bulge.  I’m sure you all know the struggle ladies but with a bikini or a tankini, they’re always long enough because they’re two separate pieces.

What is great about this particular tankini, aside from the high waisted bottoms, is that the bust offers you plenty of support while the tummy is a loose, hanky hem style that is a little longer and more floaty than other tankini tops.  This gives you the coverage that you may feel as though you want while you’re building your love for your body but it also gives you the option to work on your body confidence further as you can roll the bottom of the tankini up little by little to show more of your tummy.  Try it out when you’re lying on your sun lounger to feel what it would be like to be rocking a bikini in the warmth of the sun; I promise you, the world wont end and you’ll feel fabulous!  Just don’t forget your SPF 30 or 50+ sunscreen.

High factor sun protection wont stop you from tanning but it will mean you can stay in the sun for longer without burning, you can reapply it less frequently (but always after swimming or excessive sweating) and it’ll better protect you against skin cancer and premature skin ageing caused by the suns rays.  Protecting your skin and taking care of it is a really important part of loving your body too!  It would be a real shame if you were to build your self love up to wearing a tankini around the pool, only to burn to a crisp on the first day and have to spend the rest of the trip fully covered, sitting underneath a parasol.

Remember, always wear a high factor SPF, stay hydrated with plenty of water & seek shade when the sun becomes too strong (usually 12-3!).  All skin tones regardless of how light or dark need to wear SPF- the sun does not discriminate with the damage it can do.

Through the #CurvissaSummerOfYes campaign, I want you to feel empowered to say YES safely and confidently to all of those memory making moments this summer; experience joy at the beach, get in the pool with your family and feel the sun on your skin because it doesn’t matter how many stretch marks, dimples or scars you have or what your shape and size is, you deserve to enjoy your live & exist with happiness just as much as anyone else.

️Love the body that you have now and live TODAY!  This summer is yours for the taking, make sure you have no regrets when the winter comes and you’re reminiscing on the warmer, longer days.

CLICK HERE to take a trip to destination Confidence with the #CurvissaSummerOfYes and live your best life this summer.

Let me know about the amazing plans you’re making for the summer!