My "Summer Body" is Just My Regular Body in a Lighter Fabric

We are the generation that survived the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Special K Challenge, and the era where we were told eating fat-free, sugar-laden cookies was the pinnacle of health. For decades, the arrival of May meant one exhausting thing: the countdown to getting "bikini ready."

Well, consider this my official resignation from the seasonal panic.

Navigating midlife and menopause is a full-time job. Between the unpredictable internal temperature spikes and the joints that sound like bubble wrap when we stand up, we simply do not have the bandwidth to worry about whether our thighs touch when we sit in a lawn chair. (Spoiler alert: they do, and it is entirely fine.)

My "summer body" is officially just my regular, year-round body draped in a much lighter, significantly more breathable fabric. Preferably linen.

We have spent far too many summers wrapping ourselves in towels or wearing uncomfortable, restrictive clothing just to make other people comfortable. Not this year. This season is about surviving the humidity, staying hydrated, and unapologetically taking up space.

If you want to wear the swimsuit, wear it. If you want to live in a breezy, oversized caftan until October, do it. The only requirement for having a summer body is possessing a body and walking outside when it is warm.

Life doesn't pause. Neither do you. And we certainly aren't pausing our summer joy to adhere to an outdated magazine headline from 1996.

Keep thriving.

Tracy 💗

💭 Reflection: What exhausting "summer body" rule are you officially throwing in the trash this year?