It’s really your mind you have to prepare, not your body, IMHO.

First of all, let's come up with a better name for summer than "bikini season."

Why? Because it's a phrase that's used almost exclusively to tell you how to change your body to get ready for it, with the implication, of course, that the way your body is right now just won't do. So, since the idea of bikini season has been ruined by the diet industrial complex, how about:

• swimming in the ocean season
• beach volleyball season
• barbeque season
• drinks al fresco season
• gin and tonic season
• twice-a-day shower season
• iced coffee season
• summer

Or whatever.

Andrea Hickey / BuzzFeed

Remember that you actually don’t have to change your lifestyle to get ready for summer.

There are many animals whose lives really change in the lead-up to a new season. Birds migrate to find warmer weather, fish find warmer water, and earth worms burrow deeper into the earth. In the fall, bears, skunks, and chipmunks eat extra food so they have more body fat to keep them warm in winter.

We are not those animals. Generally speaking, we can survive a change of season without drastically overhauling our lives. Sure, you can make late spring and early summer all about exercising more and eating less if that's something you want to do. OR you could enjoy the fruits of evolution's labor and accept that we're going to make it through summer as we are right now* and we don't really have to make any changes that don't make us happy.

*Please do wear sunblock.

Instagram: @buzzfeedstyle / Via instagram.com

FYI: What anyone thinks about your body is none of your business.

Sometimes I'm self-conscious about my body because I can't stop wondering if people in my life — my friends, family, co-workers, therapist, fellow subway riders — are noticing and cataloguing as obsessively as I am the ways in which my body is just not getting the job done, aesthetically speaking. But if they are thinking about my body this much, maybe that's just their business — not mine.

Hear me out.

People go around thinking all kinds of things I can't condone — about how much they love mayo,* or that the fourth Harry Potter book was the best** — without any of it ruining my day or influencing the decisions I make about my body. Those opinions are all wrong, but they're also none of my damn business. If these wrong people want to debate any of those things with me, they become my business, but until then, I am not going to let them influence what I do with my life.

Correct answers:
*Mayo is gross.
**Half-Blood Prince 4ever. Don't @ me.

Andrea Hickey / BuzzFeed

---

View Entire List ›