Trying to find a swimsuit after having a baby (or two) is just as agonizing as it sounds. Nothing you owned last year fits and your body parts are constantly changing so don’t even bother guessing what “size” you are. With all the stress of motherhood, the summertime blues of swim suit shopping seem to be just one more trigger to add to the list.
I listened to a great podcast episode from “The Heart of Healthcare” with Halle Tecco and this episode talked about the concept of “body neutrality.” As opposed to body positivity telling you to love your body each and every day, body neutrality tells us that we don’t need to be obsessed with our bodies. Body neutrality instead lets you be free to feel good about your body some days and other days not so much. But either way, you don’t have to be fixated on your body. I love this concept and I have decided to use it as my personal mantra for the summer.
So that’s where I am at right now. I don’t love my body. But I don’t hate it either. And I don’t need to be as obsessed with it. My body can just be…my body. I don’t need to worry about bouncing back to how my body once was before babies or what it should look like 14 months after twins or what I want it to look like. Maybe I can just accept that this is what my body is at this current moment. Wide hips from bringing four babies into the world. Two sagging breasts, one a little bigger than the other, from on and off again breast feeding for the past six years. And a soft stomach with abdominal muscles separated down the middle because a full term twin pregnancy will do that to you. I can do things for my body to help with my health without having the priority being on how my body looks.
So this year I decided to not think focus on the size on the swimsuit tags but instead to order a variety of suits in a variety of styles and sizes until I found what made me happy. I stuck with one pieces because in this season of life for me throwing the kids in the pool and running on the beach with the family are definitely top priorities. Here are a few that I found that I love the most:
1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10
I hope you all find a swim suit this summer that makes you happy for the body you have right here and right now. Happy summer! xx
