About making your dreams come true

I just realized something, you guys. I've been such a brainwashed idiot for most of my life. I've always been taught (by the media, by my friends, by my equally self conscious mom) to always have a negative body image and to think that achieving physical perfection in the form of a thin, smooth body is somehow the key to happiness. Look good and you'll be happy with yourself. Boy is this one of the biggest lies of our lives!

In reality, it's really the other way around. Be happy with yourself, and how you feel will definitely reflect on how you look, and your negative body image will shrivel up and die. Don't believe me? Let me prove it with an example from my own life.

This photo was taken at a concert. When I first saw it, my inner critic cringed in disgust, screaming: »Kill it! Kill it with fire!«

It's all about positive body image. Photo by Aljosa Gracner

During the performance, my already low wasted pants dropped a bit and this, along with my shirt riding up, gave me what I can only describe as a muffin top. Yuck, right? Muffin tops are a crime against humanity! An eyesore! They are not to be shown in public! They are to be hidden from the world and the owners to be shamed for allowing themselves such a moment of imperfection.

For a while, this picture seriously bothered me. I'd even considered contacting the author of the photo, asking him to remove it from the www forever. But then I realized. I have to change my negative body image because this photo is AWESOME!

- P I N T H I S I M A G E -

Don't let your negative body image stand in the way of making beautiful memories and feeling happy. Ever.

This is me, after all. Hot and sweaty after an hour of jumping, dancing, singing on stage. Having the time of my life. Being genuinely happy. Why would I let such a great memory be ruined by a supposed physical imperfection? I know

This is me. Love handles, muffin top and all. And I think in this moment, being in my zone and being so happy with the evening, the atmosphere, and the performance, I looked pretty hot. Now, some of you might disagree. But that's totally OK! (no but really look at this epic awesomeness)

Photo by Aljosa Gracner

These photos are not to be deleted and forgotten about. They are to be printed out, stuck on the wall at eye-level, with the words FUCKING AWESOME MEMORY written all over them (or maybe just above. wouldn't wanna ruin perfectly good photos by writing on it). Moments like these are a perfect negative body image killer.

How to get a beach body? Have a body + go to the beach. Voila!

I know, I know. Summer holidays are fast approaching and some of you (like me in some of my crazy moments) are already fretting going to the beach and showing off your flaws and imperfections. But I think it's time to realize that holidays are about making great memories, not worrying whether some random stranger will laugh at our cellulite and fat.

I already know that my summer holidays will be awesome! Living in an overcrowded trailor with friends for a week, playing board games and giggling like idiots late into the night, drunken singing to drunken guitar on a secluded spot of the beach. And I refuse to let these memories be overshadowed by vain concerns about how my fat rolls are showing when I'm sitting in my swimsuit at the beach side cafe, and how the delicious cocktail I'm enjoying is going straight into my ass. I refuse to do let my negative body image turn my awesome vacation into a nightmare. I refuse to do it. Period.

Let this summer be the summer of firsts (like I wore shorts for the first time in public today and didn't feel like the world was laughing at me in all my majestic wobbliness, yay!). Instead of frantically trying to change our bodies to match our mindset, let's (you guessed it!) change our mindset to match our bodies. Let's not hide our figures and their supposed ugly spots in uncomfortable clothing that makes us burn up in the summer heat, but instead, let's wear shorts and a tank top and not give a damn if someone looks at us and goes »yuck«.

Being who we are is not about being a pleasing sight to every eye that happens to glance at us. It's about doing our thing and making great memories along the way.

Aaaaand I'm stuck to the couch. Again. That's the one down side of wearing shorts I don't think I can ever come to terms with.

So what do you say? Are you with me? Are we ready to make this summer (and the negative body image that we are always taught to have) our bitch?