Summer’s Here…How You Can Feel Great in a Swimsuit

QUOTE:

“When you’re trying to control your body to control how people think about you, you’re doing it wrong…you’re always going to be struggling.” – Brooke Castillo, Master Life Coach and Owner, The Life Coach School

TOPIC:

NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO CONTROL WHAT OTHERS THINK ABOUT US

Summer is here and bathing suit season is in full swing.

A common weight loss goal I hear leading up to this time of year is, “I want to lose XX pounds in XX weeks or months before my vacation so I can look good in a swimsuit.”

As we investigate the reason behind this common weight goal, it comes down to concern for how others will think and feel about my client’s body.

When you want to lose weight to control how others think about you, you create fear and stress for yourself.

This fear and stress comes from giving yourself an impossible task.

The simple truth is you can’t control what people think about you.

Their opinions are caused by the thoughts in their brain which you have no control over.

Our thoughts are unique because they come from and are influenced by our personal life experiences.

The lens through which I see the world will never be exactly the same as someone else, and therefore, my opinions will be shaped a little differently because of that.

This may cause me to believe your body looks amazing in a bathing suit, or it may not no matter how much weight you lose and how fast you lose it.

It doesn’t matter what you weigh by when, what matters is the thoughts your mind is choosing about what it all means.

You can choose to believe whatever you want about how you look in a swim suit.

What’s important here is to look at the bigger picture of who we want to be, and how we want to evolve as a human.

So how do we show up on vacation wearing our swimsuit and have peace around what we and others think and feel about our body?

Ultimately, we all just want to be who we really are.

There’s no peace in showing up inauthentically in an attempt to control people’s opinion of you.

This crushes your spirit because you are not living in integrity with yourself.

You are lying to yourself, and to those around you.

If you could make peace with how you and others think and feel about your body, is the best way to achieve that by loving your body, and taking care of yourself no matter what?

Or is peace the pressure to have the perfect body so everyone admires it because you could lose XX pounds in XX weeks or months?

Why?

There’s no right answer—only what’s true for you.

It’s not about believing your body looks great when it doesn’t look great.

It’s a choice you make based on how you’re defining “great,” and why that definition means “great.”

Get curious about your deeper cause of the belief.

From this place you can set yourself free from trying to control others’ opinion of you.

What you think about you is what matters most.

People are going to judge you, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Have your own back, and seek your own approval of yourself.

Let others be wrong about you, and have their opinion about you--it’s out of your control.

Give yourself the freedom to be who you are, and from this place, your life will open up.

Weight goals or any goals you set will be much easier to achieve from this space of peace instead of fear and stress.

EMPOWERING QUESTIONS:

This week I have multiple questions to help you consciously choose how you want to define a perfect body. You get to decide.

• What does it mean to have a body that looks great?

• Why does it matter so much?

• What’s wrong with being overweight?

• What do I make being overweight mean to myself, and those around me?

• Why does looking great mean so much to me?