It begins early in the year for us in the northern hemisphere. It creeps not that long after the onslaught of new year diets and programs; the push to change the body in time for summer.
The “get your summer body” messaging implies that only a limited range of body types are worthy of shedding layers and enjoying the sun, and that chance are your body doesn’t fit this narrow ideal and you need to “fix” that. You are expected to feel grateful for the diet or program delivering this message, as they claim to offer a timely solution that allows you to avoid social exclusion and join the “pretty people” in the sunshine.
In the context of being surrounded by variations of this body messaging throughout our lives, this kind of messaging and strategy to sell doesn’t seem out of place, odd or unrealistic. Every year this strategic messaging convinces millions of people worldwide to buy products or programs. However, what they are selling often isn’t sustainable. It’s only a matter of time before you “fall off the wagon.” If this happens early, you might reassure yourself, thinking, “It’s okay. There’s still time. I can get back on track before summer.”
As summer creeps closer, the sense of urgency increases. There’s a high chance your body doesn’t resemble the ideal you envisioned, not because of anything you are doing, but because the ideal is unrealistic as are the means of achieving it. Anxiety rises. Thoughts of “Is there enough time? Maybe if I try even harder” may race through your head. Activity increases, food intake decreases. Your body protests, pushed too far with its needs unmet. Injuries, fatigue, headaches, feeling rundown, catching every little bug going around—all become common. Yet, the push to achieve the elusive “summer body” persists.
If “falling off the wagon” happens closer to summer or you aren’t able to get back on, oh the shame and sense of failure. The worries of how people knew you were on a diet or doing a program, and fears that you will be judged and seen as a failure. Thoughts of “They will know I haven’t got my shit together. That I am not successful. That I am not good enough”.
Each day, self-shame and disgust grow. Every look in the mirror highlights all the ways your body didn’t measure up, that you didn’t do what you should have. You feel like a failure, believing you brought this upon yourself. The intensity grows, making looking in the mirror torturous.
Now, it feels too late to fix it. What do you do? Hide. No one can see this. The mind frantically races towards exit strategies for plans made or summer plans to come.
The summer scramble.
Pause.
Step back.
Breathe.
The scramble doesn’t need to exist. It is not necessary and it is not helpful. It sends your body and mind into a spin, and repeats itself when the next season or reason (such as holiday season) appears.
Summer is the time of year that the temperatures go up. People shed clothing to be more comfortable in the heat.
Your body shape and size does not make your more or less deserving or worthy of enjoying the season however you see fit. Your body is your body. It just is. It is not an indicator of success, failure or worth.
If that scramble sounded familiar, one that you have been pulled into many summers, take a moment and ask yourself, What are things that you have not done or missed out on because of how you have felt about your body?
You deserve to enjoy life, regardless of your body size. The scramble hasn’t worked. It has brought you closer to the ideal body or the ideal summer, it has actually pulled you away from it. Even if you have achieved your ideal body, your focus then shifts to maintaining it, and again you can be taken out of the present and enjoying what is in front of you, and become a slave to the scale.
It is time to find your way back to you, and enjoying the summer you want to have.
Ask yourself, How would your summer be different if the size or shape of your body didn’t matter? What would you do more of? What would you do less of?
Try to do even just one of those things this season. Take the space back. Reclaim your summer.
drsarahpegrum 