Start a revolution: Stop hating your body (in a swimsuit)

Swimsuit season is anxiety-inducing, depression-causing and nerve-wracking for so many men and women. There has been study after study done on the negative effects bathing suit shopping can have on our mental state.

So let’s make this summer different. This summer, let’s change how we feel about the dressing room. Let’s not worry about getting a swimsuit that will flatter our bodies so that we don’t “offend” the eyes of others. Let’s buy suits and clothing that WE like, regardless of how it looks on us, and make the conscious decision to enjoy every moment of the summer without judging and criticizing ourselves. It’s time to start loving our bodies. I couldn’t think of a better message to help reverse body hate than a youtube video I saw months ago, made by Annie Elainey, founder of Stop Hating Your Body. If you’re unfamiliar with Stop Hating Your Body, you need to visit the popular Tumblr blog RIGHT NOW and educate yourself – seriously!

“I wanted to create a space where people could express themselves about body image, where all sorts of different body types, age groups, ethnicity, beliefs, can unite over one thing: the desire to be happy, the desire to love themselves completely.”

Annie is a true inspiration, having created Stop Hating Your Body in October 2010, as a platform for awareness and knowledge in the world of body image. She dealt with abuse and bullying that led her to an extreme self-perception and self-esteem issue, as well as depression. In 2009 she was confronted about these issues and took steps towards getting better, she removed negative influences/people from her life, she practiced thinking about herself in a new and positive way, made vulnerable choices even though she was scared, and eventually found herself with a great sense of body peace. Upon finding this happiness with herself, she wanted to share body peace with the world and hopes to inspire people to make the effort to change the way they think about their bodies, to learn to love the bodies they are in! Stop Hating Your Body is a place of encouragement, a place to talk about body image, a place for feeling beautiful. No matter what you look like, what color, what gender, what size or however many “flaws”, healthy, not healthy, working on it, we are all human, we all deserve to be happy, we all deserve to love ourselves. With this blog you will see all kinds of REAL bodies, REAL people, REAL stories. Watch the video, visit the blog, change your mind.

About The Author

Patricia Colli, Editor of Beutiful Magazine, is a human rights activist, equality advocate, and promoter of health, acceptance and wellbeing. Having experienced disordered eating, unhealthy exercise patterns and poor body image, she is especially passionate about shedding light on eating disorders and the power of body acceptance.