Insecurities had ruled me all my life. No matter how small I was! Back when I was a teen I didn’t realise what body dysmorphia was. I just looked at myself and saw a tiny bit of bigger hips than everyone else my age. Not realising genetically that’s where I store my most stubborn ‘fat’. I’d swim in shorts and T-shirts. I finally realised ‘hey I can just swim in shorts and no one will notice.’ As I got older and developed Hashimotos, that is when I really started to gain weight. Not understanding how and why I just realised my mindset needed to change because that is who I was and I wasn’t going to live in fear of my body any longer, so I started to promote body positivity trying to encourage women like me not to feel ashamed of what they look like in a bikini or a swimsuit during summer. I spent far too many years of my life hiding myself and feeling insecure and not allowing myself to actually just be happy in the skin that I was in. A lot has changed since I realised I could now pin point what the root cause of my weight gain was but not everyone has an auto immune disease like I do. And yet I still believe as long as you are working on bettering yourself there is no need to hide who you are during summer. Nor listen to what anyone has to say about your body. Especially that nasty little voice that can sometimes pop up and ruin your day! My message to you is to enjoy this summer, look after yourself and love yourself. Don’t be hard on yourself around Christmas time but if it is your wish get back to being healthy afterwards. There’s no wrong time to start and there’s no better time than the present. ✨