This video was something that I made due to the amount of feedback that I have received from all of you about the stress and pressure that comes along with summer and swimsuit season. I know that this topic and time of year will always be tricky for us, but there are ways that we can be better prepared for it. First, I want you to consider everything that I say and make sure that you put it into your own words so that when someone asks you about your preparations for summer, you are prepared and comfortable with what you are going to say.

My first tip is to set some goals that you want to achieve by summer. That way when someone asks you how you are preparing for summer you have an answer, and it’s not even made up!! Make sure these are small goals that you could achieve each week or so to keep yourself motivated and not add stress to an already stressful time. Remember, this is a progression, this is not perfection. It may even make sense to set a goal to not achieve all of your goals!! I know that sounds crazy, but sometimes when we are perfectionists, it is good to not do it all.

The second tip is to detour the conversation. You have been in conversations with people who do this. You probably didn’t even notice!! When they start talking about swimsuit season or dieting or whatever, you just begin talking about what you are doing for summer. For example, you could say “yeah that’s great that you are dieting, I am working on my New Year’s resolutions now and sort of doing a ‘spring cleaning…’” Then start talking about some of the goals you are setting. Some ideas for goals, if you struggle to think of some, can be things like doing something nice for yourself (not food related). Like getting your nails done or spending time journaling or playing with an animal, whatever makes you feel good. You could also do something nice for someone who is close to you. It’s a funny thing but we often get just as much out of doing something for someone else as we would if we did it for ourselves. Maybe a goal would be to follow your meal plan for a whole day, or week, or whatever is reasonable for you. Just be easy on yourself, there is no need to create more stress and anxiety.

Let’s continue to work on ourselves! This is our own mental spring cleaning. Let’s make this year better than the last. After all, we can’t have a healthy body without first having a healthy mind. Let’s get started and please let me know if some of these ideas work or how you have made it work for you. Let’s continue our walk towards a healthy mind and a healthy body.