As soon as a beach holiday is booked I immediately get ‘the fear’ of wearing a bikini in public. I am sure that I am not the only woman on the planet to dread baring all and if you are a person who feels liberated wearing underwear or a tiny bikini then I salute you! Having suffered with low self-esteem I always tend to cover up, especially my bottom half, as the thought of ‘letting it all hang out’ simply haunts me. Lets be honest though, who really cares? I don’t sit around the pool critiquing other peoples’ bikini bodies, actually in fact, I barely take notice of what people are wearing around the pool – except for suspect budgie smugglers of course – so why should I feel ashamed?

Over the years I have learned to embrace my body – including what I consider to be my flaws – as lets face it everybody always (99% of the time I am sure) wants to have something that they do not have or something that some-one else does have. I am not going to lie, from time to time I moan about the way I look, which seems ridiculous as there are a lot bigger problems in the world to worry about, my flat chest or the spider veins in my thighs not being one of them, but air brushing and idolising celebrities has somehow managed to make a large part of the world become obsessed with vanity and instil the constant strive for perfection, when beauty is interpreted differently both worldwide and individually.

I recently saw in the news that girls as young as ten years old are abusing laxatives, a fact that upsets me greatly, and a Mellin et al. study in 1991 found that 81% of 10 year olds were afraid of being fat, a figure I am sure has since likely increased. But at the end of the day we are all human and every one of us will have our own string of insecurities, especially when it comes to our bodies. Coming from a person who takes pictures of herself and posts them on the internet you may think that I have little or no body hang-ups, which is not true, but being in front of the camera has definitely given me more confidence over the last nearly two years that I have been blogging. It has also made me think less about what other people think and to focus my mind on things other than my so called body ‘flaws’.

If you struggle with bikini body confidence a great way to feel more comfortable in your swimwear is to list down (physically or in your head) all the things that you love about your figure and to focus on these to boost your confidence. Also, I would suggest investing in swimwear that you feel comfortable in, whether that be support for your chest or wearing shorts instead of string briefs, whatever works best for you.

Do you have any tips for feeling bikini body confident? If so, I would love for you to share them in the comments section at the bottom of the page or by tweeting me @CharlotteLewis_

BIKINIS FEATURED

Style Me Celeb c/o (Orange & Pink Bikini) | South Beach c/o (Frill Bikini) | Swimwear 365 (Yellow Bikini)