With mass vaccine distributions and seeing the light at the end of the covid tunnel, people are preparing for the summer of their lives. With the excitement and relief that split over social media comes this unsaid pressure to look our best selves. People have begun to eagerly plan for what they’ll wear to the club and when they’ll meet up with family for BBQs and beers. But among the buzz and anticipation for boozy summer days, a negative shadow looms.
There’s been so much discussion in recent months about who we’ll be when the pandemic finally ends for good. But I worry that not enough of us are giving credit for who we were during the pandemic, for how we showed up for ourselves during the largest public-health crisis in modern history.
Let us unsubscribe from #hotgirlsummer and instead invest in body neutrality. Body neutrality aims to encourage you to accept the body you are in and focus on its achievements rather than its appearance. We often fall into the black-or-white trap of either loving or hating our bodies. I think this movement provides an opportunity for a middle ground. It offers an opportunity for acceptance. It is a philosophy that focuses on what your body can do for you rather than what it looks like.
Yes, I gained weight this year, but I also learned to deliver heavy bags of groceries to my neighbors, to run a mile without stopping for the sheer pleasure of it, and finally, joyfully wrap my arms around my newly vaccinated friends. Are those physical achievements less worthy because I wasn’t thin for them?
What I want for myself and everyone else is a physical form that doesn’t fit the normative mold. The freedom to celebrate our presence in the world and the wisdom to understand how hard our bodies work every day to keep us going. Some days, I honor that hard-working body with a kale smoothie and a long run; other days, I honor it with an equally long nap and a trip to Fort Greene Park for one of the Mister Softee cones of my youth.
Sadly, so many people have found themselves in a panic to lose weight before restrictions are eased. It says so much about the impact of societal pressures around supposed beauty ideals. Somehow over the years, the idea that the more we weigh, the worse we will look has been instilled in us and brought a rise in eating disorders worldwide. The feeling of having a ‘deadline’ for a ‘post-lockdown glow-up’ is something that’s applying pressure – both conscious and subconsciously.
Don’t get me wrong I am not saying to not follow this trend but to reinvent what measures up to it. It might be easier said than done, but the first step to unpicking ingrained beliefs is to go a bit easier on yourself. Take solace in the fact that you aren’t the only one. We aren’t as active as we were, we are all exhausted, and we have very different priorities. We’ve all just been through the toughest year we have ever known, so why don’t we be a bit gentler on ourselves? We don’t need to rush to change our bodies. Let’s celebrate how far we have come instead.
Words by Rhea Gupta.
Graphics by Ilisha Sharma.