Yes, yes, I know I am a surfer and I have a certain reputation to uphold, but once in a while, I love to read Cosmopolitan and a couple of those other crappy girlie mags. It’s usually the call outs on the cover that suck me in, like, “78 never seen sex positions to try on your guy”. Then you get to the page and you’re all like, what the hell, this is lame, and yes, it gets me every time, but what can you do. So I end up with the mags and generally read them, well look at the pictures at least. Now this time of year, I love to notice, when summer seems to be knocking on the door, all the articles seem to have something to do with getting your body ready for a bikini and summer. Form exercises that only take you 3 minutes every day, to recipes, diets, mind tricks and other crap, all these mags seems to go on about is what you body looks like before you jam it into a bikini.

Yes, for some of you, worrying about your body before summer pulls in and you have to flaunt around on the beach in very slight pieces of fabric goes way over your head. But for most women, it is a bit of a worry. Winter has taken its toll, you ate more comfort food than you should have, and every time you got up to go for a jog (silent j) or gym, it was so dark and cold you rolled over and slept through the guilt. Your skin look unhealthy, your hairs natural high lights have grown out giving you that hillbilly look, and all the muscles that were once firm from paddling and surfing seem to have a similar consistency to marshmallows.

So what do you do, fall for these dumbass articles that promise you a new body in just 5 days? Bleh. But seriously, who gives a toss? If you, personally, were so bleak with the way your body looked, you wouldn’t have let it go in the winter. Just because there is suddenly an influx of billboards with summery, bronzed girls in bikinis, questioning every bite of that brownie you take, shouldn’t make you insecure about the way you feel about yourself.

Your body is a direct result of what you put into it, how you treat it and what you take out of it (in the plastic surgery kind of way). If you are unhappy with the way you look, which seems to be a common thought in the depths of clothing store’s changing rooms around this time, then you need to evaluate what it is that you are truly unhappy about. If you want to change it, you need to make a decision, once you figure out, and change it. Don’t read stupid articles, don’t follow ten day diets.

My advice, toss out any book, magazine, friend that believes in those, and instead replace it with a healthy positive attitude and outlook. If you want to eat a burger, eat one, just don’t eat one every day. Exercise, in moderation. If you bust out and try going hard for ten days straight, you’ll get over it and more than likely injure yourself. So take it slow, jog every second day, surf three times a week, and take the stairs instead of the elevator. Try and cut down on bad things, like caffeine and alcohol. Cut down, not quit. Everything can be eaten, drunk and done in moderation, which is a good way to look at it.

So this summer, when you’re trying on your bikini and you notice your hip bones aren’t quite hitting the change room mirror like that model you saw in the mag, look at yourself, look at your life, and think, who gives a toss. If you’re happy inside, you’ll look happy on the outside too.

Tags: Health