Friday, January 4, 2019

Fearless Friday - bodies #2

I didn't think I could write a scarier post than last Friday's but here we go...

In January last year, I was lamenting to a friend that men can just go to the beach in shorts, with a towel slung over their shoulder, and they rarely gave a damn about the gut that may hang over the waistband of their shorts.

Women, on the other hand, although they reach some age of invisibility, become visible if they do the same. But, why is that so? Why shouldn't women be able to wear a bikini with their belly protruding and their aged body showing? Why is that so terrible? Isn't it worse that we struggle into a full piece swimsuit, where we swelter before we get wet and then again as soon as we dry?

She suggested I should be brave and stride out for all womankind in my bikini and a sarong.

All year, it's sat in my head.

In winter, I bought a bikini online because it was cheap, and it was a step towards being brave.

This week, it's hot. And I know it's summer and it's meant to be hot, but summer on the coast can sometimes be hot, cold, or somewhere in between. At the moment, we have a hot spell. And that bikini called...or rather, the one piece repelled

So, I was brave - in a timid way! Late in the afternoon, I went to my beach, to my usual spot which isn't near the flags (and although that sounds dangerous, it's not really because the flags are only there for a few weeks of the year and when I have a dip outside of life-saver season, I swim here, so it's where I know. When kids visit, I go to the flag area and sometimes it seems much worse than my spot!) and I swam. I took off my sarong, and bared my belly to the world.

And that the 'world' was devoid of people, that was only a good (and lucky) thing!

It was freeing, wonderful, cool, refreshing. It almost felt like I was naked.

And when I told my friend, she told me that a whale to one fisherman was a mermaid to another - it just depended on how long they'd been at sea!!! :) :) :)

That's my fearlessness in the Christmas-New Year period. And when I retell this story, I may leave out that the beach was deserted!

Note: There are no photos of this event. No photos of the bikini either. The bottoms look like they could house a small family!

2 comments:

  1. Awesome! Isn't it silly. I wish I knew now how silly it was to worry about what i wore and what I looked like. No one really cares do they. And there is something about youth on its own that is beautiful now. Meaning, when I see young things at the beach I really just think they're all beautiful. I'm sure when someone my age now, looked at me and my friends 30 years ago, they thought we were gorgeous. I wish I hadn't worried so much about what people thought!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly! It's so difficult at that age to put an old head on new shoulders, but i wish I had too!

      Cate xo

      Delete