Like many of us, I used to put so much pressure on myself when it was time to go on vacation.  While the most important (or maybe the only) rule of vacation should be to have fun, for a very long time that was not my top priority.  I wanted to “look right.”  Due to the ease of a good camera phone, I wanted to “look right” in all pictures.  If I was going to be around people I hadn’t seen in a while, I wanted to “look right” when they saw me.  The pressure was always worse if there was water, a pool or a beach involved because I wanted to “look right” in my swimsuits.  So much pressure!  When was the fun supposed to start?

This past week, I took a different approach.  I was in Saint Lucia with lots of water, pools and beaches that required lots of swimsuits and I had an incredible time!  Instead of focusing on “looking right,” I focused on “feeling right!”  Instead of worrying about what I looked like in any of my clothes, I focused on how they made me feel.  Did I like my outfits?  Did the colors excite me?  Did they feel good and comfortable?  To be clear, we are on a health and wellness journey together and striving to be our best selves through fitness, nutritious eating and mental well-being will always be the goal.  That doesn’t mean that we have to look a certain way to have fun.  Now, when it is time for vacation, my priorities are to move when I want to, lay down when I want to, eat when I want to, spend time with my loved ones and take as many pictures as possible to cherish all of the precious memories.

“Let’s Get Beach Body Ready!”  How do you do that?  By taking YOUR body to the beach!  The pool, the resort, the cabin, the boat…you name it…wherever you find yourself in the coming months, just know that you are in fact ready!  What I remember most about this past week is not if people were looking at me when I got in the water or anywhere else for that matter, it is the time I got to spend with some of the people I love the most in this world and having an absolute blast!  You deserve to have a great time and enjoy your time off with no added pressure, and I’m here if you need me.