And then I thought. Stuff it. If not now, then when? It’s only going to get harder the longer I leave it to give it a go…. So I took off my shorts and T-shirt and hit the beach in just my bikini.
It was actually quite confronting. I immediately felt incredibly self-conscious despite the fact that everyone else around me was dressed similarly. Since we’re in confession mode on the blog today, I’ll admit that yes, that was me sucking in my tummy as we inched to the deck….
But I needn’t have worried and my awkwardness surprised me and disappeared after about two minutes. No-one was looking at me and no-one was critiquing me. What was happening was that a crowd of everyday people were doing their thing and enjoying the surprise gift of a bit of summer in the middle of spring in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. People were reading, people were eating, people were chatting, people were getting their Instagram husbands to take that perfect shot of them arched beside the water (definitely not me in case you were wondering), people were lost in their own thoughts, people were being kids again with their own kids.
So I followed the crowd. I enjoyed the feeling of the sun of my skin, I darted back and forth to the water to fill tubs with water for Master SSG’s ‘baking’, I helped him dig for treasure and we walked to the kiosk for icy poles and soft drink.
In the scheme of things, spending the afternoon at the beach in a bikini isn’t the biggest fear in life to conquer and it’s not the most exotic thing to cross off a bucket list but I did it. I’ve also gotten it into my head that spending my beach days this summer in the same fashion could be a good thing. So I’ve done some research and have a list of stores I’ll be visiting over the next few weeks to find that perfect two-piece swimsuit for summer 2018/2019.
Are you a fan of bikinis at the beach?