FashInspiration: What A Cruise Taught Me About Body Love

Last week I spent 8 days in the beautiful Caribbean on a cruise with 17 members of my family. I had such a great time! And of course I had fun with the fashions that would be appropriate in island paradise. I even decided to get a "fatkini" - a regular bikini top with a high-waisted bikini bottom.

My bikini. Love it!

What I didn't expect was how much I'd come to not caring about how I looked, or how I don't have a "beach ready" body. Of course, to me, having a beach ready body consists of getting your body on a beach. A lot of this was due to the fact that the majority of passengers on the ship were from Puerto Rico. The hub for the ship is in San Juan, so this made sense. What I learned is that Puerto Ricans are basically the best people I've ever come to know. Their culture is focused around family, music, dancing, and loving life. One young lady I was talking to while laying on a large inflatable raft near the beach said Puerto Ricans are happy people! They also really looove their curves - or don't really give a damn about them, one of the two. Most women wore very form fitting clothes, to include showing off what most American women take all sorts of matters to hide - the under belly, the pooch, or the FUPA - Fat Upper Pubic Area. It kind of blew my mind.

I also saw many women wearing bikinis without a care in the world. One of my family members commented on an older woman who had a large belly, and was wearing a bikini, saying she didn't have any respect for herself. My thoughts were, maybe she saved her entire life to go on this cruise, and dammit, she's going to wear a bikini! Or maybe she had lost a significant amount of weight and finally felt confident in her body. Or maybe she just really didn't care what her body looked like. Being my loud mouth self, I shared these thoughts with the aforementioned family member, who didn't have much to say in return.

The more I saw these women and the more I saw how much they didn't care, and really how much other people didn't care, the more I noticed not caring about my own body insecurities. I had a fun pair of shorts with palm branches on them that were shorter than shorts I normally wear because of my thighs. But they were fun! And they were comfy! So I wore them, and let my thighs jiggle away! I wore my bikini on the beach and got a sunburn on my belly for the first time in more than a decade! And I felt super hot wearing it! I let my middrift show when getting super hot wearing a full-length tankini under my shirt, and was totally comfortable in my skin. And guess what - no one cared! I didn't get weird looks. I didn't get people commenting on all the extra skin. I didn't burst into flames because I wore something unconventional for my body type. It was so freeing to be in an environment that allowed me to be who I was, and to not have to worry about my size or this roll showing or that piece of fat hanging out.

I really hope the current body positive movement in the US starts to take hold and give people the option to feel happy in their skin, to wear what they want, and be comfortable with their imperfections. Having an entire week of that was so kick-ass awesome, and I'm not going to allow myself to take any steps back with my own confidence and positive body image. Here are some pictures!