Get Your Body Bikini-Ready in Just One Simple Step! [PHOTOS]

Summer is almost here, which means it's time to hit the beach, the pool, or the lake. Is your body bikini-ready? You can be in just one simple step... 

How to Get the Perfect Bikini Body

1. Put on Your Bikini

That's it. Put on your bikini and love your body! It's that easy.

I'm not writing this to hate on anyone; I know a great deal of people spend a whole lot of time working out to achieve a slim and toned physique. I think that's awesome, and I respect the mess out of anyone who has the discipline to work out every day.

I'm writing this because I'm tired of seeing so much negativity. I was on Facebook this morning, and I saw two different memes shaming women for being anything but a size zero. The joke behind them was essentially the same--brace yourself for seeing "fat" people in bathing suits or shorts because fat people are so gross LOL, HAHAHA. Stuff like that seems like a harmless joke at first, but the more I think about it, the angrier I become.

Why do we believe that one must look a certain way to be afforded the privilege of wearing shorts or swimsuits? Why do we think it's okay to mock another person for being overweight? 

I'm not cool with any of it. I don't think anyone has the right to harshly judge another person's body. I think ALL bodies are good bodies, and I'm not ashamed to say so. It's important to me to accept myself for who I am and for me to love how I look.

Why? First and foremost, I don't want any negativity in my life. My value (as a woman, as a mother, as a friend, as a person) is much more than how I look. I've spent way too much of my life looking into a mirror and hating myself because of a wrinkle, a stretch mark, or a fat roll. I'm tired of beating myself up because I don't look like a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. No one does, not even the actual models (Thanks, PhotoShop!), so why do I place such an unrealistic expectations on myself and then think I am a failure because I couldn't reach an unattainable goal?

It's ridiculous! Now that I am a mother, I see how skewed that way of thinking really is--and the effect it could have on my daughter. If I see a "fat" person in shorts and make a mean joke, what does that teach her? Passing undue judgments on others' bodies tells her that it's okay to be mean to people who don't look a certain way; I don't want my daughter to think she has a right to be mean to anyone. And I don't want her to grow up hating her own body. I don't want her to grow up and think that who she is as a person is much less important than how she looks or the size she wears.

Just think, for a minute, about how much better the world would be if we could be kind to one another AND kind to ourselves. Did you ever stop and think that the anxiety you feel about "bikini season" isn't about your body? It's about the way OTHER PEOPLE judge your body. What if we didn't have to live with that anxiety?

We don't have to--all we have to do is love ourselves and each other. It really is that hard? I say put on that bikini and go for it, girl. Look in the mirror and think about how awesome you are. The change begins with you.