The photo above was taken about 5 years ago. I wasn’t in my 30s yet. Oh, I was also 20 lbs smaller than I am now. I laugh every time I see it, because my trainer at the time used to always say, “get your stomach out your shirt!” On this particular day, I reached a new milestone and he made all of us (oh, I blurred out the other 3 guys in the pic lol) run without our shirts on. We argued and I specifically fought it tooth and nail. I felt self-conscious and even if I had a six-pack, I wouldn’t walk around with my shirt off.

After we took this photo, I asked the guys not to tag me on Facebook. They will laugh if they see I’m sharing it now. I don’t want to be that small again, but I wouldn’t mind being close to it. Fast forward to this summer, the hot girl/hot boy summer. Hot girl summer started from a female rapper named Megan Thee Stallion. Although she insists her song, “Hot Girl Summer”, is primarily about female empowerment, it also has connotations of being a hot thot, if you know what I mean.

Guys soon followed the trend and now everyone is celebrating a hot girl/hot boy summer……whatever the hell that means or doesn’t mean. It’s funny to me how conscious thoughts of body image control so many things we do. Honestly, I feel more confident in myself now than I did back then when I took this photo. Sure, it’s great to have a nice body, but being “hot” comes from within. It’s a swagger, a vibe, chemistry that can’t be explained. Women and men both are fighting so many stereotypes of how they should look. We often look to people and material things for validation, while constantly being let down.

Why spend your whole summer (and sadly for some, their whole life) trying to be the next “hot” thing for somebody that will drop you as soon as the next six-pack or piece of ass comes along. Shouldn’t we think better of ourselves? I think so. 5 years ago, you couldn’t have paid me to share this picture (well, maybe past a certain monetary threshold), because I didn’t want to be vulnerable to what people might say. Now, I don’t care because it’s hot boy summer…..forever. Love yourself, even with your flaws. Now, that’s really hot.