Hey ho! It’s summer—in the northern hemisphere, same old tropical around here—and beach-themed posts ensue in the blogosphere. Seeing other people’s swimsuit posts, I’ve always felt inspired to post my own, but for some reason I haven’t gotten around to it until today—finally, after 5 years of blogging! One of the reasons is that I haven’t gone swimming in around 2 years, since this pool across the street from my house has been quite gross until recently.
The other reason is that I have a pet peeve about putting half-naked photos of myself online. It’s not an insecurity thing—recently I’ve noticed how little I care about what my body looks like to onlookers—but I just don’t want it to come back to haunt me someday. In fact, it took me a considerable amount of deliberation—asking a few of my friends in the process—before I decided to just hit publish. I mean, I’m okay with wearing this in public—this isn’t my private pool—and it’s not like I’m doing anything lewd in it, so why not? But this might just be the only time I’ll ever post a swimsuit post. Keep in mind that I actually swam laps that day, so no makeup on my face at all. I’m so happy I can indulge in my favourite sports regularly again!
old tankini (from 2011!) + wired headband
One other thing that crossed my mind, in regards to these photos, is how many people in the world would do anything to live near such a scenery. I’ve gotten so used to it, it doesn’t even feel special anymore—that’s what happens when you’ve lived here since you were six—but often when I post pictures from my neighbourhood or when people drive me home, they remark on how wonderful my environment is. Once someone even replied to a comment of mine, after finding out that I live in Indonesia, with the remark: “You must live in paradise, huh?” Funny, isn’t it?
While I envy my friends and other bloggers who live on cobble stone streets, being fed everyday view of mid-century buildings and being able to stroll down to medieval castles, they might look at my view of palm trees and my easy access to tropical fruits and natural landmarks with a degree of jealousy too. Isn’t the grass on the other side always greener? But this is only a small portion of my surroundings. The truth is both fields have their downfalls too, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows wherever we live. Remember that the next time you want someone else’s life.
