Dear Girl In The Green Swimsuit

“Dear girl in the green swimsuit” is the viral letter that tells us that it does not matter how we are. It makes no difference whether we are characterized by being smart, creative, intelligent, cultural, caring, persevering or hardworking. The most important thing is to look pretty, attractive and modern.

That’s why we’re hiding. This is why we hide the marks of our lives, stretch marks, our extra pounds or our bony frame. That is why we are creative with our t-shirts and want to look “nicer” and use Photoshop  on our reality.

Jessica Gómez has reflected this perfectly in her letter “Dear Girl in the Green Swimsuit”, a text that we bring to you here as an invitation to reflect and to be your healthy inner voice for you and your children.

The viral letter, “Dear girl in the green swimsuit”

Dear girl in the green swimsuit:

I’m the woman lying on the towel next to you. She who came with a little boy and girl.

First of all, I want to tell you that I have a very nice time with you and your group of friends during this little time where our spaces touch each other and your smiles, your  transcendental conversation and the  music  that comes from your stereo invade my air.

You know? I freaked out a bit when I realized that I do not know when I went from my life where I was where you are now, to being here where I am now: from being the girl to being “the lady next to her”, from to be the one who goes out with friends to the one who goes out with his children.

But I’m not writing to you about any of that. I’m writing you because I want to tell you that I’ve noticed you. I’ve seen you, and I could not help but see you.

I saw that you were the last to take off your clothes. I saw you change behind the group, in hiding, and took off your t-shirt when you thought no one was looking at you. But I saw you. I did not look at you, but I saw you.

I saw you put on the towel in an accurate position, while covering your stomach with your arms.

I saw that you put your hair behind your ear and that you bent your head to reach it, perhaps so as not to move your arms from your informal but extremely suitable position.

I saw you get up to walk in the water and swallow nervously because you had to wait there, standing, exposed, for your friend, and you again had to use your arms as a shawl to cover yourself: your stretch marks, your loose skin, your cellulite.

I saw you thinking about the fact that you could not cover everything at once as you moved away from your group, just as you hid in the beginning when you took off your t-shirt.

I do not know if your dissatisfaction with yourself had anything to do with the fact that the friend you were waiting for spread his long mane over a ridge that only lacked a few Victoria’s Secret wings. And all the time you were there staring at the ground. You were looking for a hiding place in yourself, from yourself.

And I would like to be able to tell you so many things, dear girl in the green bathing suit… Maybe because before I was the woman who came here with my children, I was there, on your towel.

I would like to tell you that I have really been on your towel and your friend’s. I’ve been you and I’ve been her. And now I’m neither of you – or maybe I’m still both – so if I could go back in time, I would just choose to enjoy things instead of worrying  about – or bragging about – things like which of the two towels , yours or hers, I prefer to be on.

I wish I could tell you that I’ve seen you carry a book in your bag, and that no matter what belly you have when you’s sixteen, it’s likely to lose its smoothness long before you lose your head.

I would like to tell you that you have a precious smile, and that it is a pity that you are so preoccupied with hiding yourself that there is no time left to smile.

I would like to tell you that the body you seem to be ashamed of is beautiful because you are young. Yes, it’s beautiful because it’s alive! Because it is the package and the transport of the person you really are and are able to follow you in everything you do.

I would like to tell you that I wish you could see yourself through the eyes of a thirty year old woman because maybe you would realize how much you deserve to be loved, including by yourself.

I would like to tell you that the person who will truly love you one day will not love the person you are despite your body, but will love your body: every curve, every depression, every line, every freckle. They will love the map, which is unique and valuable, which your body draws, and if they do not, if they do not love you that way, they do not deserve you to love them back.

I want to tell you that – believe me, believe me, believe me – you are perfect as you are: unique in your imperfection.

But what am I going to tell you if I’m just the woman next to you?

But you know what? I came here with my daughter. She is the girl in the pink swimsuit, the one who plays in the river and covers herself in sand. Today, her only concern in the world has been whether the water has been very cold.

I can not tell you anything, dear girl in the green swimsuit…

But I’ll tell her everything, EVERYTHING.

And I want to tell my son everything, EVERYTHING, too.

Because this is how we all deserve to be loved.

And as we should all love.

There is another life past the mirror and anti-cellulite creams

Our well-being is threatened when we run away from looking at ourselves, from exploring and recognizing ourselves in our own body, our own figure as women. We are not what an anti-cellulite cream does for us. We are ourselves, we love and know every inch of our body, we understand the reason why there are cellulites there or why our ovaries are waging war against us.

We are not safe from ourselves if every time we look at ourselves in the mirror, we scold ourselves for the fat on our thighs, for the hairs sticking out, for the lack of curves, for cellulite or for wrinkles. We must create a safe space within us for our body, instead of punishing and humiliating it.

We are much more than we think we are. The person in us contains much more than our intelligence can ever comprehend.