Have you sculpted your body to look perfect in your summer bikini? Is your skin smooth and tanned free of the slightest hair? Are you ready for summer vacation?

The pressures surrounding how our bodies look intensifies in the summer and can come from everywhere: advertisements, celebrities, influencers, our friends on social media, and even that voice in our head when we look in the mirror.

“I see it affecting people… whether it’s a mom who won’t let herself go to the pool with her kids because she’s afraid of how she’ll look in a swimsuit, or people with eating disorders who will choose not to go out with friends , because they’re fighting especially hard that day,” Rebecca Moravec, a marriage and family therapist in Denver, told CNN.

“The way we view our bodies directly affects the way we participate in our daily lives,” she added.

Below are the things you can do for a better relationship with your body during it summer so you can make the season less stressful.

Comfort and connection

For a better relationship with your body this summer, body image coach Bri Campos recommends finding more enjoyable ways to be with yourself.

“Wearing clothes that don’t fit, whether they’re too big or too small, will make you feel uncomfortable and angry with your body all day long,” she said. “Instead, wear something that makes you feel good.

Check out this Instagram post.

This post was shared by Bri Campos | Body Image Coach (@bodyimagewithbri)

And look for ways to ask with your body that aren’t uncomfortable. For example, you can focus your attention on how you feel when you dive into a cool pool, when you take your first sip of coffee in the morning, when you hug your home, or when you hug someone you love,” she suggested.

“This is a moment of connecting the body with the environment, where I can say, ‘I feel good in my body,'” Campos said.

Instagram vs reality

Summer can look fancy on social media. Perfect swimsuit photos, luxury vacations and glowing sunshine flood the accounts.

“You can feel like everyone else is having a better and more beautiful time than you,” Moravec said. “And a lot of people think that if they don’t fit that image, everyone will notice,” added Dr. Whitney Trotter, MD, nurse practitioner, psychiatry and mental health nurse practitioner, and registered dietitian in Austin, Texas.

Campos’ clients often share that they worry when they get together with friends to eat in the summer because they think others will have the choices they make about food.

“Most people are concerned about their bodies and concerned about their own food choices, but it’s pushing each other on the issue,” she said.

A helpful practice might be to go out into the world — party, beach, pool, or whatever — and just observe out there, Moravec said. It’s not just the edited social media images. Instead, you’ll find people of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds coming together and having fun.

“The reality is that life happens with or without (image management),” he said. “If you focused on simply connecting with other people who fit you, what would life look like?”

Looking for somewhere to belong

Often behind the efforts to implement the ideal social body standard are ideas that you will have access to more important things once you do.

body shaming

“We all carry a personal story about what we need or who we need to be in order to get love or to feel a sense of belonging or safety,” Moravec said. And bodies are an easy target.

That is, we think: “If I were different, then maybe I could look at the sunset with someone I love, splash happily in the waves with my children, or enjoy a vacation with a group of close friends, right?”

“Our job is to really challenge that,” Moravec said. “When I think about the friends I have the deepest connections with, I don’t think about how tanned their skin is. I don’t think about how they look in a swimsuit.”

Moravec recommends that you shift the focus away from the appearance of your body and try to place it towards those things that you want in your life.

“When someone is having a rough day with body image … I want them to check what else is going on,” she said. “Does he feel lonely? Does he feel cut off? Doesn’t it feel good enough?’

“We rarely, if ever, love people just because of their looks, so there are better ways than your body to get the connection you’re looking for,” Moravec said.

“Can you spend more quality time with your loved ones? Can you be more present playing in the pool without worrying about how they look? Be aware that changing your body doesn’t always mean fixing issues of connection and belonging,” Campos said.

“It’s like getting a haircut after a breakup,” he added. “You might feel better, but it doesn’t really change anything. It’s just a temporary relief from a bigger difficult issue.”