You're so excited, the tickets are booked, you've been daydreaming of lazing on the beach all winter, yet suddenly reality bites and the dream turns into a nightmare. It's just dawned on you that you're going to be wearing a bikini! In public! In broad daylight!

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Fear of flying, snakes or even public speaking is nothing compared to this one. Obsessing about putting the body not-so-beautiful on public display is a deeply ingrained terror for women the world over.

This summer, you have a choice. You can terrorise yourself with visions of how bad you'll look and feel, rating yourself against an imaginary and unachievable standard set by airbrushed models, or you can get real and actually learn how to enjoy being on the beach in the dreaded two-piece.

Here's a four-point plan for cranking up your confidence and making this year's holiday the most bikini fabulous one you've ever had.

Style beats shape any day
Even the most confident women can find the annual bikini-fest an ordeal. We're conditioned to find fault with ourselves on a daily basis, but we tend to ramp it up to a new level of self-criticism when a bathing suit enters the picture.

It's a self-esteem issue, not a weight or body shape problem. Your attractiveness isn't just about the size of your thighs, it's about your attitude and how comfortable you are with yourself. If you relax and remember that your beauty is more about how you present yourself than the shape of your body, you're on your way to loving who you are, whatever you happen to be wearing.

Love your body
You can't show off something you don't like. If you don't love your body and feel comfortable in it, it will be very hard to feel confident and you'll come across as very self-conscious, which is not a good look!

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Feel the bikini fear and do it anyway