You're Too Skinny
“You’re so skinny.”
“You need to eat more.”
“I just want to feed you a burger.”
Those were a few of the many things I was told in High School along with the early part of college.
Most of these comments came from people that were close to me. But what they and many people fail to realize was how powerful comments like these are.
I decoded those comments to solidify what I was already feeling all along. I just wasn’t pretty enough. Josh would always tell me how beautiful I was; he was lying. It was his job to tell me those things because I was his girlfriend (at that time).
It didn’t really matter what anyone would say. My mind was already made up. I needed to gain weight so I could be pretty. I hated everything about my body and society kept reminding me why. But this feeling of desolation couldn’t last forever. I needed to work on myself and work hard if I wanted things to change.
I didn’t start loving myself until I started accepting myself.
And the process of me reaching acceptance for the skin that I was in took longer than it should have because everyone had an opinion about how my body should look.
Once I learned how to mute those voices in my head was when I started to transform my body in a more fulfilling and accepting way. If I gained 15 pounds I was happy but still embraced my frame when I lost 10.
Our body can change given many considerations:
stress, divorce, illness, eating disorders, and medicinal side effects to name a few. Commenting on someone's weight especially if one of these could be the cause can make it hurtful, inappropriate, embarrassing and irrelevant.
What happens if a person gains back all of the weight they lost.
Are they no longer worthy of your praise?
You're worthy of praise now and in the future regardless of how your body transforms.
So let’s change the way we talk about a person’s body.
Instead, let’s pay tribute to who they are as a person.
Compliment them on their application to living a healthier lifestyle. Compliment them for their consistency. Be curious!
Stop making their body the most important topic about them.
We are more than just our bodies.
“With love from my ever evolving body.”