| So I’ve read a blog entry by Michealjazz on “Body Image”. For everyone who reads this, they should read that. He is right and all he says is so true and sure you or someone you know can relate.
People, mostly women do have a negative view of their body, where it’s been, where it’s at, and constantly buggin’ and probably won’t be satisfied with what they might see in the end.
I’ve grown up overweight my whole life. Always the chubby overweight kid until I reached nearly 300lbs by the age of 22 and couldn’t stand on my feet for my job. My legs were swollen and I would always go home crying at night because they hurt so much. I woke up one morning and said ”That’s It!” Slowly I’ve been able to come down to 175lbs. It was my job or my weight that I had to give up..I chose my weight. It will probably be a challenge for the rest of my life. I say challenge not struggle because with struggle it’s more negative. With challenge, as long as you enjoy the challenge then it doesn’t even matter if you ever get there. As long as your happy trying. In which I am.
I never grew up with the friends that would make fun of me, I had the nice boyfriends, I had the parents that might say something from time to time but were never negative in any way. I grew up quite confident no matter what I looked like. I always had a smile on my face and very proud of who I was. As long as something fit me it never mattered to look any particular way. I was confortable in my own skin. I loved every picture taken and still have favourite ones, even at my heaviest weight.
My loss of weight came from a different force than most come from. It wasn’t a wedding to attend, or a person I had to look good for etc… It wasn’t negative. I just wanted something more that required me to lose the weight in order for me to enjoy it. In my case, my job. I don’t regret the decision I’ve made nor do I wish to go back to that person. But, if I do that would be up to me.
The worst part is hearing people say, ”Don’t ever gain it back” or ”You probably feel so much better about yourself”, ”Your beautiful now”. If I gain it back, that will be no regret on my part, I always felt great about myself and “WAS I UGLY?!”. Funny how only “skinny” or ”non-overweight” people are only attractive and have confidence. Or so people think.
I have people that always say, once they’ve lost weight, that they were so disgusted with themselves and won’t look at one picture of who they were.
Most of the time I find it comes from someone who knows what it’s like to be thinner and have gained weight but lost it again. They know what they could look like. I guess it’s their mentality because they have been there before.
The people I don’t understand are the ones who have never seen the thinner side of themselves, ever. How could they say that about themselves? If it wasn’t for that person they ”were”, they wouldn’t be the person they are today! Maybe those are the ones that also have negative images about themselves or have been made fun of just like the “skinny-2-fat-2-thin-again” person.
All in all, in today’s society, we make it seem that we have to fit in, or be that perfect image. What are we fitting into? and who’s perfect image? Everyone has a different opinion as to what that is. If we listened to everyone, we’ll never fit into anything. You should only fit into your own skin and be proud of it.
Think about it this way, wear your skin, no matter what it looks like. Try and conquer your challenge and be proud. If you never complete it and tried with your whole heart and enjoyed it then you still gained success! Don’t try and fit into everyone’s image because they all have different opinions about image and like it’s been said, “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. It should run deeper than skin deep, into the heart and soul of a human being.
Be happy with who you are and walk with your head high. You live for yourself, first! |
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