It's Thursday and it is time to link up with Amber and Neely for one of the last It's Ok Thursdays. (Tears!)
This isn't going to be a normal "It's Ok" and I apologize to Neely and Amber for that. I will try to keep the positivity in the post, I promise!
When this story about Abercrombie and Fitch started showing up on my Facebook yesterday I was sad but busy at work so my immediate reaction was: What a Jerk. Later in the afternoon my friend Rachel wrote a blog about her BATTLE and how this story effected her. She and I texted last night for a while about this and the more I talked to her, the more sad I became with the message these things send and the more I started to experience my own insecurites. Thin and Beautiful are not the same thing and it is not ok that some people just don't get how hurtful and destructive these messages are or they don't care. I have three neices who are just amazing and beautiful but I have cried at the thought that any one of them would ever hate herself as much as I have hated myself in the past for not living up to some random definition of beautiful. I have been truly sad thinking that they may look in the mirror and tear themselves apart the way I have to stop myself from doing on a daily basis. DAILY!
The reality is that there are messages like this every single day to every person who doesn't look perfect which, by the way, is absolutely everyone. I have been honest about my struggles with not only weight loss and compulsive eating but bulimia. Well, I have been mostly honest. I promise you that nobody has been harder on me than me and the last thing I want or need to hear is some kind of smarmy CEO attack me or any woman for not meeting his definition of beautiful.
My weight over the years has fluctuated between a size 6 at my smallest (12 years ago) and a 26 at my largest 6 years ago (Here is my first blog on this battle and some before pictures.). Learning to be happy and love myself has been the hardest battle and it is one that I have just recently won. Today I am a 14 but I am trying to get back to a healthy for me, size 10.
This is about being healthy without becoming completely obsessed with diet and excercise and falling in to a serious case of Bulimerexia, for me. Plus, I just don't need the stress. When I am stressed I binge-eat. When I binge, I purge. It's not glamorous or sexy to hate or abuse your body. The amount of pain I have suffered over the years from forcing my body to expel food in a number of ways from laxative abuse to your typical definition of purging has and will effect me forever. My esophogus is torn. My teeth and gums suffer from acid erosion and I have a bad knee and back from carrying around excess weight. Mentally, it is worse. It's not ok to feel like the world would be a better place without you because you are repulsive.It isn't okay to look at every body part as a problem instead of seeing the beauty you have within and without. It's a very difficult subject but a message has to be sent to men and women everywhere that you are perfect just as you are and you can change what can be improved, within reason, but chasing an unrealistic image is not healthy.
 |
| This is me |
Here is what else is ok:
*It's totally ok that I have been spending my lunch hour hiking in the park!
*It's ok that my bell collection is in serious need of attention....and a expansion shelf!
If you think this is insane you should see the bells in my kitchen and and the extra ones that come out at Christmas only. I have been collecting them since I was 6 so some of these are old.
*It's ok that lately I can't sleep without Ambien, can't breath without Singular and sometime Zyrtec and may need an occasional daily happy pill to stay on track. I know myself well enough to get help when I need it.
*It's ok that I was bugging my friend Chance about needing a new camera. He is an amazing photographer and a pretty smart camera guy.
*It's ok that Chance knows me so well he was suggesting a few cameras but managed to totally sell me on the one that has Wifi, is waterproof, and may be exactly perfect to carry with me on the bike trail.
*It's ok that I realized yesterday if I book the cruise I am planning....I will, in fact, be taking a cruise on the Love Boat. Well, the Princess Cruise line anyway. I will know within the next week or two if that trip to Alaska happens this year or I have to go to somewhere tropical instead. Really hoping Alaska works out.
That's what's ok with me...and a little bit of over-sharing too. Happy Thursday!
Simply,
Laura
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
6 comments:
((Sorry, I was signed in under the wrong acct, so I'm re-posting.))
First of all, I disagree with the title of this post -- you are beautiful. Inside and out. You have a great smile and very pretty eyes. More importantly, you are a great friend and you have a heart the size of the state you live in. That's way more important than the size you wear (and, let's face it -- sizes are arbitrary because every company seems to have its own sizing scale). People need to stop equating size with beauty. I know a lot of "thin" people who aren't very beautiful by my definition.
Thanks Micah. I agree with you that beauty is truly arbitrary and so are clothing size! LOL. I was just trying to keep with the theme that fat people aren't beautiful according to Mr. Ab and Fit. Saying that I have a big heart is the absolute sweetest thing you could have said. It means way more to me to be a good person and friend than a thin person. <3 you!!!
That guy pissed me off. This is exactly the kind of thinking that comments like his perpetuate! That thin = cool. Well I call bullshit. Health and confidence are way more important than what the scale number is. I'm so glad that you've been overcoming your eating issues! Good for you. :)
Thanks Katie. I totally agree with you. Health and confidence are way more important and I went through a whole list of feelings when I read his comments from anger and frustration to sadness at the number of girls that buy in to that bull.
I have lots of friends who posted that Abercrombie story and what makes it even more weird than it already is, is that the CEO guy isn't even that good looking himself. He's certainly had work done to get himself where he is today. Years ago I had stepped in that store to purchase a gift for a step-sibling but nowadays I feel like I'm going to suffocate because you can't walk by without smelling the too much cologne/perfume they spray in there.
Its people like him who make us all feel inadequate and that's not how it should be. We are all great and one day we'll all see that.
Stopping by from Its OK!
Post a Comment