Writing this is someone difficult and its 4am but I feel like I need to purge these thoughts. I am reluctant to say I have a disorder because to be honest I don't think I do...yet, but if this continues I know I will lose myself to this side of me. I feel like I'm on the edge of a cliff and one little gust of wind will send me into the depths below.
I can't remember the exact moment I decided I was ugly and fat. The thing I can remember is the moments that contributed to this fucked up mentality. Beginning with my mother constantly calling herself,the women on tv, and most of all my sister "fat" "heifers" and "disgusting".Then came the long time "best friend" who used me as her personal dart board, knowing where to throw the darts that hit just the right pressure points, as well as using me as a an example of what not to look like during her Eating Disorder. Constantly making sure to eat less than me, weight less than me, and remind me of this fact if not consciously than physically with her 5ft 11in frame and bones protruding through her skin. The boy who I would've died for, and almost did in years to come, that chose her over me on multiple accounts, and the many boys who fell suit after. I remember I time I used to be able to swat away these thoughts like little gnats, but now they aren't gnats, they are swarms of bee's stinging and living scars. There are days when eating becomes a chore something that has to be done to survive.
When I look into the mirror I see my protruding stomach,my large thighs, stretch marks,ripples of cellulite even thinking about it makes me shudder. I claim to not have a disorder because I dont act on the thoughts. I dont purge through exercise,laxatives or throwing up, I dont count calories or weigh myself daily and dont think I've lost a lot of weight. Part of me is mad at myself for that, screaming "You coward, why cant you do these things. You are a goddamn coward that will die alone and fat." I enjoy food, I love to cook and go out to eat but I dont enjoy guilt. I don't enjoy the disgust with myself as I ponder what I just ate and how much I need to work out. I have tried working out but fear it will become an obsession, like it did for my "best friend". I look at pictures of girls with bones poking out of their bodies and sick sallow faces and a voice says "This could be you if you don't stop this crazy thinking right this moment." but another voice says "This could be you! You could be model skinny! See every collar bone, no more jiggling thighs!". The fighting between these voices exhaust me to the point of becoming physically exhausting making it easier to just sleep away the guilt.
I hope one day I can look at my body and see the beauty in it, the curves and find them beautiful instead of grotesque. I hope to be able to look into my eyes and generally feel like I am beautiful, that I should walk with pride. I dont see that happening anytime soon. I will just keep being trapped in the tornado of my thoughts, slowly becoming more and more obsessed, until it either consumes me or I finally win the battle against myself.
Showing posts with label self image. Show all posts
Showing posts with label self image. Show all posts
Monday, March 17, 2014
Monday, December 9, 2013
The Journey To Self Acceptance:Body Image
I apologize for my absence as usual but my life and school has been crazy as always. Since we are on the topic of apologies I also apologize for the cheesy title but I wasn't sure what else to name this so we will just have to deal with it, as well as this being all over the place.Anyways! Lets begin!
I have had a low self esteem/self image since I can remember, I feel as though I was trained to hate myself. I mean how could I not? I was (and still am) reminded on a daily basis of all of my faults by my mother,society, and the media. I was taught that loving yourself was selfish and narcissistic. As well others opinions were priority to yours. That's why I use the word trained because like soldiers who are trained to battle, I was trained to battle with myself because it would grow character and make me strong in the end.
Lets start with the biggest influence to my self image, my mother. But it isn't only her who I blame but my father as well. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother yelling at my sister who did ballet and telling her that she was fat,talentless,lazy and it wasn't a mystery why she never got lead parts. Along with that my mother is very critical of others, especially strangers. Whether it's someone on TV,herself,or a stranger in public there is always a negative comment. Before I knew the reason behind this I thought that she was secretly trying to tell me something about me she didn't like but just projecting it on strangers. Where my father comes in on all of this is he does it as much as she does, and when my mother is extremely critical of me or my sister my dad does nothing. He just gets up and leaves,leaving us to be an easy target and direct hit for our mother's rage. I remember in 8th grade health we had a week on eating disorders, and our teacher said something that made a switch turn on in my head, he said, "Parents don't realize what they say about their own and others bodies their children can't help but think the same about their own." Why this was so important to me was I realized that I wasn't crazy for feeling that what my mother was saying was about me. As well that my mother was a big source of my self hatred.
When I got into my teens (middle school-high school) society and media started having a biggest impact on my self image. Being tall (5ft 9in) I was always known as "tall and skinny" and that if I was tall I had to be skinny as well or else I didn't fit. With the rise of commercials about how embarrassing/ugly pimples are or how having glasses (which I had all through middle school) makes you unsuccessful I felt like my natural self wasn't good enough. Middle school was also when my interest in fashion increased, I couldn't help but being bombarded with pictures of stick thin models who had perfect skin and cheekbones that could kill. I began to become obsessed with the industry and models, I wanted to be the picture on the cover. I would look up the current models like Karlie Kloss,Coco Rocha,Lindsey Wixson,Daphne Groeneveld,etc and calculate how much taller they were than me, how much smaller their measurements were than mine. I began restricting what I ate, eating only 1-2 meals a day.I have thought about going into modeling but have always said I wasn't pretty enough, or skinny enough, and still feel that way. I know now there are healthy ways to stay fit/slim and it isn't about being model skinny, but healthy.
Okay this is the final paragraph, I swear. If you don't read all of this at least read this paragraph because this is probably the most important one. I've gone over all the things that fueled my self hatred but how do we get to self acceptance? Well my friend, that's the hard part but I will try and help and share some things that through therapy and life I have realized. Learning to love yourself won't be easy and it won't be a quick thing. You have to basically reprogram the way you think and start over. This is the only body you have sure they're are things like plastic surgery but no amount of surgery will change your brain. Find the beauty in imperfections and how your imperfections are what make you unique. Don't see them as faults but as little things that make up who you are. Your love for yourself can't be conditional, you can't only love yourself for only the good days, or all the things that you like about yourself, it just isn't realistic. Accept the things you can't change and work to improve the things you can. For example I hate my skin, its terrible and acne ridden. That's something I can change though and work to improve. Something like your height isn't as easy, you have to tell yourself every time that voice comes up telling you how short/tall you are that it doesn't control you and you were born this way (insert lady gaga dance break) there is nothing you can do to change it so why hate yourself for it? Your height,weight, and features do not define you as a person and you shouldn't stand by and let them dictate your life. You don't control what you were born with but you control how you feel about it and how you learn to love and accept it. There are too many people in this world who will try to break you down or make you feel inferior, you can't be one of them.
“You're always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”
― Diane Von Furstenberg
I have had a low self esteem/self image since I can remember, I feel as though I was trained to hate myself. I mean how could I not? I was (and still am) reminded on a daily basis of all of my faults by my mother,society, and the media. I was taught that loving yourself was selfish and narcissistic. As well others opinions were priority to yours. That's why I use the word trained because like soldiers who are trained to battle, I was trained to battle with myself because it would grow character and make me strong in the end.
Lets start with the biggest influence to my self image, my mother. But it isn't only her who I blame but my father as well. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother yelling at my sister who did ballet and telling her that she was fat,talentless,lazy and it wasn't a mystery why she never got lead parts. Along with that my mother is very critical of others, especially strangers. Whether it's someone on TV,herself,or a stranger in public there is always a negative comment. Before I knew the reason behind this I thought that she was secretly trying to tell me something about me she didn't like but just projecting it on strangers. Where my father comes in on all of this is he does it as much as she does, and when my mother is extremely critical of me or my sister my dad does nothing. He just gets up and leaves,leaving us to be an easy target and direct hit for our mother's rage. I remember in 8th grade health we had a week on eating disorders, and our teacher said something that made a switch turn on in my head, he said, "Parents don't realize what they say about their own and others bodies their children can't help but think the same about their own." Why this was so important to me was I realized that I wasn't crazy for feeling that what my mother was saying was about me. As well that my mother was a big source of my self hatred.
When I got into my teens (middle school-high school) society and media started having a biggest impact on my self image. Being tall (5ft 9in) I was always known as "tall and skinny" and that if I was tall I had to be skinny as well or else I didn't fit. With the rise of commercials about how embarrassing/ugly pimples are or how having glasses (which I had all through middle school) makes you unsuccessful I felt like my natural self wasn't good enough. Middle school was also when my interest in fashion increased, I couldn't help but being bombarded with pictures of stick thin models who had perfect skin and cheekbones that could kill. I began to become obsessed with the industry and models, I wanted to be the picture on the cover. I would look up the current models like Karlie Kloss,Coco Rocha,Lindsey Wixson,Daphne Groeneveld,etc and calculate how much taller they were than me, how much smaller their measurements were than mine. I began restricting what I ate, eating only 1-2 meals a day.I have thought about going into modeling but have always said I wasn't pretty enough, or skinny enough, and still feel that way. I know now there are healthy ways to stay fit/slim and it isn't about being model skinny, but healthy.
Okay this is the final paragraph, I swear. If you don't read all of this at least read this paragraph because this is probably the most important one. I've gone over all the things that fueled my self hatred but how do we get to self acceptance? Well my friend, that's the hard part but I will try and help and share some things that through therapy and life I have realized. Learning to love yourself won't be easy and it won't be a quick thing. You have to basically reprogram the way you think and start over. This is the only body you have sure they're are things like plastic surgery but no amount of surgery will change your brain. Find the beauty in imperfections and how your imperfections are what make you unique. Don't see them as faults but as little things that make up who you are. Your love for yourself can't be conditional, you can't only love yourself for only the good days, or all the things that you like about yourself, it just isn't realistic. Accept the things you can't change and work to improve the things you can. For example I hate my skin, its terrible and acne ridden. That's something I can change though and work to improve. Something like your height isn't as easy, you have to tell yourself every time that voice comes up telling you how short/tall you are that it doesn't control you and you were born this way (insert lady gaga dance break) there is nothing you can do to change it so why hate yourself for it? Your height,weight, and features do not define you as a person and you shouldn't stand by and let them dictate your life. You don't control what you were born with but you control how you feel about it and how you learn to love and accept it. There are too many people in this world who will try to break you down or make you feel inferior, you can't be one of them.
“You're always with yourself, so you might as well enjoy the company.”
― Diane Von Furstenberg
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