There’s a whole subset of the body positive crowd I’m just not into.
I get you should love yourself no matter what. I believe it wholeheartedly. Because at some point, no matter how hard you work, some things are just never going to change. For me, I have dandruff.
So you accept that. You try to love that – all those beautiful snowflakes. And you move on.
But there is this other crowd, you see. A whole (often patronizing) group of people who feel you can be healthy (and happy) at any size. For what it’s worth, this just isn’t true.
There are real, serious economic implications to being overweight. You will die. And very likely someone else is now going to have to foot the bill to stop you from dying. I don’t want to get into a debate about universal healthcare. But if people are paying for other people’s medical bills, if the government says that’s a mandatory thing, then the government should also decide what people eat. This is the curious trap of intervention.
But beyond the economics, the science also isn’t there. You can’t be healthy at any size. And it is also very hard to be happy when you are super overweight. I don’t care what people on Instagram say. I’ve been super overweight. It sucks. I just never admitted it at the time.
Loving yourself isn’t letting yourself go. You’re not advancing a cause by stuffing your face with cake on your Facebook profile. You’re being a pig. Loving yourself is acknowledging your faults and working on those that are not permanent. Loving yourself is accepting those that are.
People come in all shapes and sizes and so much of what makes us beautiful are our differences. Some are bigger, others small. A few of us even have a thigh gap. So treasure what you cannot do anything about. And work hard to improve all that you can.
That’s loving yourself.
– Pat