Dear Amy,
Do you remember last week when you fell down the icy stairs and later discovered a small bruise the size of a blueberry on your backside that later grew to the size of a smashed blackberry? Do you remember how shocked you were to have to view that part of your body, up close? You kept checking to see if there were any changes to the bruise. All the while your self-esteem was plummeting as you repeatedly forced yourself to look at a part of your body you were unhappy with. You felt hopeless that your time spent exercising and being mindful of your eating was going to have an impact on your physical appearance. You thought to yourself, What’s the point. It will be too much work and take a long time to see noticeable results.
Then you resumed exercise and saw an article about the winner of a tv program who lost a lot of weight and completely reshaped her body. You were optimistic because she lost over 150 pounds and all you wanted to do was slim down and firm up your body. Then you read how she achieved her results: being isolated on a ranch, exercising 6 hours a day. You saw that she currently devotes 90 minutes to daily exercise. Your hopefulness balloon popped. It deflated along with your recent positive attitude.
Then yesterday while waiting in line at the grocery store, you saw the backside of a celebrity plastered across the front page of a magazine, the headlines saying she was distraught about her big rear end. You thought 3 things that put the past week into perspective:
1. I’m glad my bottom is not as big as hers.
2. I’m glad I’m not dealing with my wight and body issues in front of the world with pictures of me for all to see
3. I can try my best to eat healthy and exercise and if I want to change my body I need to be realistic about it and take one small step at a time
Try not to compare yourself to others. You have set goals for yourself in the past and achieved them. You can do it again.
Love,
~Amy
The Letters She Wrote 