Time for me to get on my soapbox.
As I was scrolling through the newsfeed, I came across the
post below. Thank you, Pammy Pam Ward. I was immediately curious about
people's opinions. While this artwork is
meant to be a thing of beauty, I knew the ugliness in people was going to come
out. Many people feel that obesity should not be celebrated. As a plus size woman, I'll tell
you right now, I am going to celebrate me. All of me. My size. My age. My
color. My achievements. My personality. I am going to celebrate me. Am I
supposed to hang my head, crawl in a ball, and live like a hermit because I'm
overweight? I recognize that excess weight brings a plethora of health issues.
For that reason and that reason alone, I have a desire to lose weight. I would
never lose weight because society tells me that obesity is unattractive and
gross. I would never lose weight to feel more beautiful. I would never lose weight to have more
friends, get a man, get a job, get attention. I have wonderful people in my
life. None that would turn their backs on me because I shop in the plus size
section.
I am happy with myself right now in this moment. And no
skinny people, this is not something I am telling myself to mask some pain you
figure I must be in. I love me. There was a time when I didn't even like
myself. There was a time when I felt I wasn't worthy of being loved by anyone.
And for that reason I made poor decisions and attracted the wrong kinds of
people into my life. Guess what? I didn't like that feeling. I didn't like
living that kind of down trodden, low self-esteem, self-hate life. By the way,
I was a svelte size 3 at the time. Physically, my body look liked what society would deem as beautiful and
ideal. But there were other things going on in my life. Size didn't matter.
It was GOD who saved my life and pulled my out of my funk. I
decided at that time I didn't want to be unhappy ever again. So you think that
now that I have all this extra weight on my body, I'm going to also allow
society to convince me that I should have extra weight on my mind as well? You're
wrong. And another thing, that doesn't motivate me to get into the gym. Again I
say, I recognize that in order to be healthy I need to lose weight. I'm not
going to the gym because someone else thinks I look gross.
Those of you who know my story are aware of the many health
issues that I've endured. All of which started BEFORE I was overweight. My
first set of health issues started when I was at about a size 6 and was running
regularly. My second set of health issues started shortly thereafter. My third
and fourth set of health issues started when I was about a size 10. At
5'2" a size 10 was certainly not "acceptable." All the extra
weight I have now, I gained AFTER my heart attack in 2009. After my heart
attack I spent two years living as healthy as I could. No fried food. No soul
food. A diet low in sodium and low in fat, which was difficult to maintain. My
grandmother, Marie Anderson kept me on course. I exercised three days a week.
Doing what my heart could take. And during that time I PACKED on the pounds. I
do not know why, but I did. And here I am today. Big and loving myself.
Just remember that when I say I love myself and I celebrate
me, it doesn't mean I am making excuses for my size. It doesn't mean that I do
not recognize the importance of living a healthy life style. But until I get to
a healthy weight, I will NOT allow obesity to bring me to a place of self-loathing.
And remember another thing. My struggle is with weight. Your
struggle is with . . . You fill in the blank. Because believe me we all
struggle with something. In the meantime and in between time, I thank GOD for
loving the whole me. And I thank Him for surrounding me with people who also
love the whole me.
Now, I leave you to freely comment. Agree or disagree.
Spread love or spread hate. It doesn't matter to me because I no longer give
people the power to make me happy.
Okay. I'm off the soapbox.
