Visiting my old stomping grounds sometimes isn’t always the best experience. Recently, I was bombarded with a slew of questions in tones of voices not hiding their disgust:
“You’re going to eat that? Do you know how many calories are in it?”
“Who are you to talk about loving your body?”
“I can’t believe you shared what you shared in your chapter of the book.“
“Why would you tell people being fat is ok?”
“I’m surprised you’ve lasted out there as long as you have.”
“I can’t believe you share full body pictures and videos online.”
“You’re not the same person.”
“Why would you put yourself out there on a runway in a bathing suit?”
“Why do you post the things you post? You share too much.”
“Isn’t your boyfriend embarrassed by the way you put yourself and your body out there?”
Of course, I took everything to heart, even though this came from people I should know by now to take their words with a grain of salt because they never have anything positive or supportive to say. Sometimes, when I’m in my old environment, I easily slip into old thought patterns and let others get to me and affect how I show up (more like don’t show up).
I want to say I had some wise words to spew back at the haters. I didn’t. Looking back, it’s a little embarrassing how easily I was the “old” me – the quiet one without a voice, sitting by listening to the nastiness but too afraid to stand up for myself and instead letting the words play on repeat until I start to let their words become my truth, my beliefs.
Ugh… shake that shit off!
The moral of this experience is that when we make changes in our lives, there will always be people around us who won’t accept it, support it, and, most of all, try to keep us down or stuck. Why? Because our change is an invitation for them to look at their lives, and it scares them. Let me say that again:
Our changing is an invitation to them to take a look at their lives, and it scares them!
So, I’ve come up with three words of wisdom…
FUCK THE HATERS! (because sometimes you just gotta throw an F-bomb out there… I mean I do it often but sometimes it has a whole lot more meaning behind it! 🤣)
I’m gonna keep showing up boldly but, most of all, unapologetically 🙂
And I invite you to do the same!
