Growing up, I remember watching TV with my family...there was a woman on TV who said “I am skinny and pretty enough to be a model.”
I had never thought about it before but after that the words “pretty” and “skinny” quickly became synonymous with each other in my mind. To be pretty was to be skinny. With that drilled into my brain at such a young age I quickly spiraled downward into my own path of disordered eating.
For years, I would struggle with my body image. My weight kept dropping until I was forced into treatment. While in treatment, I was still in denial of my eating disorder and was stubborn about following my treatment plan. Once I hit rock bottom I realized I needed to change my habits. I began to realize what I was doing to my body and my mind. With the help from the staff at the treatment center I worked through my eating disorder behaviors and fought the voice in my head for months.
With this week being National Eating Disorders Awareness Week I wanted to talk about body positivity and body acceptance.
First, I think it is extremely important to note that eating disorders affect people regardless of their age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status. The stigma around eating disorders is “only skinny white girls suffer from an eating disorder” which is completely false as stated before. Learning more about eating disorders can help to end the stigma surrounding them.
This years theme is “Come As You Are.” To me, this is all about body positivity and body acceptance; loving yourself for all that you are. This is personally something I have struggled with my entire life and I know many others have as well.
Something that has helped me in learning to accept my body is appreciating my body for what it does for me:
My legs carry me to class, to work, to do things with the people closest to me.
My belly fills with food to nourish me.
My mind gives me the capacity to love and be loved.
Who you are is so unique and so special to this world. Every single one of you complete this world and it truly wouldn’t be the same without you. So don’t ever change who you are to fit society’s impossible standards. I can’t express enough how much this world needs you to be YOU.
Written by: Kaitlin Hidalgo