I received an email from a fan of a recent Backstage blog (“Get Clear in Your Intentions and Get What You Want”) and she expressed the most beautiful sentiment. In part, she had an “Aha!” moment about her high school self.
She was a chunky pre-teen and though she outgrew that “awkward” phase, as she called it, she also realized her attitude about her previous young self did not grow up with her. Her perception of herself at that age was based on the judgments and negative associations with that younger self.
So even though she was overweight, at the same time she was also a “badass” Hilarious, creative, and a performer. But as she got older, she didn’t identify with those positive qualities. She continued to see herself the way she thought others saw her: fat.
So she shut down a lot of the great stuff that came with the weight as well. She started worrying about what other people thought, became less creative and expressed.
I think the lightening bulb comes when we stop compartmentalizing parts of ourselves—especially the parts we don’t like or didn’t fully understand during our formative years.
The stuff that we judge ourselves for
Leave a Reply