I am blown away by the comments yesterday.
I asked you yesterday “What keeps you motivated?” and over 50 of you responded. A few even went so far as to send me personal emails with their thoughts typed out. While every single reason was absolutely perfect, I found myself drawn to one reason multiple people mentioned.
Vanity.
Vanity kept them healthy.
Google defines vanity as….
van·i·ty/ˈvanətē/
| Noun |
- Excessive pride in or admiration of one’s own appearance or achievements.
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Can vanity really keep us healthy?
I did not realize it until I read the comments yesterday that this is one of my reasons too. Because of vanity. I’m not vain. Vanity and vain are not to be confused. Google defines vain as…
vain/vān/
| Adjective: |
- Having or showing an excessively high opinion of one’s appearance, abilities, or worth
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To have vanity is to take excess pride in my appearance but to be vain is to show excessive opinion of my own appearance. I can take pride in my appearance without showing it.
When I first started, I wanted to be skinny.
I did not realize that by removing the layers of physical fat on my body, I would expose the emotional fat that clogged my thinking. I chuckle to myself now because of the ignorance I had when I first started this journey. “Once I lose weight, then everything will be all right!” I’d tell myself. I really thought that. But the truth is, being a PriorFatGirl will not cure all. Being skinny will not fix everything. It will only remove obstacles in your way so that you can begin to concentrate on other areas of your life.
A few months ago, I received an email from a reader who told me she could no longer read my blog. Her email said…
I take offense at the assertion that life is better as a PFG with all of these moments because it also implies that those of us CFGs [current fat girls] have, ironically, a less than life. And the message of “You can have this too. Your life can be better” makes me yell at my computer screen–why do you assume that being a PFG will make my life better?
I never replied – what was I to say? Um… congratulations, glad you can’t read my blog anymore!?” (I got the email right before my surgery so aside from the fact that I didn’t really know what to say, life got in the way of a response.) The only reason why I post this now is because a few weeks ago, the writer wrote a blog post about the letter, saying that she was still bothered by the issue, that I never responded to her and posted her entire letter she originally sent me in November on her blog-her email is no longer private. ( I never commented on her blog post either because I’m not about to argue with someone about what their take away is from my blog. Today’s post is not to scream at her so please, no negative talk toward her. Today’s post is the assertion that life as a PriorFatGirl will fix everything.)
To all of readers out there, being a PriorFatGirl will NOT make your life perfect. Being skinny does not cure anything other than maybe some physical side effects. Sure, I am much happier healthy but I am not “fixed” or “cured” or “healed.” Losing weight helped me to appreciate who I was as a person, which was hidden behind the layers of fat. Losing weight removed the layers I hid behind. It revealed what was really there, the good and the to-be-improved.
Can vanity keep us healthy? I take pride in my appearance. Excessive pride? Probably. Does it keep me healthy? Probably.
We all have our reasons. Family, children, ourselves, our future, our vanity.
Whatever that reason is?
I say LIVE IT, OWN IT, BREATH IT.
Disclosure: The above is not to say people who are overweight do not take pride in their appearance or hide who they are. What I’m explaining is my experience. Do not assume I am implying my experiences are yours too if in fact you did not experience the same.
