8 Comments
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Alicia Brown's avatar

Thank you for sharing this so honestly and bravely. Like you, I've struggled with accepting my size and body image since childhood (my mother was always starving herself and encouraged me to do the same). Weight is especially tricky because I can be feeling great about myself, then step on the scale and be appalled by a number that seems completely disconnected from how I experience my body. Same with photos; I'll be out having a great time and feeling attractive, then someone will snap and share a pic and I'm immediately horrified: "Do I really look that fat?" 😩

Samia Mounts's avatar

Yeah, our vision has been distorted by the way media only celebrates thin bodies. I really believe this. We can FEEL ourselves clearly but we do not see ourselves clearly. Thank you so much for sharing here.

Jendi OLD's avatar

That programming from childhood is really hard to undo, I know from experience! FWIW, I think you look great.

Samia Mounts's avatar

Thank you :) Most of the time, I do, too. It's a processssssssssss. :)

Pep'd Abysmal's avatar

I think so many people see their own very specific experiences in this one article: having your first big success and feeling "healed" even though that idea is attached to an ever-changing body hits so hard!

Samia Mounts's avatar

Right! It's so frustrating how many times I thought I was healed. Maybe part of being healed is accepting that maybe you'll never fully heal.

Tanya Shaffer's avatar

Thank you for sharing this painful and 100% relatable story. I feel like this is an ongoing journey for pretty much every woman I know. All we can do is be compassionate towards ourselves at every step of the way and keep cultivating that deep underlying sense of love and self acceptance. ❤️❤️❤️

Samia Mounts's avatar

Your work helps me with that underlying self-acceptance!