“I’m so fat!”
“I look so fat in this dress.”
“I feel so fat right now.”
We’ve all heard these sentences uttered from countless girls around us and we’ve probably said them ourselves quite a few times. It seems harmless to us. Sometimes it just rolls out without even feeling like you made a conscious decision to do so.
I beg to differ. I feel like those phrases can do a lot of damage, both to yourself and those around you. They have the potential to hurt and can even be the start of serious diseases such as bulimia and anorexia.
Here are some reasons why you and I should put an end to such self-deprecating sentences, and I present them to you all with the hopes that we can all make an effort to stop this in our daily lives.
1. Boys hate it. Seriously, they do. I know, because I have seen the eye rolling when a girl says it around them. Plus, the main thing guys say they look for in girls seems to overwhelmingly be “confidence.” There’s no worse way to show a lack of confidence than to blast what you don’t like about yourself in front of him.
2. There’s probably someone fatter in the room. We have all felt that awkward feeling when someone around you says that they’re so fat…and they’re like half your weight. Oftentimes, the people that complain about it are actually the farthest from fat. How hard must that be to the girls around you that have been feeling chubby only for you to confirm that someone half their weight is “fat?” It’s hurtful and entirely unnecessary. If you’re not worried about damaging your own self-esteem, at least take the self-esteem of others into consideration.
3. That’s all anyone will ever notice about us. As soon as you point out that you’ve gained five pounds or that you think you have big thighs, everyone is going to look directly at those areas and try to find what you’re talking about. Even if it’s not there, people will feel like they see it, just because you pointed it out. Otherwise, they would’ve never known the difference. Especially boys…they’re oblivious, so don’t be the one to make them notice something.
4. We have to look out for ourselves. This world’s full of people who would love to tear us down, so we have to make sure we’re watching our own backs. Build yourself up, because you’re the only one who truly can. The saying about having to love yourself before you can love others…so true and so important.
5. We’ll start believing it. The more you put yourself down, the more you believe these self-given insults. You end up hurting yourself over time and that can really be dangerous. You’ll start feeling like you don’t want to go somewhere because you “look too fat.” Don’t let it get to the point where it starts keeping you from living your life. Stop yourself before it gets that far.
“If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”…even about yourself!