A Letter to the 'Haters'

By , SparkPeople Blogger
I’m not the same person I used to be and it isn’t just losing weight that changed me. It’s personal growth mentally, physically, and spiritually. There is so much that others don’t know about me.
 
People on the streets aren’t always the nicest to people who are different. I get snickered at, teased, and blatantly laughed at. I have had my picture taken with camera phones. I wish they knew something about the person they are making fun of though. For instance, although I’m still overweight, they should know I fought my way back from being bed-ridden and still have the degenerative diseases that caused the situation in the first place. I deal with severe pain daily, yet I exercise. I have also lost 155 pounds and strive to motivate others with their weight loss and health efforts.
 
Yes, I used to be the victim of my diseases. I lay in bed and my husband took care of me.  It just didn’t sit well with me, living in just my room. I decided not to be a victim anymore.  I took the bull by the horns and found out what I could do.  I could go to physical therapy at first and that progressed to walking a 5K with my walker and being taken off of insulin.  I do everything in my power to fight back.  Sometimes it is tiring, but I take a break and get back to it.
 
I’ll also bet that people don’t realize how lonely I actually can be. I have many online friends, but very few real life friends. It is harder as an adult to make friends. Having spent so many years in the house, I lost touch with the “outside world” and am just now getting back to it.  Upon my first ventures out, the rude remarks by strangers about my weight made me want to crawl back in my safe house and cry.  But I didn’t.  I reached out further and am still reaching.
 
I think possibly strangers think they have the right to judge me because they aren’t in my situation.  Maybe they have a better relationship with food and the scale; maybe they think the remarks will somehow shock me into realizing I’m overweight. Hating will never teach anyone anything.  Furthermore, how do you know that the person you just though of as fat and lazy didn’t just complete their first 5K with a walker or lose 155 pounds? 
 
We all have stories of the friend or relative who says they can’t do anything about their unhealthy situation and we are so frustrated and desperate to help them.  It has to be their time though. 
 
Think of it like this: That person is a potential flower, but they won’t bloom just because they are a flower seed. Somewhere along the line, they need sun, earth, rain, and proper weather to bloom. I think our frustration comes when we want to be the one thing that changes their life. The truth is that only their journey will change it and we can put up some road signs along the way or hand them a map, but if they choose to wander in the desert for 40 years… that’s an age-old problem.
 
Walk in kindness toward others and realize they may not be who you think they are.  Everyone deserves a break, has a bad day, has an unusually good day, gets frustrated, loses a friend or family member.  

That “jerk” you just gave the finger to may have just lost his job and is on his way home to tell his wife, thus his erratic driving. That large person you’re thinking shouldn’t be eating so much, may be trying the only way they know to comfort themselves, not knowing any other coping skills.  They also may have an amazing story to tell.
 
Do you walk in kindness or judge others based on a moment’s glance?