Birthday musings and advice for our younger selves.
This is so beautiful!! Here’s my contribution to this incredible homage to our inner child
Letter to my past self:
You were so young
elementary school I think
when you became aware of the space you took up
Aware of the rolls that formed as you
sat down
It stayed as you moved into middle school, hiding behind big t shirts and dismissing the heavy on the heart insecurities
By the time you got to high school, it felt like too much to bare
With each bite you took, there was that feeling of never being good enough
Never being pretty enough
And the only way to control those thoughts was to not eat at all.
And it was hard at first
Food was a source of comfort and survival
So you took tiny bites to reduce how many calories you ate
You tracked every meal
and weighted yourself constantly
It took everything in you to hold back the tears when those numbers on the scale didn’t budge
Everything was not alright
I know that girl.
She’s afraid of asking for help
She doesn’t want to appear weak or needy
Or worst of all, selfish
She would have never believed me if I told her that she’d be the one to facilitate her own recovery
That girls can be their own hero
She may have cried tears of joy if I told her she’d know what love felt like, even if it lasted for
just a moment
And she may have seen hope if she knew how empowered she would feel as she advocated for all she’d ever dreamed of.
I wish I could go back in time and hold her,
as she would have sighed in relief
mid embrace
And when the weight of the world starts to feel a bit too much
she’s now able to pause in that moment
and give herself a hug
and whisper
that everything’s going to be alright
And this time, she believes it.
so beautifully said ❤️ happy birthday Elise!!
This is so beautiful!! Here’s my contribution to this incredible homage to our inner child
Letter to my past self:
You were so young
elementary school I think
when you became aware of the space you took up
Aware of the rolls that formed as you
sat down
It stayed as you moved into middle school, hiding behind big t shirts and dismissing the heavy on the heart insecurities
By the time you got to high school, it felt like too much to bare
With each bite you took, there was that feeling of never being good enough
Never being pretty enough
And the only way to control those thoughts was to not eat at all.
And it was hard at first
Food was a source of comfort and survival
So you took tiny bites to reduce how many calories you ate
You tracked every meal
and weighted yourself constantly
It took everything in you to hold back the tears when those numbers on the scale didn’t budge
Everything was not alright
I know that girl.
She’s afraid of asking for help
She doesn’t want to appear weak or needy
Or worst of all, selfish
She would have never believed me if I told her that she’d be the one to facilitate her own recovery
That girls can be their own hero
She may have cried tears of joy if I told her she’d know what love felt like, even if it lasted for
just a moment
And she may have seen hope if she knew how empowered she would feel as she advocated for all she’d ever dreamed of.
I wish I could go back in time and hold her,
as she would have sighed in relief
mid embrace
And when the weight of the world starts to feel a bit too much
she’s now able to pause in that moment
and give herself a hug
and whisper
that everything’s going to be alright
And this time, she believes it.
so beautifully said ❤️ happy birthday Elise!!