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Apr 10, 2023Liked by Elise Joseph

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.

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this is so so beautiful, Christina. thank you so much for sharing! ♥️

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so beautifully said ❤️ happy birthday Elise!!

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thank you Louise! ❤️

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thanks so much Nicholas!

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