Have you ever felt uncomfortable about your size? You have, right? And has it ever held you back from achieving a goal? I’ll bet it has. Somehow you think you can’t have – or even envision – your best life unless you’ve reached a certain weight or size. Why is that?
As a woman who has gone up and down the scale, here’s what I think: When I lost fifty pounds, I knew I was the same good, talented and skilled person as I was fifty pounds ago. I hadn’t changed, but other people’s reaction to me did. That’s because, unfortunately there is a type of discrimination that happens to women who are overweight.
That’s what happened to Jennifer Livingstone, an ABC-affiliate anchor in Wisconsin. She really got the “too fat” treatment when a man, apparently not even a viewer of her newscast, thought it was appropriate to send her a finger-pointing email chiding the anchor about her weight. To Ms. Livingston’s credit, she didn’t go home and eat a half-gallon of ice cream. Instead, she spoke up and talked back – publicly on her broadcast. As a result, she made national news and started an important conversation.
The ever-present societal push for women to be thin and too-thin is really sexist and has to stop. Think about how many of your male senior executives have huge guts – and how few of your female executives (if any) are bigger than a size 12? Why is that? Why are women encouraged, no – expected, to take up as little space in the world as possible? And, just in case you’re one of the women who have the audacity to take up more space, either physically or through your career accomplishments, you are likely to be denigrated, shamed and mocked for being “too big.” After all, how dare you not shrink to fit into the skinny “good girl” model? And if you don’t shrink to fit, then people make you feel you deserve to be ridiculed.
They are wrong.
And the same people have been socialized to think that treating you as “less than” isn’t a form of bullying. Again, they are wrong; it is.
If you have you ever told yourself, “When I lose 20 lbs, then I’ll start exercising,” or, “I want to lose a few pounds before I go after that new job,” now is the time to stop it and start living your best life – no matter what size you are. If you don’t, you’re wasting precious days/weeks/months – and maybe even years – of your life.
You don’t need to shrink to fit, you need to enlarge your vision to include good health, exercise and your best life as possible in your current size. So add to your visioning something that reminds you that you DESERVE the things you dream about. Once you believe you deserve your best life, you can start attracting it. Life Jennifer Livingston, you don’t have to shrink yourself to be healthy, happy or successful. But you do need to believe you deserve those things. Vision your deservedness first.
Just in case you missed the Jennifer Livingston clips, take a look: Jennifer Livingston talks back
And just for fun, take a look at the charmer who sent the email. He does of those phony “If Jennifer was offended…” apologies and expresses empathy during his arrogant interview. Adding insult to injury, he even offers to help Jennifer get thin. Whew! Talk about abusive attitudes. JenniferLivingstonBully
Question: What’s one thing you can do to remind yourself that you deserve your best life?
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