As a heads-up, today’s post will go into a very sad truth in life, specifically mean comments about weight, however, I will do my best to stick to the general idea, and leave out any specifics. If this is something you need to take into consideration, by all means give this post a miss, and check out some of the other stuff I’ve served up here instead. We’ll kick it again some other time. 🙂
It’s a really sad truth in life that a lot of people tend to place looks before character on their list of priorities, and associate certain looks with certain negative attributes accordingly. Conversely, a lot of people associate certain looks with positive attributes.
It sucks to no end that so many people do this, especially when they know they do, and do it anyway.
It is another sad truth in life that there are people out there who show their willingness to lash out at others working toward their goals, whether it’s weight loss or some other goal with visible, tangible results, and that’s what today’s post will touch on.
From what I’ve experienced, and read about in other stories, nasty and mean comments about other people’s weight loss, or mean behavior as a result thereof, seem to happen at some point from time to time.
I’ve experienced it, sad to say, and early on in the game to boot.
For me, the first time it happened was when I was at the bank I was going to at the time. I won’t reveal names or specifics in terms of role in the story or gender identity out of respect for their privacy. I was about 25, maybe 30 pounds into my weight loss mission, and one of the people there that day lashed out at me out of nowhere after someone else had to bring up my weight loss.
But that’s another can of worms for another day. I promise, I’ll get to that. It’s on the to-do list as we speak.
I’d come in to bring some change to cash in, and they met me with outright nastiness and rage. This person had acted out toward me when we crossed paths before I started losing the weight, but it was never to this extent.
At the time, I wondered what I ever did to them, even though logically I knew I never treated them with anything but basic human decency. Did I steal their dog or their first born in a former life? Looking back, I know this sounds weird, but that’s legit what I felt at the time.
That person had moved on, and I never saw them again after that.
Later on as I moved closer toward where I wanted to be with my weight loss, just a few months before the pandemic became a thing and we went into quarantine, I was at a mall I’d travel out to just to go see what was new at my fave-rave anchor store. I stopped into another shop while I was on my way to the bus stop from the anchor store to see what was new there. It was one that wasn’t a favorite due to a difficult experience there in the past, and I went in figuring they’d changed for the better.
Sadly that wasn’t the case this time. While I was there looking at the couple racks in a small corner with everything strewn around haphazardly (in comparison to everything else in the store immaculately placed, folded, and displayed), I saw the few clerks on the floor gathering together. They were talking among each other, and I didn’t hear any of what they were saying.
I had the radio with me, listening to my (now former) favorite station. I looked over in their direction, and saw them pointing at me as they continued talking.
I ignored them and continued looking around, killing time before I headed out to the bus stop. Then I saw one of them act in a way that made it clear they were talking about me, and making assumptions about me based on my size.
I’ll spare you the specifics in terms of their actions, or the type of assumptions they made, since it’s ancient history at this point. I walked out of there empty-handed, and haven’t been back there since.
This time around, I knew to take their nasty comments with the tiniest grain of salt.
I got on the bus, and started to remember something I learned a few years before: always consider the source. And I did. I realized that those store employees’ behavior said more about them than it did me. Same with what happened at the bank the year before.
What they thought of me wasn’t my circus or my monkeys in the scheme of things. I felt thankful that I wasn’t them, and that I never had to deal with them again.
Readers, if there’s one thing you decide on your takeaway from all this, it’s that people with this level of bitterness and insecurity will always find a way to drag others down with them, kick others while they’re down, and crap on others’ successes. Their choice to lash out at others says everything about them, not the other person.
At the end of the day, they will stay their sad, bitter, insecure selves. They’re the ones who have to live with themselves, not you. Leave their asses behind in your dust, and keep moving forward to where you’d like to be.
Over to you, readers. Ever dealt with someone else’s nasty comments or behavior while you were pursuing your goals? Let’s talk below, share some wisdom, what have you.