True Confessions - Don't Judge

chocolate_owl wrote: »

moya_bleh wrote: »

I confess that these forums are really making me feel like *kitten* about myself. I notice that whenever ANYBODY else posts any kind of progress pic/selfie etc. they get some kind of "How YOU doin'?" type response. I get tumbleweed, confirming that I am indeed physically repulsive. Time to crawl under a rock.

There's several reasons I haven't posted in the selfie thread yet, but a big one is that I'd be letting my self-esteem hinge on validation from strangers on the internet. I'm not in a good place about my appearance, and not getting a bunch of super-positive comments would hurt. I would interpret it as "I'm not attractive" rather than not being one of the regulars that always comment on each other, or posting at a time where people were too busy to comment, or someone else posting an AMAZING selfie that's grabbing everyone's attention at the moment.

Maybe I'm hot, maybe I'm not, but I want to value myself enough that my appearance is not the sum of my worth. The number of likes on my selfie would not change how good of a friend, wife, and daughter I am, how I perform at my job, how well I cook, or how generous I am to those in need. So I'm not going to put myself in that situation until I get my head straight, like myself a little more, and appreciate my body as it is.

I'm not sure what's happened that's so thoroughly convinced you you're deserving of the hate you pile on yourself, but I hope you can start to work through it and realize you should hold yourself in higher esteem. Your height and your appearance will be attractive to some and not attractive to others. Allowing these things - and specifically the people who comment negatively on these things - decide your entire worth is doing yourself nothing but harm. Don't give anyone that power.