Fatphobia, an Ever-Present Reality
Many times in my life I have witnessed the rudeness and aggressiveness of habitual critics. Through my experience in fitness, I discovered that many of my clients, both men and women, have suffered emotional harassment from their “friends,” family members, coworkers or classmates, in every case adding a burden of psychological suffering on top of the physical discomfort that obesity causes.
It’s important to know that health and emotional balance go hand in hand, because I see that those who criticize and attack always follow the same pattern, something like “you have no right to speak until you’re perfect” (obviously according to a standard of perfection that exists only in the small mind of the critic). Their psychological distress, their anger, fears and frustrations turn them into “fighting dogs,” always ready to bark and bite, no matter who or what is within reach of their eyes and fingers.
And this DOESN’T JUST HAPPEN TO INFLUENCERS; it happens to lots of people. “After all, it’s very easy to play judge from the comfort of their phones” and share their thoughts with the world.
We can’t allow toxic people or thoughts into our lives, which is why I tell those “detractors” who get equally outraged about everything that they have the option to “unfollow” us, and they even have the option to GROW UP, if they ever want to. Because when a trainer tries to help someone improve their appearance and health, they aren’t only fighting that battle; they’re fighting to help that person recover their self-esteem, confidence and drive to move forward. Being fat is a problem when it affects the person living with it, since not everyone feels bad being that way. Now imagine the burden of having to deal with a society that, instead of helping, forces you to hide and become even more frustrated.
Remember that being an idiot is just like being dead: the corpse doesn’t suffer because it isn’t aware of its condition, but the people around it do. The same thing happens with idiots: they believe they’re serving “justice,” when in reality they’re only exposing their own emotional misery to everyone else!
Online freedom to share our opinions is fine and important, but let’s be clear about one thing: when someone anonymous dares to be rude in public, they have every right to be exposed and for the public to weigh in too… You don’t need to be cruel to live in this world; cruelty already reigns anyway… Let’s be different, and even if it seems strange, being honest, humble, respectful, kind and a good person are rare qualities these days…
Let’s change our bodies, but our MINDS too.
