JUST BRENDA: It hurts when people make fun of my slim body

Hi Brenda,

My confidence had been going down a while now as a result of people ridiculing me because of my body. I am quite slender, actually a bit underweight. And it is sort of genetics I think. My grandma was always really small-bodied.

My family and friends ask me why I eat a lot or why I bother to eat yet the food is not benefitting me. In fact, they usually say ‘it is going to waste’. They say it like a joke but it really hurts.

I have tried so many things to gain weight but nothing seems to work so far. Can’t people just accept me and let me be? I am trying to accept myself for the way I am but they are making it difficult for me.

Hi,

Sorry about this. This can be so difficult, particularly when the people around you are the ones who are supposed to be offering you the most comfort. It hurts when your friends and family are the ones putting you down.

But this would mean that the answer to your own personal equilibrium is in yourself. Are you okay with who you are inside, and how does what people say affect this?

It's important for you to maintain your own self-esteem, so that what people say does not affect you so much. When you know who you are, and understand how you work, and know what you have been trying to achieve, then what other people say doesn't matter quite as much.

Eat what you want, weigh what you want, and accept what you can't change.

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