After hearing “All About that Bass” for the fifth time today (knowing I had been in the car previously only two times today), I finally lost it and yelled to no one in particular, “I don’t have a butt okay?!”

The struggle is real.  Just today when eating a pre-Thanksgiving delicious meal in the copy room of the high school I work at, I mentioned I had bought some leather pants for my Vegas trip starting tomorrow.  A lady commented I should probably hold back, in case they didn’t fit later.  I shook my head, “nope, my problem won’t let that happen.” She laughed, “I wouldn’t call it a problem!”

What is it that makes the two sizes (rather sides) so polarized? It is not bad to be skinny, nor is it bad to be curvy and booty-licious. Yet when people voice a concern over their health/body size, you have one side insisting you shouldn’t care about the problem, because you’re skinny, or shouldn’t complain because you have a “true woman’s figure.” I will say the same thing I said to this very sweet lady; that my hands constantly shake and can never remain still, that I have passed out before due to quick onset hunger, and that my metabolism drives me crazy sometimes because I either feel like I will die if I don’t eat something soon, or am not able to finish my meal.  I’m not sure whether to blame the “not finishing my meals” on my small stomach, or my taste changes as I’ve grown older and sugary things make me feel physically sick, or my laziness. To my saintly sister-in-law who deals with my piling up take out boxes in the fridge, it’s probably the latter.

Everyone has their own size, and that’s okay, and that’s beautiful. I’ve said it to my very image-impressionable students before and I’ll say it again, “someone who doesn’t work out but is skinny is unhealthier than an overweight person who does work out.” We don’t know what’s going on in most cases, and some people just can’t lose the weight. My father had this case, and had to go vegan to be able to lose the weight. Sometimes people have to do that, because in my father’s case diabetes was the issue. It depends on the person.

Rant over, and major issue brought up “prepares to cower behind the laptop.”  But seriously, why does personal image have to be as debilitating as it is? Stop the Photo-shopping and stop talking about cellulite!  I had to Google it a couple of days ago because people won’t shut up about it, and guess what? Even with my thin frame, I’ve got it! So…let’s just go get a clean, bright smile on our faces and go about our days, shall we?

Tootles,

RJ.