"What people say to you is their karma, how you react to it is yours." Wayne Dyer - I'm paraphrasing
At today's Weight Watchers meeting one of the members told a very emotional story about some incredibly rude things a coworker said to her in front of a group of associates and laypeople. She was understandably horrified, as well and completely derailed and decimated. The first thing she did was crawl into herself and cry. Then she limped around in her own life for a few days. Then she did a cathartic thing and confronted the coworker privately, expressed her feelings clearly and without tears, got back on track and is proceeding to pick up the shattered pieces of her confidence.
There is no doubt that words hurt. Once said, they can be retracted, but they can never be erased. Especially in the digital age.
On my lifelong yo-yo journey of the Battle of the Bulges, comments about my weight, both complimentary and thoughtless, continually take me by surprise. It's shocking to me that anyone, anywhere, anytime feels it's OK to make comments (in front of others) on what you're wearing, what you're eating, how fat /skinny you look. In retrospect I always wish I had pulled out a snappy retort and brought the offender down like the clueless jerk they obviously are. In reality, my journey belongs to only me, and I need to remember that.
Dear Prudence offers excellent advice for how to respond to unasked for opinions. A recovering anorexic wanted to know what to say when well-meaning acquaintances make comments like, "Good grief, you're a skeleton, what's wrong with you??"
Answer: "I'm fine, thank you, but I don't want to discuss my weight. How are you doing?"
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