I have been reading a beautiful autobiography of late and it's inspired me to share some things with you all. The book is called through thick and thin and it's Gok Wan's story. For any of you who aren't familiar with Gok Wan, he is best known for his TV role presenting a show called How to Look Good Naked where by he works with women suffering from low confidence and helps them to feel fabulous about themselves.
He shares in his book his struggle with childhood obesity, bullying, low self worth, confused sense of sexuality as well as his journey to anorexia and the turmoil of learning to love and accept himself.
As I have experienced his journey with him, I couldn't help but think of my own journey; how my whole childhood was centred around food and by the time I was 12 I weighed over 70 kgs. This led to huge effects in my adolescent years, with the mirror being my worst enemy. For most of my high school friends, this may come as a shock as much like Gok, I pretended I was ok with what I looked like. I would put myself down first in a comical way so that others didn't have a chance to hurt me.
For the most part of yr 11 &12 I was depressed and hated myself to the point of self harm, unbeknown to my classmates, teachers, friends and family. Not much really improved for me, my physical self harm had stopped but the binge eating and yo yo diets had not. In year 10 I lost 20 kgs and finally felt close to fitting in, though something was still not right. I still felt worthless and being "skinny" hadn't proven to have done the trick.
Over the next 10 years I went up and down in weight, losing and putting on over 20kgs more than 5 times; sure the cutting had stopped but I was doing more harm than ever to my body. The truth of the matter was that although I came across as bubbly, confident and assertive, I was living a lie and hated my self for it.
I would constantly think, 5 more kilos and then I'd be happy, once I'd get there I wasn't any happier and the eating would begin again. The cycle would continue and the self hatred for not being able to keep the weight off daunted me every time I would catch up with friends or family that I hadn't seen in a while. I would work desperately to get to a certain weight by a certain time just so everyone could see the dramatic difference and for that split second I would feel worthy.
It never lasted as I still lacked in a healthy body image and a positive self esteem. For years this has torn me apart and I guess is the very reason why I am passionate about encouraging women to love the skin they are in right now.
I have learnt over the years to love myself, to cherish the gift of my beautiful body despite what others may think. I have learnt to say no to the stereo types set about by the women's media of perfection and decide once and for all that who I am and what I look like in this very moment is amazing and I am grateful for it.
I honestly wish this for every woman, to feel like nothing needs to change, that how you are is perfect. I am passionate about this and I want to share my knowledge and experience with as many women as I can.
On the 23rd of November in Hampton, Melbourne, VIC, Australia from 730-9 pm I will be presenting a workshop on how to Unleash your Power and be the Confident and Assertive women you know you can be. I would love for those ladies that can make it to come along. This event is free as I want as many women as possible to experience being all they can be. So if are coming along please follow this link to secure your spot as there are only 10 places left. Share the message and share the love with any ladies that you know could go with feeling good about themselves.
http://moreconfidence.com.au/u
Can't wait to meet some of my readers and soon to tour so all can experience the beauty of themselves.
Stay wonderful ladies!
