Friday, May 21, 2010

Thick-Skinned

I love my job, I really do. I love the children I get to work with, and as cheesy as it sounds, I live for the moments when something I've been teaching a child finally clicks. In those moments, they just look so proud of themselves. Also, I usually really enjoy getting to know the families of the children as well. One of the last families I worked with before going on break started out as one of my most positive experiences to date. I was working with a brother and sister who were great, and I quickly bonded with the family. After a few sessions, the family started inviting me to stay for dinner. So I did once or twice. Their father is a slightly immature man, and a bit of a tease and a prankster. And in the last few weeks, he started to make some jokes towards me that could definitely have been perceived as fat jokes.

The first two times he said something, I was working with the kids, so I was able to kind of just pretend that I didn't hear it. But the more it happened the harder it was to keep ignoring him. It really wasn't anything major. Just some little digs here or there. For example, once he had asked me if I felt the earthquake that day, and I said "No," and he replied, "I meant the one when you came up the stairs." And in our very last session, they asked to take a picture of me, and while he was snapping the picture he said, "I don't know if my camera can take a big enough picture to fit you in it." Another time his brother just happened to stop by, and he turned to him and said, "Oh you haven't seen my wife in a long time have you?" (points to me) "She sure has gained a whole lot of weight hasn't she?” All of this bothered me of course, but not for the reasons you might assume.

It didn't bother me so much that he was making fun of my weight, I am fat, I'm aware I'm fat. I've been fat since I was 8 years old; I mean the jig is up. But yes, the fat jokes did make me want to cry, and I may have cried a few times. But mainly it bothered me because I wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. Do I say something? Do I pretend I didn't hear? Do I just laugh it off? Mostly I was just mortified that people were around hearing these jokes. I wonder if they felt just as awkward as I did, because they never said anything. And here is the slightly ironic part, they baked me a cake to take home during our last session. You have to laugh at that.

I know when I say this I’m going to sound slightly naive, but you have to know this man to understand. I don't feel like he was saying these things to hurt my feelings. By all indications, he really liked me. I just feel that he was so clueless and so immature that he just didn't get it. And the saddest fact of all is as much as I love the children, I won't be working with them next year, because I started to dread going over to their house. It was making me so anxious that sometimes I felt like I was going to have a panic attack before I went to work. Part of me just wishes I had said something, but I'm just not that kind of person. But at the same time, maybe if he knew how much I have struggled he wouldn't have said it all.

I have had problems with food since middle school, and no I'm not bulimic nor anorexic. But I have a disorder that hasn't yet been classified by itself in the DSM-IV yet, I am a non-purging bulimic (or a binge eater). It all started when the first break with my father occurred, and when my relationship with my stepfather had deteriorated so much, that we were living in the same household and were literally never talking to each other (something that continued until after I left for college). I had always been slightly pudgy, but at that point I really started emotional eating. I ate when I was upset, I ate when I was mad, I ate when I was bored, and I just ate so I didn't have to sit around and think about things. I ate until I got to the point that I thought I would puke, but then would continue eating.

And it wasn't just that I was eating a lot, I was secretive about it. I would do things like ordering pizzas and chicken wings in the afternoon while my mother was working, eat all of it, and then hide the boxes under my bed. Once my mother went to sleep, I would throw the boxes in construction dumpsters around the neighborhood. I would eat cartoons of ice cream, and bake myself a cake that I would eat in a half hour. I kept records of what fast food restaurants I went to and on what dates, so I wasn't going to the same places so often that the person might notice. I was binging at least 3 times a week, and my whole life was centered on food. Thinking of what I would eat and when I would get to eat, etc. I would try to eat modestly in front of family and friends, although sometimes I would feel like I failed and would feel mortified. This would lead to another binging cycle after I got home. For a few years, I even skipped lunch at school, because I didn't want to be seen eating in front of my friends.

Binging only felt good when I was eating, but when I was done I was awash in guilt and shame. And the shame only made me want to eat more. It was the most powerless I've ever felt in my life. But I really didn't know how to articulate to anyone what was going on. I didn't have an eating disorder that I knew of. I wasn't throwing up, although to be honest sometimes I tried. I definitely wasn't starving myself. I just thought if I had enough willpower it would all just go away.

I know more now than I understood then. The binge eating was fueled by my anxiety, and my unhappiness with my life. Of course I wasn't happy, you don't get to that weight when you are happy. I couldn't gain any self-confidence because I was devoting so much of my life to trying to gain my dad and his family's approval. An impossible task, because they lack the ability to ever be happy for me. Secondly, the more weight I gained, the worse I felt about myself, keeping me in a cycle of shame. Also because of my issues with men in my life, I struggled to trust men. I still struggle to trust men, they still make me nervous at first, but I've come a long way (heck I made my first male friend this year, other than my husband of course). So I think the weight gain served as an effective barrier between me and men.

My problems first started to lift after I begun therapy. Binge eating was not even something I talked about in therapy really. Because like I said before, I didn't consider myself as having an eating disorder. But as I learned about myself and my anxiety lifted, I was able to control my problems a little more. However, the biggest change occurred after I got married, and I had the final fallout with my dad. For so many months after everything happened (read about that here and here), I thought I would never get passed it. I was so devastated about my father, so hurt, and I was having so many panic attacks. But then something amazing happened, members of my dad's family tried to contact me and were pretending nothing happen. And I finally got to say my peace and get in the last word. I finally feel like I get to move ahead. Somehow one of the worst things that has ever happened to me turned into one of the best.

The peace and happiness I've experienced in the last few months is amazing. I'm so in love with my husband that sometimes it physically hurts. I don't have the life I imagined, but my life has turned out so much better than I could have ever dreamed. I've finally started to get some control over my emotions and my eating habits. Do I still struggle? Of course I do. I still binge occasionally, but I try not to beat myself up over it. And I've worked/and am working to not do things in secret. And in the last year and a half I've shed a total of 47lbs so I must be doing something right.

One of my new favorite songs is, "King of Anything" by Sara Bareilles. In it she sings, "All my life I’ve tried to make everybody happy/While I just hurt and hide/Waiting for someone to tell me it’s my turn to decide/ Who cares if you disagree?/You are not me/Who made you king of anything?" And that is exactly how I feel about my life. I am now focusing on what is good for me, irregardless of what others think. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't matter what some immature guy said to me at work. I know who I am, where I've been, and how much stronger I am now than I once was. And I want to celebrate that.

5 comments:

  1. Ugh, whether he meant to hurt your feelings or not, that guy sounds pretty much like a total jerk-wad. Who needs that kind of poisonous thinking in their life! And congratulations on taking control of your life and working toward becoming a healthier person. That's quite an amazing accomplishment :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I literally sat reading your post with my mouth gaping wide- what a rotten thing to do! I don't care if he liked you or not, there is no excuse for a grown adult to behave that way. None. I think you are being entirely too forgiving and I would certainly say something to a supervisor (if you worked with the family through an agency).

    Here you are doing wonderful things for his children and he is berating you and at the same time teaching his children that it's an okay thing to do to people.

    Oooh, this ticks me off!

    On a lighter note, I've been reading your blog for a few weeks now and just love it! And bravo to you for taking a hold of your life and making it something you are proud of! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have to agree with the previous comment....what is this man teaching his children? That it is ok to say hurtful things to people? I have zero respect for people who believe and say those types of things...and even less for his wife who tolerates it and allows it to happen in front of her children. She is allowing this bigot to poison their minds.

    You are much too kind. I admire your dedication to those kids...but I would have asked that ignoramous to step outside and given him earful right before I walked away! Maybe even dumped the cake on his head too....but I can be emotional that way sometimes. ;)

    I admire your courage...it is a struggle to find yourself in the best of life situations....to overcome all that you have in your young life deserves a round of thunderous applause. Keep celebrating!

    ReplyDelete
  4. You and I are so much sometimes it scares me. I'm heavier, I've never been a binge eater or an emotional eater, but I've always been heavy. I'm getting healthy this year too-- It's our YEAR Britt! :) (and that guy was a douche)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm crying reading this. Brittany you are such an amazing person. I know we don't really "know" each other, but I feel like I've gotten to know you over the last two years.

    I wish I could say some clever remark you could have made to that idiot guy, but the fact is he wouldn't get it, because he's immature like you said. I think you're right, he made other people uncomfortable with his jokes, and he probably had no idea how much he was hurting you. Still, the guy's a jerk and hopefully he'll learn his lesson someday. I would have left the situation too. I don't blame you one bit.

    Thank you for sharing this, and your struggle. I'm so glad you're in a happy place, and you were able to get the last word. I'm so proud of you for standing up for yourself against your dad and his family and for finding such happiness with Adam.

    I can't even begin to tell you how proud I am of your hard work with your weight loss. But it isn't even about losing the pounds-you're losing the anxiety, the depression and the emotional baggage that came with it. You continue to inspire me every day!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments, and I always read my comments. But sometimes I make a mental note to go comment back on your blog, and then forget to (Even if I’m an avid read of your blog, whoops). Since I'm so bad about this, I will mostly reply to comments in my comment section, so please check back! If you have something pressing to talk to me about you can e-mail me at brittanyervin86@yahoo.com.
Britt

 

Design by Peachy Keen Design