Today, uncle, aunts and sis came to the hospital to visit mom. I was in the cafe, they decided to join there, and asked me to get them coffee. I asked them how many cakes they wanted with it, they said two.
A thin pretty-ish young woman had sat right in front of where I had to come and sit. At first I sat there drinking, then I changed my seat cause I felt uncomfortable. She was having tea/coffee and a pastry.
So I was enjoying my tea, and generally talking, taking small sips from my tea, and "eating" it, and taking small bites from the sponge cake, and "drinking" it. When my Uncle says in Pushto "Look at their size, and look at the cake their eating" — I felt embarrassed, hurt and sad. And said, Okay Shakeel bhai, if you say so, I won't eat it. And I pushed the cake towards other people, to show I had withdrawn, with a smile.
But he wasn't talking me. He was talking about that girl. He meant, look how unhealthy her diet is, and how fit she looks.
But I took it upon myself.
Why? I am thinking about this more and more, ever since I discovered why I eat a lot. I have what they call Emotional Eating or Stress Eating. And there's a lot of symptoms associated with it, one them is negative body image and an embarrassment of eating. A person feels shame, when he/she eats. And to curb this negative emotion, a person eats (more).
Add to that the friends and family who wants to 'help' the individual, and 'motivate' him/her by shaming him, threatening him, embarrassing him, taunting him, making fun, and emotionally blackmailing.
The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
No comments:
Post a Comment