My life is good because...

CountryBumpkin

Silver Member
As I'm finally dealing with a lifelong weight issue, it's motivating me to work on my mental health too. I've made an appointment to talk to my doctor next week about getting help with my non-existent self-worth and, after more than three years of living reclusively, I'm taking little steps (both metaphorically and physically!) to put myself out into the world. It's hard though, because I feel very inferior to just about everyone I meet. They're happier than I, or more successful, more stable, richer, thinner, prettier, smarter... the list goes on and on, and I never acknowledge or reward the positive aspects of myself and my situation because I'm constantly fretting over achievements, experiences, possessions and attributes I lack. It's shameful. So I'm starting a thread, in the hope that other people will join in, whether they suffer from low self-esteem or not, to remind myself about the things that are either good in my life (perhaps even the kind of things another person may envy me for, the way I envy other people, although at the moment that's hard to imagine!) or the things that are unique to me. I'm just going to post one thing for now, to give me something to think about, and please feel free to take part. The more, the merrier. :gen126:

My life is good because I have started to care about myself enough to want to change.
 
My life is good because today I was only upset for a few minutes that no one replied to my new threads.

Shameful as it is to admit, that's progress. Normally I'd spend an up to hour wondering why everyone hates me, even though I know somewhere in the back that's completely illogical, but it's still the first thing that springs to mind when I feel "rejected".
 
My life is good because after 10 years and two abusive relationships I'm finally with an amazing man who I'm marrying in March and am 14 weeks pregnant after two years of trying :)
 
Sarah, congratulations! That's fantastic news, and gives a lot of hope to other people who are struggling in that aspect of their life. <3
 
Sarah, congratulations! That's fantastic news, and gives a lot of hope to other people who are struggling in that aspect of their life. <3

Thank you :) it took me to get to nearly 30 before I got it (I'm 32 now) but its so worth it. :)
 
I'm not very good at calculating pregnancy weeks, but does this mean your baby is due around Christmas?

I'm nearly 30 and a complete mess in the relationships department so it's definitely encouraging to me.
 
I'm not very good at calculating pregnancy weeks, but does this mean your baby is due around Christmas?

I'm nearly 30 and a complete mess in the relationships department so it's definitely encouraging to me.

Due 6th January. So two months before the wedding. I'm glad it's encouraging. When I met him I weighed 18 stone and he has always made me feel loved and beautiful. I lost weight for myself and to get pregnant.
 
That's such a nice story. I'm inclined to say "happy ending", but that implies the closure of something when in fact you've got your whole happy married life and the life of your child ahead of you. :)

My life is good today because I went to the hygienist, which I hadn't done in over a year due to feeling unworthy of care.
 
That's such a nice story. I'm inclined to say "happy ending", but that implies the closure of something when in fact you've got your whole happy married life and the life of your child ahead of you. :)

My life is good today because I went to the hygienist, which I hadn't done in over a year due to feeling unworthy of care.

It's my happy ever after :)

Well done for doing something you haven't done in a long time x
 
Good thread. I am struggling with my self esteem hugely at the moment. I feel as if i am losing two of the very few close friends that I have, they seem to have been distancing themselves from me bit by bit over the last few months and i automatically assume its because i am not a nice person, I am boring and dont have a lot going on in my life.

So I feel proud of myself today because I went swimming this morning for the first time in 3 weeks.

i feel happy and good about myself because i am finally tackling the weight problem that has been making me miserable for about a year. I am proud of myself for getting to day 4 on the SS CD and stuck to it 100%
 
Froggylegs, do you want to talk about what's going on with your friends? I can identify. It's really not a good feeling and leaves you questioning all kinds of things about yourself. Last year a break-up forced me to relocate and, as I work from home and have zero money to join hobby clubs etc, I am feeling incredibly lonely. I have nothing going on in my life besides work and dieting and, even though I go to free community events and try to be as friendly as I can, people never seem to want to take it beyond a "hi, nice to meet you" chat. I don't know if that's because I now live in Norfolk, and all the cliches about only liking their own are true ;) but everyone certainly seems friendly enough, which of course brings me back to thinking it's me. It's not that they're unwelcoming, it's that they don't like me specifically. I'm very shy and can struggle a bit conversationally with strangers because I'm constantly worrying about what they think of me. I'm just so desperate to be liked that I'm not very "present" or engaging, which are the two qualities that are most likely to get people to like me! I truly am the kind of person whose death at home would only be discovered months later following a neighbour complaint about smell.

Well done for keeping to to the diet and going swimming. You're doing brilliantly.

I feel happy about myself today because I took time to moisturise after showering, which I don't always have time and energy to do. All the pet hair sticks to me while I'm doing it and I feel disgusting for a while, but 15 minutes later I'm busy thinking about all the good it's (hopefully) doing to my skin.
 
Aw it can be so hard to make new friends when you move. Have you moved a long way? Its also very hard to meet new people when you don't have a lot of dosh, so many things cost a fortune.

Its weird you say you aren't very present or engaging. I have only been on this forum a few days but you jumped out at me as someone lovely, caring and helpful, very easy to talk to. Its easier online though, isn't it? I find it far easier to chat to people online than in the real world.

I had to take redundancy about 15 months ago due to some serious and ongoing health problems. I only worked 9 hrs a week but they were spread across the week and kept me pretty busy but since i left my world has shrunk and shrunk and my best friend of 16 years has been gradually withdrawing from me since around October last year. I dont feel i can address it with her as i know her very well and she will just get cross and deny it then draw back even more. We used to see each other about 3 or 4 times a week and now its more like once every 2 or 3 weeks. I think she has just grown away from me and is far more friendly now with 3 other women who are all part of couples like she is. I am single.

My old work mates dropped me when i took redundancy and i just feel i have nothing of interest to say so its no surprise friends dont want to see me. God sorry, i am sounding VERY sorry for myself here!

Ooh what pets have you got? I have 2 cats, both a bit bonkers!
 
I forgot to say, I started volunteering for a new Carers Service in my area at the beginning of June so that is getting me out and involved a little bit more :)
 
Hey, my life is similar to yours, yet different at the same time. I have 2 kids and in a 11yr relationship. I dont leave the house unless I really really have to, I manage to go out every day for work, but it seems different in a way. I have loads of ppl in my life who I have brief chats with, during my day to day life, and i'm quite sociable in that respect, but same as yourself, it doesn't go any further than that, I have 1 friend that I see sometimes, but thats once a month or whatever. Dont do much with my partner because he works when i'm at home, and dont do much with the kids due to money & not having a car. So end up always hanging about the house and garden. I've gotten into a spiral of eating for bordom & emotions and now I cant stop, and it stops me from doing things.

I've never met anyone whos confidence and self-esteem is as low as mine, i'm pretty bad!! I am fully clothed even though its 28 degrees and everyone is loving the sun, I have a cardi on because I dont have the guts to sit in the garden in a t.shirt even though no one will see me. I dont walk about my house without my arms covered, my partner of 11 years has never seen the top of my arms. I cancelled a break away this summer due to me not being able to wear summery clothes, and the embarrasment that causes.

I am jealous of EVERYONE. People who are "normal" not always being huffy like me, i'm jealous of them, I want to be normal. I used to be jealous of skinny people (still am to an extent) but now my jealousy is people who manage to appear normal, even when other things are going on. If I know someone who is skinny/normal/has money/great life ect ect, I cant bring myself to even talk to them, I worry that the jealousy will reep out of me, so I avoid them.

Sorry i'm rabbiting on. Anyway - I love the fact that an hour ago I sat outside in only a t.shirt - no cardi. I love the fact that i'm thinking about how I will lose weight, I love the fact that I am planning in my head and getting excited about it. I love the fact that I only have 6 stone to lose and not 16. I love when I think about being skinny & I actually cant imagine myself that way, it makes me excited to see the new me. I love the fact that I KNOW when I start to do something about my weight....I will feel better, like i always do!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
:bighug: Big hug for you littlemiss and well done on sitting outside in a t shirt!!

We women are very, very hard on ourselves aren't we? I reckon that a lot of the time we spend fearing being judged by others, we are actually judging ourselves, and far more harshly than anyone else would
 
Thanks!

I agree 100% I jjudge myself worse than others would. The strange thing is, I see people who are also overweight and they wear what they want, it doesn't make them look any bigger to be honest.....Someone said something similar to me a couple of years back, because I have this wierd jacket obsession, I always want to be wearing my jacket, its like my comfort blanket for leaving the house, and one day my friend said...if you really were as big as you think you are then wearing a jacket isn't going to hide that....suppose to a certain extent its true. Fair enough some clothes can flatter more than others, but I would say I could tell an overweight person from a skinny person even if they were fully clothed. The thing that people see is the fact that I hate myself (with regards to my clothes choices) I must scream out....lack of confidence, but I just cant bring myself to do otherwise because then people might think I dont realise how big I am

x
 
Aw it can be so hard to make new friends when you move. Have you moved a long way? Its also very hard to meet new people when you don't have a lot of dosh, so many things cost a fortune.

Its weird you say you aren't very present or engaging. I have only been on this forum a few days but you jumped out at me as someone lovely, caring and helpful, very easy to talk to. Its easier online though, isn't it? I find it far easier to chat to people online than in the real world.

I had to take redundancy about 15 months ago due to some serious and ongoing health problems. I only worked 9 hrs a week but they were spread across the week and kept me pretty busy but since i left my world has shrunk and shrunk and my best friend of 16 years has been gradually withdrawing from me since around October last year. I dont feel i can address it with her as i know her very well and she will just get cross and deny it then draw back even more. We used to see each other about 3 or 4 times a week and now its more like once every 2 or 3 weeks. I think she has just grown away from me and is far more friendly now with 3 other women who are all part of couples like she is. I am single.

My old work mates dropped me when i took redundancy and i just feel i have nothing of interest to say so its no surprise friends dont want to see me. God sorry, i am sounding VERY sorry for myself here!

Ooh what pets have you got? I have 2 cats, both a bit bonkers!

I've moved about 130 miles (Kent to Norfolk). Not that I had many friends in Kent either! I've lived in lots of different parts of the UK - London, Hampshire, Cumbria, Dorset - and it seems the older you get, the harder it is to meet people. A lot of people my age are settling down and starting to have families, so it's becoming increasingly difficult to find people who have the time or inclination to go hiking at weekends or to the cinema on a Tuesday night etc. I've never been into drinking and the pub/club/bar scene, so that reduces the chances of meeting people spontaneously. I don't mind whether my friends are 18 or 80, but it seems that everyone I meet already has a full social life.

Thanks for the compliments you wrote about me. That's really kind. I try to make time for everyone on the board, especially new posters, because you never know what's going on in the background of their life and this might be the only place to which they can turn for friendship and support. Some message boards can seem a bit cliquey and posting is frightening. If you don't get the response you want, it can really trigger feelings of low self-worth. In my experience, a lot of dieters already have low opinions of themselves so they don't need petty forum politics to stick the boot in. There's a "room" on this board called WeMITT (WE Really Mean It This Time), dedicated to people who have significant amounts of weight to lose. When I joined the forum I posted a message on there, chatting about how much I had to lose and how I was feeling. Zero responses! It didn't feel good, especially as I can see them all chatting on each other's threads and replying to other newbies. I don't know if my message was plain boring or what. But if you see the view rate go up and yet you get no responses, if you're already socially conscious and concerned about how you come across, that kind of thing can be really damaging. I tried posting on other people's threads too but I seemed to get tumbleweeds. I'm over it now - I'm sure they're nice people, they just didn't take to me - but it felt very personal at the time. I just don't ever want to be the person who makes someone feel like that. Life is hard and lonely enough, so I'll gladly be anyone's companion or sounding board.

I'm sorry about your redundancy. Has your health improved at all? I can't understand why your friend would draw away when you probably need her most. It's particularly tough that she's favouring attached friends too. Did she work at the same place as you? Last year my best friend, with whom I had lived for 7 years, met a man and three months later decided to move in with him. I expected things to change once they got together but she completely shut down. I had been the most important person in her life for years - we were like sisters - and as soon as this guy came on the scene she just didn't want to know me. I'm not sure if I embarrassed her, or if she felt our closeness was a hindrance to him, but whatever the reason she simply stopped talking to me and including me in her life. Very weird and alienating after 17 years of friendship. When my friend moved out, rather than tell me, she actually disappeared in the night. She took all her belongings and left a note which basically said "I've hated you for the entire time we've lived together and here's why..." then proceeded to write four pages of character assassination. Some of her points were genuine flaws of mine, some were misconstrued opinions about conversations we'd had many years ago, and some accusations were flat out wrong and unthinkable. It was soul-spearing. My confidence hit rock bottom. Fortunately I had my other friends on standby to suggest that she'd written those nasty things to take the blame off her for doing something so cowardly and cruel and to absolve her of any guilt. Her new relationship really changed her and, from experience, I know she can't juggle two close relationships at one time, and ours was the one to be sacrificed. We'd been friends for half my life so it was deeply shocking. It's a year later and I'm only just starting to see that her words aren't true and that I'm not the person she painted me to be simply because her actions needed a villain to justify them. It's the worst feeling in the world when someone deserts you like that. Particularly as we're always told "partners come and go, whereas friends are forever" and "friends are the family you choose" etc. It's the ultimate rejection, and I'm so sorry you're going through it. The only consolation is that you're better than her and you deserve more. Eventually you'll find it.

I have cats too, but there are five of them! I'm very much into animal welfare etc and I've volunteered with several rescues, hence the five. My former flatmate (the one in the paragraph above) and I adopted them together, and it was easier to look after them with the two of us. Easier both practically but also financially. I was very concerned when my friend left that I would have to give up the cats, through not being able to afford their living costs or through being unable to find a rental property that allows cats. That's how I ended up in Norfolk: property is reasonably priced and they let me bring all the animals! My life would be financially richer without the cats but emotionally much poorer. They're great company and, even though we live on what feels like a fiscal cliff edge (I'm also repaying debts that my friend and I accrued under my name... lesson painfully learnt...), we get by. I've had someone I love walk out on me: I'm not doing the same to my furry family!
 
Hey, my life is similar to yours, yet different at the same time. I have 2 kids and in a 11yr relationship. I dont leave the house unless I really really have to, I manage to go out every day for work, but it seems different in a way. I have loads of ppl in my life who I have brief chats with, during my day to day life, and i'm quite sociable in that respect, but same as yourself, it doesn't go any further than that, I have 1 friend that I see sometimes, but thats once a month or whatever. Dont do much with my partner because he works when i'm at home, and dont do much with the kids due to money & not having a car. So end up always hanging about the house and garden. I've gotten into a spiral of eating for bordom & emotions and now I cant stop, and it stops me from doing things.

I've never met anyone whos confidence and self-esteem is as low as mine, i'm pretty bad!! I am fully clothed even though its 28 degrees and everyone is loving the sun, I have a cardi on because I dont have the guts to sit in the garden in a t.shirt even though no one will see me. I dont walk about my house without my arms covered, my partner of 11 years has never seen the top of my arms. I cancelled a break away this summer due to me not being able to wear summery clothes, and the embarrasment that causes.

I am jealous of EVERYONE. People who are "normal" not always being huffy like me, i'm jealous of them, I want to be normal. I used to be jealous of skinny people (still am to an extent) but now my jealousy is people who manage to appear normal, even when other things are going on. If I know someone who is skinny/normal/has money/great life ect ect, I cant bring myself to even talk to them, I worry that the jealousy will reep out of me, so I avoid them.

Sorry i'm rabbiting on. Anyway - I love the fact that an hour ago I sat outside in only a t.shirt - no cardi. I love the fact that i'm thinking about how I will lose weight, I love the fact that I am planning in my head and getting excited about it. I love the fact that I only have 6 stone to lose and not 16. I love when I think about being skinny & I actually cant imagine myself that way, it makes me excited to see the new me. I love the fact that I KNOW when I start to do something about my weight....I will feel better, like i always do!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

There is so much of this I can identify with. I, too, am a fan of the bin liner, aka the shapeless black cardigan. I've asked my car boot addict mother to keep an eye out for clothes in smaller sizes for me, and she remarked "Oh, you like black cardigans, don't you?" I thought to myself "No, I bloody hate black cardigans but I feel naked without one!" I know everyone can see that I'm fat, but I need the security of covering myself up. I like to keep my arms, chest, stomach and butt covered, which doesn't really help the feeling that I'm a shapeless blob, because these body parts vary in dress size significantly, so the cardis are normally hanging off me in one area and clinging like mosquitoes in another.

Do you enjoy your job? Does that give you any sense of fulfillment or esteem?

I completely empathise with the jealousy issue too. I've just gone through a 6-month period in which 90% of my friend have either been promoted, gotten engaged/married/pregnant or taken some amazing trip. They all seem to be progressing through life, whereas I feel very stagnant. I'm in a well-paying but dead-end job, which, due to debts, I can't afford to leave. I've been single for forever and a day, with no prospects on the horizon. I wouldn't even have the confidence to date even if there were. I know I'm slowly chipping away at my weight and debts but the finishing lines look so far away. Meanwhile, I'm watching all these great things happen for other people. I'm happy for them, but I admit my sadness for my own lack of development can outweigh my joy for them. I know that's horrible and it turn it makes me feel even worse about myself because I can't even put aside my own problems to wholly celebrate in someone else's success! It's a terrible, vicious circle and I'm not entirely sure how it's going to end. I've contacted my GP to arrange an assessment with the wellbeing centre though, so that I can have some counselling to stop the hideous way in which I talk to and about myself, and I'm hopeful that that will change things for me. Instead of looking at all the great things happening for other people, I can focus on the fact that I have all these great things to come.

Congratulations on making the move of going outside without your security net. I know that must have been harder than those "normal" people can ever comprehend, so what you've done is incredible. You're nearly one sixth of the way through your journey, so you should try to cut yourself some slack. You're doing brilliantly. Just think how far you'll have come by this time next year! <3
 
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