I have been noticing a huge difference in the way people treat me lately. Does this happen to you too? I feel like everyone around me is treating me differently. Some people seem to think I am some sort of 'Diet Guru' or something, and they want to know my "secret". I hate this! Not because I don't want to be helpful, but because it seems like no matter what I say it is always the opposite of helpful.
If I start talking about positive thinking and visualizing I can seriously see their eyes glazing over. I am sure I sound like a crazy person and the conversation is almost always uncomfortable.
I have had people tell me that I look really good, but kind of in an accusatory way. If that makes sense. Some try to explain to me why it is harder for them to do it, almost like I am judging them - which I would never do! I still feel the same inside, but I am treated SO differently. It is a little surreal.
I am sure everyone that is losing weight deals with this, but it is not at all like I expected it to be. I thought that everyone around me would be happy for me and supportive, and a lot are. But some people seem to be really uncomfortable around me now. It makes me feel bad sometimes.
It just occurred to me that the old Cara would use this as an excuse to quit. Something like "hey, you are drawing attention to yourself", or "you are making people uncomfortable, you should stop". I will not! But I wish that I was better at dealing with these changes. It seems like right now my body is changing faster than my mind or something.
I still have self esteem issues, shocking I know :) I feel like the fat girl and everyone is treating me like I am someone else, it is hard to wrap my head around. I usually feel like I am stumbling along, and making it up as I go and suddenly I am treated like I have all the answers. Weird!
Well, that's it for now I guess. I almost feel like I am being mean or something if I post this. But it is where I am at right now, so it is getting posted.
Happy Saturday :)
I've had people ask my secret and have yet to come up with a good answer. I get the same reactions as you.
ReplyDeleteI also get people explaining to me now why they are eating this or that, as if I am the food police now. I really don't know how to deal with that!
Lori
Of course you are not mean. You, my dear, have a right to be successful and have a right to enjoy your success. There will be people who will take your success almost as an offense and act as if they expect you to be discreet about it. Like it's wrong to be successful or happy when there are unsuccessful and unhappy people in the world. It's their problem, it's their frustrations coming out to the surface. It has little to do with you, really. I learned this when my career advanced. I thought everyone would share my happiness for going from a lousy job to a successful one. Boy was I wrong. I lost friends over it. My behavior never changed. I was the same old me, but some people started treating me differently. Without an exception those who reacted in a negative way were people with low self esteem and either unemployed or with bad jobs. For a while I made a big effort to show them that I was the same old me, that our relationships wouldn't change, but it failed. In the end I realized it wasn't about me. It was about them. They were not capable of seeing my success. What they saw was their own failure to achieve success. Having gone through that experience, I am finding it a lot easier to handle the same attitudes from others now. I don't take it to heart. I don't let it bother me and I don't change my behavior in response.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am trying to say is, don't let it bother you.There will be weird reactions from certain people no matter what you do. It often has nothing to do with you.
*hugs*