You are More than a Body!

One of the hardest battles I've ever had to fight was against the scale. I'm an emotional eater and I grew up in a family where we ate a lot and we rarely made healthy choices. So finally I joined Weight Watchers and began to lose the weight, not because of a diet, but because I made a significant lifestyle change. 25 pounds later I'm still in control and I continue doing well. My body doesn't control me, I control it. Yet, there are many things I don't have control over and I acknowledge that and I'm ok with that fact. But yesterday, someone who I really enjoyed conversing with asked me for semi-naked pictures of myself because he liked my butt. And as well as I'm doing in every area of my life, I was taken aback because somehow no matter how hard I try, no matter how great I do in school, at work, in life, it all comes back to physical features. Conversations on psychology and philosophy are cool.... How about the state of Black America or the war? But when I'm finally having a convo with the opposite sex about something worthwhile, I get tackled from behind by a 350-lb defensive lineman with an attitude and stank breath. He pulled the "body" card and all of a sudden the convo went from steaming along to a screeching halt in 2 seconds. Not only was I knocked out, but I lost a good conversation with a person who I "thought" was pretty cool.

And so for the past 24 hours I've been deep in thought. Where did all the great conversations go? What happened to just sitting down and talking, debating about everything? Everything gets reduced to sex. And I'm not ok with that. Joining Weight Watchers was for me. Getting my education is for me and to better society. Improving upon myself is for my benefit. But someone comes up and reduces that work - blood, sweat and tears - in a matter of seconds because they just wanna look at my body.

Needless to say, he didn't get the pics.

Lesson learned.

Singles: Who you are is most important. Your character. Your health. Your spirituality. The life you breath into your work. Don't ever let anyone attempt to take away your personal integrity, honor and principles... You've worked too hard. You've come too far. You are more than a body... Remember that.