Generously blessed
“Happiness is being me, the unconditional me.” This is how I had concluded my Short Take article last week. Quite a number of readers had responded positively to it saying those were true words indeed. And I was elated for writing something that had inspired people.
The elevation of my feelings however, lasted only till a certain thought crossed my mind, “So, did the unconditional me mean my fat self too?” And much as I would have appreciated a no, the answer, sadly, was a yes. If I wanted to be happy, I had to love everything about me, including my fat self.
The thought that followed this was even more threatening, so to speak - did those readers who were motivated by my article realise the full implication of it? It meant that not just the fat ones but my readers of every kind, be they puny or poor, disabled or didactic, hard-of-hearing or hard-of-feeling, all of them had to accept themselves as they were. They had to love those parts of their self that were a displeasure to their senses!
Coming to think of it, it is in loving those unacceptable parts of ourselves that give us our strength because it is those hurt and ugly parts of us that make us who we are, not the beautiful parts. It is our scars that radiate our light to the world and add glamour to our being.
So instead of shaming myself for being fat, I can look upon me as being someone with an engaging presence and being generously blessed.
After all, who wouldn’t want a bountiful? Definitely not me.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt June 23, 2018)
www.gulftoday.ae/portal/61a361bd-b9bd-4768-8c3f-00212e5bfc89.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
The elevation of my feelings however, lasted only till a certain thought crossed my mind, “So, did the unconditional me mean my fat self too?” And much as I would have appreciated a no, the answer, sadly, was a yes. If I wanted to be happy, I had to love everything about me, including my fat self.
The thought that followed this was even more threatening, so to speak - did those readers who were motivated by my article realise the full implication of it? It meant that not just the fat ones but my readers of every kind, be they puny or poor, disabled or didactic, hard-of-hearing or hard-of-feeling, all of them had to accept themselves as they were. They had to love those parts of their self that were a displeasure to their senses!
Coming to think of it, it is in loving those unacceptable parts of ourselves that give us our strength because it is those hurt and ugly parts of us that make us who we are, not the beautiful parts. It is our scars that radiate our light to the world and add glamour to our being.
So instead of shaming myself for being fat, I can look upon me as being someone with an engaging presence and being generously blessed.
After all, who wouldn’t want a bountiful? Definitely not me.
Vidya Shankar
Published in The Gulf Today / Short Take, dt June 23, 2018)
www.gulftoday.ae/portal/61a361bd-b9bd-4768-8c3f-00212e5bfc89.aspx
Here's my first book! An ensemble of poetry and photographs.
Click the link below to watch a 30-second promo video.
https://youtu.be/5BhbjMaIwpk
You can buy it at this link:
https://notionpress.com/read/the-flautist-of-brindaranyamwww.facebook.com
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