Being overweight is the badge that I have worn

After a challenging holiday season filled with mixed emotions, Renee, a single mother shared this story  during one of our weekly sessions.  

Renee:

I've been doing a lot of introspective work on body image and have also been revisiting my issues of codependency. In the past I have chosen to be in an intimate relationship over being alone, even if that relationship was broken, damaged and unhealthy.

I see that it is all related, and that shame and fear have kept me stuck in many areas of my life. Being overweight is the badge that I have worn most of my life both as a symbol of my low self-esteem and as an excuse not to achieve my greatest desires.

This badge is worn out and rusty and it's time to throw it out. I've come along way (having lost 75 lbs) and it's time to finish the last chapter and lose the last 30 or so.

In my quest for inspiration I found the following quote that I'd like to share.

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked pensively. "You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." - Trina Paulus (Hope for the Flowers)

I am so ready to give up being a caterpillar!