“Screw beauty standards, they have nothing on you”

 I am a sufferer of anorexia nervosa. This is a sentence that I would never have thought in a million years would come out of my mouth, as before it all started I never had a second thought to eat that donut. But I can say that I am not ashamed of having one, as I am the strongest I have ever been. All stories aren’t ever the same, but a problem we all have come to face in today’s world is a society in which diet culture is there at every turn.

Nearly all of my disorder was tailored to how I thought society would want to see me.

Standards have been placed among so many teens, and even children, that lead them to view these standards as the only way to be accepted. It wasn’t just that friend that had influence on me, but the media that engulfed me and made me realize that my body I had always felt comfortable in wouldn’t be accepted.

So I tried to change, and your body doesn’t work like that. You can’t want to change and be happy with it. Your mind becomes mentally consumed with an eating disorder and the only thing that happens is you raise your standards every time you reach that goal.

You don’t need to change. You may not like your body, and that’s okay. No one loves their body every single day, but you can accept and acknowledge all the great things it does for you. You are living.

But when an eating disorder takes over, you are not you; you are a version that is picked apart to think that you are not good enough.

Screw beauty standards, they have nothing on you. A life is meant for living, and you wouldn’t stop your pets, siblings, or anyone from eating, because food is your fuel for every day.

Know that you are beautiful, just the way you are. 

Story shared by Audrey C.