Boldly: Lily's Journey to Self Love

Boldly is a YouTube account that has made some very realistic, helpful videos about almost every life moment under the sun! What I mean by 'life moment' is that they cover many situations from anxiety, eating disorders, peer pressure, relationships, and general mental health problems. They create scenarios and give you an inside look at what someone living with 'said problem' goes through, the characteristics / symptoms we may or may not be familiar with, and what kinds of attitudes we should have to fight the issues.

Let's take this scenario for example;

In the beginning of the video, this young, bubbly and positive lady called Lily, is working out at home. She seems very relaxed, happy and proud of her hard work (as you can see from her lovely smile here!). She makes herself a smoothie and posts her progress on Instagram with a beaming smile and her thumbs up. The comments come in, positive and encouraging, until she scrolls across one comment reading, "Eww. You need to lose weight..." Lily feels dismay and self doubt, as if all her hard work was for nothing.

The next morning she continues to workout, but Lily doesn't feel the same positive, good vibes she did the day before. All because one person commented something negative instead of seeing the bigger picture that she's already on the journey of weight loss. Why did that person have to comment such a thing? Lily goes for a run to pick up the intensity of her routine, and whilst running past a guy getting into his car, he laughs at her judgementally. She feels downhearted and keeps going, trying to ignore it. But yet again, when stopping to catch her breath, someone else drives past and shouts out the window, "Fat Ass!" Lily has had enough and walks home, feeling like a failure... again!

From then on, her daily weight loss journey became more of a burden than something she was doing to make herself happy and proud. At work she refuses doughnuts when someone offers a whole box to her, and every time she weighs herself she can't see the progress, and the number becomes something she dreads. Lily joins a gym to get some strength and cardio done; but whilst she's there, she receives dirty looks from several people. One woman even videos her on her phone to share on social media as a joke! Poor Lily feels so self conscious she leaves the gym, angry and hurt inside. Why do people have to be so judgemental? She's working hard and this is her first journey, remember guys!?

Back at work, Lily sits eating a salad (well, moving the leaves around with her fork) wondering whether all this healthy eating and exercise is really worth the negative thoughts and pressure from society. Why can't she just eat the food she likes and be happy the way she is? Her two friends come to sit down with her on their lunch break and notice she's at the salad again. She exclaims that even though she's eating a salad, she's actually dreaming of "a large, stuffed crust cheese pizza!" Her friends laugh with her, one commenting on how 'good' she was for eating healthy, and that she herself felt "so fat," for eating doughnuts earlier. This triggers Lily, making her wonder why her friend who isn't overweight would say such a thing like that? It only made her feel bigger.

Changing the subject, her other friend mentions that they should have a pool party as David is coming over for summer. Lily's friends exclaim their excitement for the party and how they can't wait to try on their new bikinis. But Lily feels nervous and doesn't even want to think about the fact she'll have to wear a bathing suit... At a clothing store, Lily tries on a floral bathing suit and frowns back at her reflection. How can she go out looking like this in front of her friends and David? She pulls on a pair of black shorts and a black hoodie. She criticizes herself and goes home, using food as a way of replacing her emotions and feeling of emptiness.

At the pool party, Lily sits on the side in her black shorts and hoodie as her two friends and newcomer David swim together. She scrolls through social media whilst avoiding eye contact with them. She thinks that it's so embarrassing not going in, but even more embarrassing if she does! They stop to ask her to come and join them, but Lily politely refuses. She wouldn't dare consider even dipping a toe in that pool if it meant she had to take her shorts off! Escaping to the bathroom for some space to think, she stares at her face in the mirror. She's unhappy. Lily glances over to the toilet and starts to think negatively about her weight. Maybe it does work? She types into Google, 'How to make yourself throw up.' No! She stops herself and reconsiders what path she could be going down and decides against it, returning to the party.

Back at the party, an unexpected guest arrives. It's one of her friends roommates, Vanessa. Lily watches as the young lady confidently removes her beach gown and, with a smile on her face, joins the others in the pool. Lily watches in awe and respect; Vanessa is curvy and not like her friends at all! She has a confidence that Lily would love to have. Should she give it a try? Lily smiles and gets herself ready...

Lily stands at the edge of the pool and her friends all cheer! They love her for who she is, their bubbly friend who makes them laugh. Her weight doesn't make them see her any differently, she will always be the friend they know and care for. When Lily gets into that pool, she feels like her confidence and positivity has begun to grow back inside her like a rare gem in the dark. It may take some getting used to, but after seeing how positive and happy Vanessa was in her skin, Lily only wanted one thing from then on; to be happy and confident in her own skin, no matter what the number read on the scales!

Ditching the scales at home, Lily begins a new journey of getting fit but in the way she believed would keep her feeling good about herself. Deleting the negative comment on her photo from the beginning of the video, Lily sets off on a positive run down the road on her new journey to self confidence and good mental health.

After watching this video, we can view it in one of two ways; Lily's journey of losing weight, OR Lily's journey to accepting who she is as a person, and that no matter what she looks like or how much she weighs, her friends will always love her for who she is, and she can love herself and live in confidence and positivity, knowing that she is unique and beautiful from the inside out!

So, be like Lily and begin that positive journey to self love, deleted those negative comments and, in the words of Lily, say a farewell to negativity...

"Bye!"

You can watch the video here at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uia5mqvTeh4&list=PL0PtUxA4JeEIOxkdQqXPUhvWPJBbr585w&index=6 

Comment your thoughts on what you thought of the video below!

Thank you for reading and see you next week for a new post! xx