An open letter: To the guy who called me "The world's biggest hog."

I’ve always seen posts on Facebook called open letters. “An open letter to the guy who broke my heart” or “An open letter to the girl that my boyfriend cheated on me with.” I've always liked the idea of this. Instead of taking words that people said to you, or actions that people did to harm you and burying them deep inside of you, share them. So here it is. An open letter to the guy who screenshotted my picture, and said "A new record: world's biggest hog caught in Mississippi." This one's for you. 

I’ve always found it inspiring when women are comfortable in their own skin. I love when girls are able to feel good about themselves despite what society or magazines say they should look like. I remember one time I opened the Cosmopolitan magazine via snapchat and the title was “Best Bikini Bodies.” I’ve probably never loved my boyfriend more than when he said, “Katie stop looking at that crap. All it’s going to tell you is that you’re not good enough.” It took something  as simple as that from a man’s perspective for my eyes to truly be opened. I don’t think I’ve ever read a magazine that says “You have to be a size 2 and weigh 100 pounds to be beautiful.” But they don’t have to say it. It’s articles like “Find out how to get the best bikini body here!” or “Find out how Kloe Kardashian lost 40 pounds with this diet!” It terrifies me to have a daughter and one day have to convince her that she’s beautiful when I can’t even convince myself of it. I love the women that are comfortable in their own skin because I’ve never been one of them. I was never obese. I’ve never been to the point of over weight that people stop and stare at me, or to the point my family has told me that I really needed to lose weight. But no one had to stare at me or tell me I needed to be smaller, it’s been in my subconscious since I was able to form an opinion about myself. 

I found an old notebook not long ago that I had when I was 11 years old. I had written out a diet for myself and an exercise program when I was 90 pounds and my goal weight was 70. My 11 year old self was thoroughly convinced that I needed to be smaller even at that age. Why? Because I didn’t look like Britney Spears did when she was my age or Lizzie McQuire or Mary Kate and Ashley. I didn’t look like the girls in the media, so I wasn’t pretty enough and I wasn’t skinny enough. I’ve struggled with it my whole life, and I think there are very few girls that are lucky enough to not feel insecure. Kudos to you. 

As of right now it’s late April. I’ve been eating clean and working my butt off since January. All for what? 8 pounds. And is it enough that I’m healthy and I’m taking care of my body? Of course not. Because I still don’t look the way Britney Spears looked at my age and I’m not as small as some girls in my sorority. I’m still not up to society’s standards. 

I’m trying. I get up almost every morning and run a mile. I’ve cut my portions in half and have slowly seen progress and inches off of me. It's frustrating (especially as a female) to get stuck in a rut in weight loss and regardless of how hard we work, sometimes it isn't enough. Instead of striving for a healthy life style and taking care of our bodies, it's much more about what's on the outside that we care about. So I can personally say to this boy: I do not need you to tell me that I am not good enough.  

I had msyelf convinved that I wasn't good enough when I was 11 years old. I would go as far as to say that every single woman in America has something that she would change about herself, if not multiple things. First of all, let me enlighten you, as to what my process looks like when I go running. I have $100 running shoes because I have very high arches in my feet and shin splints are a huge problem for me. I also have bursitis in both of my shoulders. I also have extremely tight hamstrings which make for unGodly calf cramps in the middle of the night and when I run. Thank God I don't have more health problems than I do and that I am physically able to run. However, these things slow me down. Before I run, I have to take Ibuprofen for inflimation in both my shins and shoulders, I have to ice both my shins and shoulders, I take Potassium suppliments so that my muscles don't cramp up, and I have to put anti-inflamitory cream on both my shins and shoulders so that they don't hurt when I run. But guess what, I do it.  But the difference between now and 3 months ago, is that I'm not doing it for anyone besides myself. 

So this is the part where I address you. I won't tell the entire internet your name because that would make me almost as big of a low life as you are. Instead, I'll keep going. I'll keep running and I'll run farther. I'll keep eating healthy. I'll keep doing everything that I do with what you said running through the back of my mind to motivate me to go even farther.  I'm sorry that I don't meet your standards or expectations. I'm sorry that I have naturally large hips and a big butt. I'm sorry that I eat food and I don't have the metabolism that lives up to your standards. I'm sorry that the majority of the female population doesn't live up to your standards either. And God bless your girlfriend and if she one day has a child, and you have to face the gruesome reality that women's bodies change when they have children and they will not forever be 100 pounds and a size 2. (Also, when your metabolism starts to slow down at age 30, I suggest you throw out your mirrors.)  I won't starve myself because of what you said, but there are girls that would. When  I heard that you said this about me, I cried. I cried and I looked in the mirror and wondered why you would say something so cruel to someone who has never spoken an ill word of you. I sat there and looked at myself wondering, yet again why I wasn't good enough. But that's okay. There are some people who have nothing better to do than to talk down to people in order to make themselves feel better. But everyone struggles with something. And there are girls who develop serious eating disorders because of people like you and cruel words said about them. Suicide also happens because of words said that can't be taken back. I've had my boyfriend and family tell me time and time again that I'm beautiful. But none of their words will ever stick so predominantly in the back of my mind as yours calling me a hog. You're cruel. You're a narcissitc, bigoted jerk. I hope this reaches you. And I hope you see that words cut deep. I hope you see the damage it can cause and that making fun of a person's physical appearance is not an appropriate comic relief to use. 

And here's to the women that have been told that they aren't good enough and have had something equally as awful to you: Strive for healthy. Take care of your body because we only get one. Tell your daughters that they are beautiful. Tell yourself that you are beautiful. Society may not think that you're good enough, but I do. I may still be trying to convince myself that I'm enough, and maybe I'll spend my whole life trying. But as I've written before, our identity is not found in society or what others think of us. Thankfully we have a Savior that thinks we are fearfully and wonderfully made. He thinks there is no flaw in us. It's important that we cling to that and that we believe it. This is a cold, hard, mean, and antagonizing world and it's up to us to choose what we hold to be true. The creater of this world, the one who made the skies and the stars and everything under it, thinks you're wonderful and beautiful.

 So I choose to believe that guy. Instead of some boy who thinks he's is supremely superior to everyone else because he goes to Ole Miss and weighs 90 pounds soaking wet. Maybe one day you'll see in people what Jesus sees in us. Maybe you'll find him and learn to love the way that he does. Maybe one day you'll realize that there is truly more than meets the eye. And maybe, just maybe, you'll realize that everyone has something that they struggle with, and they do not need one more thing to weigh them down. A negative word from you could be the straw that breaks their back. Think before you speak. Regardless of whether or not you're "just kidding" or you're "just saying," there is a still a human being on the other end of those words. They still have feelings, and they still get hurt. But the man who is much bigger and much more powerful than you, thinks I am to die for. So I'm going to hold onto his words instead.