There are moments in your life when you ponder on the impact that you are making…
When you wonder if you are using your gifts, talents, and life for the greater good to help people- even those who you come into contact with randomly during your daily journey.
I began to greatly ponder upon these notions after speaking with one of my mentors. We talked about this idea of never knowing what someone is going through and how in just one moment, one action… you can show kindness towards them. And in doing so, you might just save or change their life forever….
She recently told me about how she was standing behind a woman in line at the grocery store who was purchasing laxatives. She was very, very thin. My mentor said she looked very frail and seemed very sad. She wanted to reach out to her to help her in some way since she felt she could have had an eating disorder, but she didn’t want to be rude and she didn’t want to be too assuming.
And that is the thing.
How do you really know when someone has an eating disorder?
We all come in different shapes and sizes, so there is no real way to know. For example, during my high school years, I was not super thin and really did not show signs of having an eating disorder. My friends didn’t even know. Conversely, just because a person is very thin does not mean that they have an eating disorder. Again, people come in all shapes and sizes.
However, I think there is something true of having intuition… of your gut telling you that something could be wrong with someone and you should have courage to speak up, to reach, and to help him or her.
But, I can understand my mentor’s point of view and how this was hard to do. You don’t want to be too assuming, too frank, and even make the situation worse with your words. Maybe there is a fine line of approaching someone in a gentle way. Like, just simply letting him or her know that if there were something wrong, then you would love to help him or her in any way that you can. I mean you never know how your reaching out and approaching them could save them and change their life forever.
I don’t know all of the answers and I don’t know the best ways of how to go about doing this. But, I do think there definitely needs to be more conversations and awareness around how to navigate all of these topics. And not just when it comes to eating disorders, but when it comes to cutting, suicide, bullying, abuse, and more. Many times people do not blatantly show signs that something is wrong, but they suffer in silence and in need… waiting for someone to reach out and to tell them they care and want to help.
We (myself included) have to begin to have the courage to speak up and help others, especially when our intuition tells us something is wrong. I know it’s hard, so we need to be gentle and not too assuming, just in case. We are called to be change agents and to use our lives, our gifts, our thoughts, our talents, and our entire beings to improve the world. Even as scary as this may be, you just don’t know how your words and actions might just save someone’s life.
What do you think?
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