The Internet is full of examples of how harsh people can be with another. You can find a ton of support on the web but, in general, the coin has a flip side. Some people will love your story, and others will verbally rip you apart.
Yesterday I came across the incredible story of Matt Diaz. Matt lost more than 130 kilos of weight and on his way he also became internet famous. But Matt all along kept one big secret. And he was very afraid to share his secret. At the same time, he felt dishonest about it. So he decided it was time to share the undisclosed details of what losing that much weight did to his body. A very brave young men. The video shows very well how scared a shit he was to take this step and yet he did it. He conquered his fear and got his message out there.
You can read his story here:
It’s the side of extreme weight loss rarely seen, but that’s why it’s needed.
I was intrigued by this particular sentence:
“I think that putting any opinion on the Internet will garner a certain amount of negativity and cynicism, but I haven’t seen anything like that at all. I’ve read every comment and message since the video has gone up, literally thousands, and they’re all so thoughtful.”
We always judge other people’s problems with our very personal angle. Pretty much every person will have something about their body that they are not entirely happy about. Criticizing him would feel like criticizing ourselves. We didn’t need that different pair of glasses to understand Matt his story. The lesson of self-love is the apex of all other life lessons. It would be wonderful if would approach everyone’s hurdles with the same compassion and fairness . . .
Which is something Matt seems to understand as well when he said:
“A really surprising side-effect were the number of transgender people who’ve thanked me saying that they understood my struggle, even though their body-related insecurity grew from different roots. I’d never even begun to [think] of what that must be like, and the fact that my message could help even though my problems began somewhere else is really incredible.”
I am sure Matt is going to be a phenomenal public speaker.
Photo Credit: Upworthy
