“Are you really not going to eat anything?”
” Come on! This is so absurd! “
“Why did you come with us in the first place if you had to do this?” “
Her voice echoed in between the daily rushing sounds of a restaurant and moving hands stopped for some milliseconds on that table. It was a celebration of their semester results, that was happening among those five class-fellows.
The comments were directed to Marry, an obese girl sitting in a slouched posture, lost in her thoughts with only a glass of lemon juice in front of her. Though it was a celebration, but not for Marry. She got a low score and also the lowest among her group after months of endless work and preparation. Her heart filled with gloom, she was still sitting at the restaurant that had nothing on the menu which fits her diet, only to be a part of her friends’ celebration.
“No sorry! I ‘ll just have my juice.” She rubbed off the rude comment politely.
“Oh, Lord! Just let it be Marry. Just be done with your diet for a day. You make everyone uncomfortable! You should not have come!” Her friend didn’t stop. A body crumbling with hunger and heart bleeding with failure still had more to take as the people around Marry were not supportive of her fat loss routine.
Another day in the past, it was a cold December morning when Marry was standing on a cold floor in her father’s bedroom with half-opened eyes, knocking at the door to wake him up for their driving lesson.
“What is the matter?” Her father’s anger and ignorance made her feet even colder.
“We need to go for the drive!” She could barely say. Marry had to fight for permission to learn to drive, and because driving school charges were very high for a very less number of days, the only way to learn was, to practice with her father before his office timings.
“I know you cannot drive! I am unable to understand why you never listen to me and get so stubborn!” She was getting used to hearing this while sitting in the driving seat as if the struggle of learning something new was not enough.
After 3 months of not giving up, she was able to clear her driving test, still, she did not get any moment of appreciation and recognition even from her family, until one night her sister fell severely sick and there was no transport for the hospital available in the middle of the night. Circumstances gave Marry a chance to prove herself that night.
While the car was moving in the dark with only orange spots of light on the quiet road and with the complete silence inside the car, Marry said to herself “Every moment of sadness and heartbreak and sacrifice and patience were worth the results! What if I had given up on me!”
Despite not being welcomed by her fellows, she continued with her proper diet and routine exercises. It took her three years but she kept going, not for anyone’s approval or appreciation, but only for herself and to fulfill her desire to witness her dream self one day. After a long academic vacation of two months, she lost an appreciable amount of weight, and the moment she entered her class, she felt the admiring gaze at her. No one could hold themselves approaching her and asking for tips and guidance including the fellows who bullied her. This also leads to the realization that the world only cares about your results and stands by you when you are an achiever. So, do not be fooled by the being the nicest to you at your highest, observe the peoples’ behavior at your lowest, and choose deserving fellows to invest your emotions and time. Talking about observation, Marry’s observation of her friends throughout the years gave her the courage to finally stand up for herself and cut off these toxic relationships and face the fear of being alone rather than being trapped in suffocation.