Lose weight and you’ll be happy,
They say …

I wasn’t happy,
I was exhausted and depleted.

You’re so disciplined,
They say …

As I starved myself
And had to earn my food.

I wish I could have your problem,
They say …

Brainwashed into thinking,
Smaller is better.

How do you always eat so “healthy”?
They ask …

While my list of “safe” foods
Grows shorter and shorter.

As I dream of being free
And escaping the prison in my mind …

They wonder how to be more like me,
Misled by societal pressures.

Societal messages lead us astray,
“Their” opinions often consume us.

Yet, who are “they” anyway?
And why does their opinion even matter?

They often applauded me,
While I nearly died from anorexia.

As I looked around while inpatient,
They weren’t there to save me …

And that’s when their opinions stopped mattering.

Every day, we are swimming in messages
That drown out our own voices.

We are surrounded by noise,
Telling us who we should be …

Which conveniently is always different
Than who and where we are.

How would life be different
If you reclaimed the narratives?

If you realized—you are whole, worthy, enough,
As you are right now?

Listening to societal messages,
Telling us we’ll be happy “when”…

Costs way more than whatever BS
They are selling to get us “there.”

Save your money, save yourself.

Reclaim your power, reclaim your voice,
It’s not “their” life, anyway—it’s yours.

What would it look like to detach from societal BS
And live the life you truly desire?

What’s the next turtle step you may take, today,
To live YOUR (not their) life?

And know you deserve to nourish
Your mind, body, and spirit?

“They” often want you to be small,
Depleted and insecure.

That’s how “they” win, and it’s why we must …
Reclaim the narratives.

Jillian Rigert is a physician coach and a marriage and family therapy graduate student.